ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 138 of 2016
MRS THATCHER, the longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century, was in the job for 138 months. Every year, Margaret Thatcher Day is celebrated in the Falkland Islands on January 10, the anniversary of her first visit.
Romantic novelist Catherine Cookson sold an average of 138 books for every hour of her 91 years — that’s more than 110 million — making her, for many years, the ‘most-borrowed’ writer across UK libraries.
IN 2013, the finance minister of Zimbabwe announced that after paying its civil servants that month, the country would have just £138 in its state bank account.
THERE ARE 228 DAYS LEFT
THE British raid on the Nazi-fortified docks at the French port Saint-Nazaire in World War II involved 611 men — of whom only 228 returned home; the rest were killed or taken prisoner. But they put the dry-dock permanently out of action, depriving the German navy of a base to service its battleships.
THE fastest speed a caravan has ever been towed was 228 kph (142 mph), by Jason Sands in California’s Mojave Desert in August 2012. The only change to the standard caravan was tyres with a racing tread.
THE average hen lays 228 eggs a year. A fake ‘egg’ left in a nesting box will encourage them to deposit eggs there. In America, a chicken-owning couple who did just that using golf balls attracted a hungry snake, who ate the ‘eggs’ and needed emergency surgery.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
PAUL WHITEHOUSE, 58. The Rhondda-born comedian and actor (pictured), most familiar from the sketch comedy series The Fast Show, met its co-writer, Charlie Higson, at university. While working as fellow decorators in their early days, they once did up the house where Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie lived.
RONALD WAYNE, 82. In 1976, the now retired electronics engineer helped form the company Apple Computer. He owned 10 per cent — but decided to sell his share for $800 after just a couple of weeks. Today, that share would be worth at least $53 billion.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DENNIS HOPPER (1936-2010). The Hollywood ‘bad boy’ actor began his film career in James Dean’s Rebel Without A Cause and found fame in Easy Rider. Wed five times, his marriage to The Mamas & The Papas singer Michelle Phillips in 1970 lasted eight days.
MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN (1911-98). The Irish actress is best remembered for playing Jane opposite Johnny Weissmuller (pictured together) in a series of Tarzan films. In 1986, she starred alongside her daughter — Mia Farrow — in the film Hannah And Her Sisters, directed by Farrow’s then partner Woody Allen.
ON MAY 17 . . .
IN 1861, Thomas Cook arranged the world’s first overseas package holiday, for a party of working men to visit Paris.
IN 1883, William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody staged the first ‘Wild West’ show — featuring gunslinging and horsemanship. He later brought it to Britain and performed for Queen victoria, who wrote in her diary that it was ‘most exciting’.
IN 1943, 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson led 617 Squadron on their famous Dambusters raid on the Eder and Mohne dams in the Ruhr, Germany.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror. Orson Welles (1915-85)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT exercise do lazy people like? Diddly-squats.