ON THIS DAY
April 23, 2016
IT’S DAY 114 of 2016
ETHEL LANG, the last person in the UK born during the Victorian era, was 114 when she died in January 2015. Ethel, whose lifetime spanned six monarchs, lived in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, all her life. She left school at 13 to work in a shirt factory, never smoked, rarely drank and was a keen dancer right up to the age of 98 when she broke her hip. GREAT PAUL, the bourdon — or lowest sounding — bell in St Paul’s Cathedral, has a diameter of 114 inches. It hasn’t chimed for years due to a broken chiming mechanism. MARMITE, made from yeast extract, was first manufactured in the UK 114 years ago in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. In 2010, a £15,000 statue in the shape of a Marmite jar was put up in the town — it’s now nicknamed the Monumite.
THERE ARE 252 DAYS LEFT
A STUDY asking women to press a button whenever they had a moment of concern about some aspect of their appearance caused by ageing found that the average female over the age of 35 had 252 instances of anxiety a week about their looks. THERE are thought to be 252 people for every cat in Northern Ireland; in feline-friendly Jersey and guernsey there are nine per cat. IN 2014, a collector paid $252,000 (£159,000) for the jacket Madonna wore in her first movie, Desperately Seeking Susan, in 1985. At the same auction, the dress the star wore for her wedding to Sean Penn fetched £51,000.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DEV PATEL, 26, right. The Harrow-born star of films The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Chappie. He had been to India only once before he was cast in Danny Boyle’s 2008 smashhit Slumdog Millionaire, for a family wedding at age six. During its making, he fell in love with his older co- star, Freida Pinto (pictured), and spent six years with her before they split in 2014. JOHN HANNAH, 54. The East Kilbrideborn actor who’s best-known for delivering the tear-jerking eulogy in Four Weddings And A Funeral. More than 20 years on, he says he’s still asked to recite W.H. Auden’s Funeral Blues (Stop All The Clocks). LEE MAJORS, 77, the actor best known for The Six Million Dollar Man. Majors and then girlfriend, Farrah Fawcett, were the inspiration for Midnight Train To georgia. The song was written by Majors’s friend Jim Weatherly, who phoned one evening and was told by Fawcett that he wasn’t home and she was taking a midnight plane to Houston.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SHIRLEY TEMPLE (19282014). The child star (right), who as an adult became a U.S. ambassador and diplomat. In her films she always appeared with exactly 56 curls in her hair. RAY TOMLINSON (19412016). The American computer scientist who, in 1971, wrote a program for ARPANET, the early version of the internet, that allowed users to send the first emails.
ON APRIL 23rd...
IN 1968, the first 5p and 10p decimal coins were introduced in Britain. They were used as one shilling and two shilling coins until Decimal Day finally arrived on February 15, 1971.
IN 2005, the first YouTube video was uploaded by Jawed Karim, the German-Bangladeshi-American co-founder of the video-sharing site. The 18-second Me At The Zoo was filmed in San Diego, California, and has been watched nearly 31 million times.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Not all those who wander are lost. J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WILLIAM Shakespeare walks into a pub, but the landlord shouts at him: ‘I’ve told you before, get out… you’re Bard.’