Star Wars Day on May 4, 1979, the day Margaret Thatcher took office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. An online news article from the Danish public broadcaster says her political party, the Conservatives, placed a congratulatory advertisement in "The London Evening News", saying "May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations." The saying was used in a UK Parliament defence debate on May 4, 1994. Astrophysicist and author Jeanne Cavelos used the saying on page 94 of her 1999 book "The Science of Star Wars". In 2008, the first Facebook groups appeared, celebrating "Luke Skywalker Day," with the same catchphrase. While
Star Wars: Thrawn introduced in Zahn's 1991 novel "Heir to the Empire", and became a fan favorite. With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed "Star Wars" novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film "Star Wars" were rebranded as "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014. In a prerecorded video, Zahn announced at the London "Star Wars" Celebration in July 2016 that he was writing a new novel for Del Rey Books titled "Thrawn". The same day, Del Rey confirmed on Twitter the novel's spring 2017 release. In a