July 1 2016 ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 183 OF 2016
FTSE 100 chief executives earn 183 times more, on average, than a full-time worker. A study by the High Pay Centre, a think tank which monitors income distribution, revealed that top bosses received an average of £4.97million last year, while an ordinary full-time employee earned £27,195. ALFRED NOBEL, the Swedish instigator of the Nobel Prizes, was born 183 years ago. An armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite, the awards came about thanks to a premature obituary in a French newspaper which announced: ‘The merchant of death is dead.’ Desperate to leave a positive legacy, he decided to bequeath his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.
THERE ARE 183 DAYS LEFT
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, british politician and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade, died 183 years ago. In his late 30s, he met 20-year-old barbara Ann Spooner, proposed to her after eight days and married within six weeks. They went on to have six children in less than ten years. ANTONIO ESFANDIARI holds the record for the greatest prize money won in a poker tournament. A one-time professional magician, in 2012 he bagged $18.3 million (£13.8 million) in Las Vegas.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
FORMER baywatch star Pamela Anderson, 49 (right). The Canadian-born actress and high-profile vegan had early publicity as a newborn, dubbed Canada’s Centennial baby when she was the first to be born on July 1, 1967, the 100th anniversary of Canada’s official founding via the Constitution Act of 1867. ACTOR and comedian Dan Aykroyd, 64. The ontario-born Ghostbusters star was born with heterochromia, meaning his eyes are different colours — his right eye is blue, his left brown. ACTOR Trevor Eve, 65. The Waking The Dead star is married to actress Sharon Maughan, best known for the Nescafe ‘Gold blend Couple’ TV adverts. Their daughter Alice is also an actress. They played father, mother and daughter in U.S. comedy film She’s out of My League.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DIANA, Princess of Wales (1961-1997). Diana failed all her o-levels, twice, and described herself as being ‘as thick as a plank’. She did win a school award for having the ‘best-kept guinea pig’ — her pet Peanuts — and a school cup for ‘helpfulness’. COSMETICS mogul Estée Lauder (19062004). one of the American-born businesswoman’s tricks included spilling her perfume on shop floors. She did this in Paris when a manager of the prestigious Galleries Lafayette was reluctant to place an order. Smelling the scent wafting through the store, customers quickly demanded to know where they could buy it.
ON JULY 1ST...
IN 1987, Geoffrey Collier, one of the City of London’s top investment bankers, received the first conviction for insider dealing, which had become a criminal offence only in 1980. He had been working on the secret takeover of engineering firm AE by Robert Maxwell and made £15,000 in less than an hour. IN 1997, Hong Kong was handed back to Chinese control after more than 150 years of british rule. The last governor, Chris Patten, was driven away in his official Rolls-Royce before the car was delivered to the new Chinese chief executive of the territory. IN 2007, smoking in England was banned in all public indoor spaces.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
HUSBANDS are like fires. They go out when unattended.’ Zsa Zsa Gabor
JOKE OF THE DAY
My FRIEND says I just forward emails without reading them properly. I resent that.