ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 205 OF 2015
ONE in every 205 people in England has the surname Jones. In Scotland, it’s one in every 400. In Northern Ireland, it’s one in every 467. However, in the name’s native Wales, it’s one in every 36. THE English language has 205 different ways of spelling its 44 sounds — almost four times more variation than other languages. IN 1906, the Stanley Motor Company built a steam-driven car that set a record speed of 205 km per hour (127 mph). The record stood for more than a century.
THERE ARE 160 DAYS LEFT
CHINA has an estimated 160 more billionaires than Britain (we have 53). THIS year is the 160th anniversary of David Livingstone becoming the first European to see Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. He named the largest sheet of falling water on the planet after Queen Victoria, though Africans already called the falls Mosi- oaTunya (The Smoke That Thunders). THE dog collar is said to have been introduced for clergy 160 years ago by Dr Donald MacLeod, a Church of Scotland minister. THE speed limit for trains in the Channel Tunnel is 160 km per hour (99 mph).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ACTRESS Lynda Carter, 64 (pictured). The former Miss World America became f amous i n the Seventies for her role as Wonder Woman, the DC Comics superheroine. She kept the costume — and it still fits like a glove. ACTRESS and singer Jennifer Lopez, 46. The three-times married star won two Golden Raspberry Awards f or her performance in 2003 film Gigli. One was for worst actress; t he other f or worst on- screen couple along with Ben Affleck, who became her real-life boyfriend after they met on the set. MINISTER for Sport Tracey Crouch, 40. The Ashford-born Conservative MP is a qualified FA f ootball coach, who was barred f r om playing f or t he Tory parliamentary soccer team in 2011 because she was a woman.
BORN ON THIS DAY
AMELIA EARHART ( 1897- 1937). The American aviation pioneer disappeared over the Pacific in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the world. One theory about her fate was that she was captured by the Japanese as a spy. FRENCH writer Alexandre Dumas ( pictured, 1802-1870). Author of The Three Musketeers, he was the grandson of a Haitian slave and a French nobleman. Though married to actress Ida Ferrier, he was thought to have had more than 40 mistresses. SIMON BOLIVAR (1783-1830). The South American revolutionary was instrumental in attaining independence for Venezuela, Bolivia (named in his honour), Ecuador, Peru and Columbia from Spain.
ON JULY 24th . . .
IN 1936, the Post Office began offering a Speaking Clock service to let people know the exact time. The first voice was Ethel Cain, a London telephonist, and the current voice is Sara Mendes da Costa — only the fourth permanent voice since the service began. IN 1534, explorer Jacques Cartier landed in Canada, erected a cross and claimed the whole country for France. IN 1883, Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, drowned trying to swim Niagara Falls.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
SoMe people see the glass half-full. others see it half-empty. I see a glass that’s twice as big as it needs to be. George Carlin, U.S. comedian (1937-2008)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I’M READING a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.