Something About April 11, 1954

Celebrating something dull.

The Dark Secret of Weatherend (1984) begins in August of 1954 - an amazing 70 years ago – and the book details the first supernatural adventures of Anthony Monday and Miss Myra Eells. There's a lot of action and scary moments, and not much anyone would call boring.

I didn't realize, however, that Monday lived through what is referred to as the most boring day in the 20th Century, only a few months before the events of the book. The Wonderopolis website explained what happened in 2010 for one researcher to determine why nothing remarkable happened 70 years ago this month.

In 2010, computer programmer William Tunstall-Pedoe set out to identify the most boring day in history — or, at least, the most boring day in the 20th century. He used a search engine that he invented, called True Knowledge. The engine contained over 300 million individual facts. 

Using an algorithm to scan through each day in the 20th century, Tunstall-Pedoe discovered that nothing of note happened on April 11, 1954. That is, unless you’re Turkish engineering professor Abdullah Atalar, who was born that day. An athlete named Jack Shufflebotham of England also passed away. No other well-known people were born or died.

There also don’t seem to be any noteworthy news stories from around the world. No major events from the stock market, sporting events, or NASA. No major films were even released that day.

If you’re thinking something MUST have happened on April 11, 1954, you’re not alone. Since Tunstall-Pedoe shared his findings, many people have looked. They’ve searched Google, asked family members, and tried to jog their own memories. Can you think of anything that happened on April 11, 1954?

Part of me likes to think Anthony sneezed on that Sunday in April. Fun times.