ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 215 OF 2016
THE shortest man on record stood at just 21.5in. Chandra Bahadur Dangi, from Nepal, who died last year aged 75, was a primordial dwarf. He was shorter than five cans of Coke stacked on top of each other. CHELSEA FC’s wage bill is the highest in the Premier League at £215.6 million a year. Man United is second at £203million, with Manchester City’s £193.9million in third. THE first British census was carried out 215 years ago. It was conducted by clergy and schoolmasters and the population of England and Wales was found to be 8.9 million. Today, it stands at almost 58 million.
THERE ARE 151 DAYS LEFT
THE world’s oldest convicted bank robber was sentenced to 151 months at the age of 92. American J.L. Hunter Rountree pleaded guilty to robbing $1,999 from a bank in Texas in 2003 and died in prison a year later. IN Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift described the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, with impressive accuracy, 151 years before they were actually discovered. It is thought to have been a lucky coincidence. THERE have been 151 recorded laser pen attacks on train drivers in the past three years. Last year, there were 1,439 incidents involving aircraft. Drivers and pilots say the experience is totally disorientating.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SAM WORTHINGTON, 40. The Surrey-born Australian actor took the lead role in Avatar, the highest-grossing film of all time. The star, who was working as a bricklayer when he won a scholarship to drama school, says he is having a flush of success because there’s a shortage of ‘30-plus guys who can take a hit and who are also emotional’. ISABEL ALLENDE, 74. The Chilean-American writer is the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author. Her father was a cousin of Salvador Allende, former president of Chile. She said: ‘Sometimes, men say to me: “I don’t read books by women.” Usually, it’s older men.’ Allende insists on starting every novel on January 8.
BORN ON THIS DAY
PETER O’TOOLE (1932-2013). The star was nominated for a best actor Oscar eight times but never won. When he first met his Lawrence Of Arabia co-star Omar Sharif, he exclaimed: ‘Omar Sharif! Nobody in the world is called Omar Sharif! Your name must be Fred!’ From then on, O’Toole’s name for Sharif was Cairo Fred. ALAN WHICKER (19212013). The presenter of Whicker’s World, who said he had circled the globe ‘at least 97 times’, was once voted ‘ the most envied man in Britain’. Fans formed an Alan Whicker Appreciation Society, with members dressing up as their hero, playing cricket with a ‘Whicker keeper’ and claiming to speak ‘Whickeric’.
ON AUGUST 2ND...
IN 1939, Scientist Albert Einstein signed a letter to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt pushing for the creation of an atomic weapons research programme.
IN 1934, Adolf Hitler became Führer of Germany after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
IN 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, with Saddam Hussein threatening to turn Kuwait City into a ‘graveyard’ if any other country challenged him.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
ALL my friends started getting boyfriends. But I didn’t want a boyfriend, I wanted a 13-colour Biro. Comedian and actress Victoria Wood (1953-2016)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY were Adam and Eve the happiest couple that ever lived? Because they didn’t have in-laws!