ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 152 of 2016
During the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, new York, 152 spectators sought treatment for suspected frostbite after a transport mix-up meant crowds were stuck in sub-zero conditions for hours after the athletes had competed and left. BETWEEN them, the 43 Presidents of the united States have had 152 children. John tyler, who was in office from 1841-1845, had the most — 15 with two wives.
THERE ARE 214 DAYS LEFT
When the Statue of Liberty was shipped from France to new York aboard the isere in 1885, it was packed in 214 wooden crates. A gift to the u.S. from the French people, France financed the 46-metre high statue and the Americans built and financed the 47-metre pedestal. WAINWRIGHTS is the name given to the
214 fells (hills and mountains) described in Alfred Wainwright’s legendary seven-volume Pictorial guide to the Lakeland Fells, published in the mid-Fifties. More than two million copies of the guides have been sold worldwide.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JOHN PRESCOTT, 78 (pictured), the Prestatyn-born Labour deputy prime minister from 1997 to 2007. he was an amateur boxer in his youth and during the 2001 election responded with a left to the jaw when a protester threw an egg at him. in 1983, he swam the thames from chelsea to Westminster to protest at the dumping of nuclear waste in the sea. COLIN FARRELL, 40. the Dublin-born Ballykissangel actor is now a leading hollywood star thanks to films such as Phone Booth and Alexander. he began his career as a line dancing instructor in Dublin and in 1993 auditioned for boyband Boyzone — but was rejected as ‘tone-deaf’. CLINT EASTWOOD, 86. the hollywood A-list actor and director, who has been on our screens for seven decades since his first starring role as rowdy Yates in u.S. TV Western series rawhide. Married twice, he has seven children by five women.
BORN ON THIS DAY
LYNDA BELLINGHAM (1948-2014). the canadianborn British actress (pictured), best known for her 16-year run of TV commercials as the gravy-making ‘Oxo mum’, later became a regular panellist on Loose Women. She later admitted she did use Oxo when making gravy, but her real secret was to add half a pint of sherry to the mix. DENHOLM ELLIOTT ( 1922- 92). the ealing-born actor enjoyed scene- stealing roles in films such as A room With A View, trading Places, raiders Of the Lost Ark and indiana Jones And the Last crusade. his love of acting formed when he took up amateur dramatics during his years as a POW in germany during World War ii, after his bomber was shot down over the north Sea in 1942.
ON MAY 31...
IN 1859, the great clock on Big Ben started telling the time. the great Bell and the quarter bells chimed later that year. IN 1669, bad eyesight forced Samuel Pepys to give up his diary. he was just 36. IN 1941, the Luftwaffe mistakenly bombed Dublin in the neutral republic of ireland. twenty-eight people were killed. IN 1998, geri halliwell, aka ginger Spice, announced she was leaving the Spice girls.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. Novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
JOKES OF THE DAY
WHY do sailors never learn the alphabet? Because they get stuck at sea for years.