ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 301 OF 2015
IF yOU can read 301 words in one minute, you’re just above the speed reading average. It would take you 31 hours to read the 560,000 words in War And Peace. THE average woman makes 301 shopping trips every year, most of which are food shops or for personal items. Only 19 are to buy gifts for friends and family. IN 2013, 301 of the 353 local authorities in England made a profit from parking charges. Westminster had a surplus of more than £39 million.
THERE ARE 64 DAYS LEFT
THE qUEEN is 64 in (5 ft 4 in) — 11 in shorter than her grandson Prince William. STARRING Anthony Hopkins (right) and Jodie Foster, The Silence Of The Lambs won Best Picture in the 64th Oscars. Gene Hackman, who was due to play Hannibal Lecter, dropped out after his daughter said the script was too violent. THE first funicular railway line built in 1880 on an active volcano — Mount Vesuvius — lasted 64 years until it was destroyed by an eruption in March 1944. THE Titanic was capable of carrying 64 lifeboats, but the number was reduced to just 20 so the ship would look less ‘cluttered’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BILL GATES, 60. U.S. computer mogul and philanthropist who co-founded Microsoft in 1975. He is the richest man in the world, but has pledged to give half of his wealth to good causes. The Harvard University drop-out is worth £45 billion. MATT SMITH, 33. The actor best known as the 11th Doctor Who was 26 when he first played the role, making him the youngest Time Lord. An aspiring footballer, he played for Leicester City and Nottingham Forest youth teams until an injury ended his sporting career. JULIA ROBERTS, 48 (right). The Hollywood A-lister won a Best Actress Oscar for Erin Brockovich in 2001. In Pretty Woman (1990), many of the saucier shots were not of Roberts, but body double Shelley Michelle. DAVID DIMBLEBy, 77. The BBC journalist, presenter and question Time host shocked Britain by getting a tattoo of a 3in scorpion on his back. It was inspired by his star sign, but the tattooist gave the scorpion six legs, not the correct eight.
BORN ON THIS DAY
EVELyN WAUGH (1903-1966). The Londonborn novelist and travel writer wrote his most famous book, Brideshead Revisited, in a Devon hotel on unpaid leave during World War II while recovering from a broken leg suffered during parachute training. RICHARD DOLL (1912-2002). The scientist who confirmed the link between smoking and cancer, saving millions of lives around the world. When his research was published in 1950, 80 per cent of the UK population smoked; that figure is down to 18 per cent.
ON OCTOBER 28 . . .
IN 1971, the House of Commons voted for Britain to join the Common Market by a majority of 112. Conservatives Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher voted in favour, while Labour’s Harold Wilson and James Callaghan voted against. IN 1886, U.S. President Grover Cleveland unveiled the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, in New york harbour. IN 1971, Britain’s Black Arrow rocket launched the satellite Prospero into space from Woomera in South Australia to orbit the Earth. It was the first and last launch of a solely British space rocket.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
How come you never see a headline that says: ‘Psychic wins lottery.’
U.S. chat show host Jay Leno
JOKE OF THE DAY
SO HOW does a Hollywood actress pick her nose? From a catalogue.