ON THIS DAY
May 11, 2016
IT’S DAY 132 OF 2016
THE Victoria Cross medal awarded to legendary World War I fighter pilot Major Edward Mannock, was auctioned, along with his Military Cross and Distinguished Service Order, for £132,000 in 1992. Mannock, who notched up 73 kills, was awarded more medals for bravery than any other WWI pilot — in spite of less than perfect eyesight. FICTIONAL French Inspector Jules Maigret lived at 132 Boulevard Richard-lenoir. Georges Simenon, Maigret’s Belgian pipesmoking creator, wrote almost 500 novels and claimed to have slept with 10,000 women — though his second wife put the figure at a more modest 1,200. THE U.S. Navy has begun testing a 132-ft prototype drone ship — costing £14 million — that will scour the sea for enemy submarines.
THERE ARE 234 DAYS LEFT
IN 2012, a record 234 climbers scaled Everest on the same day — there was a queue for the summit, with some waiting two hours to get to the top. IN 1988, Greek cycling champion Kanellos Kanellopoulos took 234 minutes to fly a man- powered plane called the MIT Daedalus a distance of 72 miles from Crete to Santorini. Kanellopoulos pedalled at an average speed of 18.5mph.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JEREMy PAxMAN, 66. The yorkshire-born broadcaster ( pictured). He was once sent an incredibly rare World War II Enigma cipher machine as a gift, but he handed it to Bletchley Park (the former centre for wartime code-breaking operations in Britain) which had reported it stolen six months earlier. HOlly VAlANCE, 33. The Australian actress and 2011 Strictly contestant. For her wedding to property millionaire Nick Candy in 2012 she wore a £35,000 couture dress with a 15 ft lace train.
BORN ON THIS DAY
IRVING BERlIN (1888-1989). The Russianborn U.S. songwriter and composer famous for songs including There’s No Business like Show Business. Berlin also wrote White Christmas, even though he was Jewish. SAlVADOR DAlI (1904-1989). The Spanish surrealist painter ( pictured) was born exactly nine months after the death of his older brother — also called Salvador. At the height of the Spanish Civil War, Dali worked in Hollywood with Harpo Marx on a film for the Marx Brothers called Giraffes On Horseback Salad — one scene required Harpo to use a butterfly net to collect the 18 smallest dwarfs in the city. The film was never made.
ON MAY 11th...
IN 1927, with just 230 members, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed in los Angeles. One of its first committees suggested it might be a good idea to hold an annual award ceremony — and the Oscars was born.
IN 1981, a soon to be record-breaking musical called Cats made its premiere in london’s West End — it was supposed to have starred Judi Dench, but she injured her achilles tendon in rehearsals and was replaced by Elaine Paige.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old. James A. Garfield, 20th U.S. President
JOKE OF THE DAY
What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.