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: Empire at War game set in the "Star Wars" universe, stating "...there's a bright future there for games based on these new properties as well as original Star Wars games like a new real-time strategy PC game that Petroglyph is developing for next year". Ward described the game as taking the real-time strategy genre in a new direction and outlined plans to balance the gameplay between hardcore games and audiences familiar with the "Star Wars" franchise. The game was unveiled by LucasArts on January 21, 2005 with an original release date set for the end of 2005. LucasArts said that the newly formed