ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 245 OF 2015
THE world’s smallest breed of dog is named after the largest Mexican state, Chihuahua, which — at 245,000 sq km — is just slightly larger than the UK. THE first modern Olympics, in Athens in 1896, involved 245 athletes from 13 countries. The Summer and Winter Games now comprise more than 10,000 athletes. A THIRD of women buy new clothes every time they go on holiday, with the average spend being £245 on each occasion.
THERE ARE 120 DAYS LEFT
THE Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, built to honour Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert after his death from typhoid in 1861, cost £120,000 (about £10 million in today’s money) to build and was funded entirely by public subscription. MARGARET THATCHER was rarely slow to make known her views. Yet, curiously, she didn’t make her maiden speech as an MP until 120 days after entering Parliament. WHEN Ronnie Biggs and the rest of the Great Train Robbers pulled off their heist in 1963, they stole 120 mailbags filled with £2.6 million in cash (the equivalent of £48.6 million today).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MOIRA STUART, 66. The veteran newsreader and Chris Evans’s sidekick on his Radio 2 breakfast show once appeared as Ronnie Corbett’s drug dealer in the Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant TV series Extras. JIMMY CONNORS, 63 (pictured). The former tennis ace was engaged to fellow American Chris Evert in 1974, the year they both won Wimbledon, but the relationship broke up in bitterness. To her fury, Connors later revealed why — mutual infidelity and her abortion against his wishes. KEANU REEVES, 51. Best known for his roles in Point Break and the Matrix franchise, his first stint on camera was as a cyclist in a Coca-Cola commercial shortly after he left high school.
BORN ON THIS DAY
AMERICAN musician Billy Preston (19462006). A child prodigy on keyboards, he went on to be the only artist to get a joint credit on an officially sanctioned Beatles recording — 1969’s Get Back. He also appeared as Sgt Pepper in Robert Stigwood’s 1978 film Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. BILL SHANKLY (1913-81). The legendary Liverpool football manager ( pictured) famously said: ‘People believe football is a matter of life and death . . . I can assure you it’s much more important than that.’ On the announcement of his death, the Labour Conference, in Brighton, held a minute’s silence.
ON SEPTEMBER 2 . . .
IN 1980, former policeman, poet, and voice of cricket, John Arlott, was behind the microphone for his final Test, the Centenary Match at Lord’s against Australia.
IN 1666, the Great Fire of London, which destroyed more than 13,000 buildings (including the first St Paul’s Cathedral), started accidentally at George Farriner’s bakery in Pudding Lane. It raged for four days, but only eight people were recorded as having been killed.
IN 1995, Frank Bruno beat American Oliver McCall to take the WBC World Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for just six months before losing it to Mike Tyson.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I don’t know what art is, but I do know what it isn’t. And it isn’t someone walking around with a salmon over his shoulder or embroidering the name of everyone they have slept with on the inside of a tent.
Art critic, Brian Sewell
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHERE are average things made?
In the satisfactory.