ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 186 OF 2016
A PAINTING looted by the Nazis, Max Liebermann’s Two Riders On A Beach, sold for £1.86 million at auction last year — the first of more than 1,200 works found in the Munich apartment of recluse Cornelius Gurlitt to be sold. Gurlitt’s father was an art dealer tasked by Hitler to plunder artworks from museums and Jewish collectors. IN 2013, the Chinese drank 1.86 billion bottles of red wine, making China the leading market for red wine, with France dropping to second place. The Chinese preference for red is less a matter of taste than culture, though, with red considered ‘lucky’ and white associated with death and funerals. THERE are 186 attacks on doctors, nurses and paramedics every day, according to the NHS. Health service workers were subjected to 67,874 assaults last year — 13,000 more than six years ago.
THERE ARE 180 DAYS LEFT
THE farthest head rotation by a mammal is 180 degrees, achieved by the tarsier, a small primate found in the forests and mangroves of south-east Asian islands. The large-eyed primate can do this in each direction. BIBLICAL patriarch Isaac was 180 when he died, according to the Hebrew Bible and the Koran. His father Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born and his mother Sarah was 90.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
IMPRESSIONIST Ronni Ancona, 48 pictured. She is best known for working with Alistair McGowan. The Scots comedienne’s prized possession is a ballet pump worn by Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, given to her greatgrandmother by Anna’s husband in 1931. PRINCE MICHAEL of Kent, 74. The Queen’s first cousin is named after Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, the younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II. In marrying a Roman Catholic in 1978, he lost his place in the line of succession, but was reinstated last year after the 1701 Act of Settlement was repealed.
BORN ON THIS DAY
LEONA HELMSLEY (1920-2007). New York-born hotelier and billionaire dubbed the Queen of Mean for her tyrannical behaviour. In 1989, Helmsley was convicted of federal income tax evasion and jailed. A former housekeeper testified that she’d heard her say: ‘We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes’. In her will, she left her Maltese dog, Trouble, a $12m trust fund. COLIN WELLAND (19342015). Liverpool-born Z-Cars actor and screenwriter, pictured, who won a Bafta for his role as English teacher Mr Farthing in the 1969 film Kes. Before turning to acting, he’d taught art at a secondary modern in Lancashire, where pupils called him ‘Ted’ because of his Teddy Boy curly hairstyle. After turning to writing, in 1982 he won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Chariots Of Fire.
ON JULY 4TH...
IN 1954, Britain’s 14 years of food rationing ended, when the restrictions on the sale of meat were lifted. At a ceremony in Trafalgar Square to mark the occasion, the Minister of Fuel and Power burned a large replica of a ration book. IN 1985, 13-year-old Ruth Lawrence achieved a starred first in Mathmatics at Oxford University. The youngest British person ever to get a first-class degree, she took just two years to complete the three-year course. IN 1995, John Major won the Tory leadership election, having called a vote to try to end deep divisions over Europe.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
‘I THOUGHT I’d start by singing one of Irving Berlin’s songs. Then I thought: Why should I? He never sings any of mine. ’
Spike Milligan, comedian (1918-2002)
JOKE OF THE DAY
TWO cannibals are eating a clown. One says: ‘Does this taste funny to you?’