ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 159 OF 2016
YOU’LL Never Walk Alone by Gerry And The Pacemakers was the UK’s 159th Top 10
No1 in 1963. The song, which became the terrace anthem of Liverpool and Celtic football clubs, was originally from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel — sung by the somewhat aptly named character Nettie Fowler. WHeN Geoff and Judith Coombes, from Southampton, won £1 million in the Lotto Millionaire Raffle last month, they celebrated by splashing out £159 on a new lawnmower. THe ill-fated ship Titanic had 159 coalburning furnaces in its engine room, heating 29 boilers. The steam they generated powered the ship’s three engines.
THERE ARE 207 DAYS LEFT
IT IS 207 years since a woman called Jenny Pipes became the last person in the UK to be punished by ‘ducking’ — strapped into a chair and submerged in a river or pond. Her crime was to have been a ‘common scold’ — akin to an anti-social neighbour today. A BOeING 747 uses around 207 litres of fuel a minute at maximum cruising speed.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
HeLeN BAxeNDALe, 46. The Yorkshire-born actress (pictured) best known as Rachel in Cold Feet and Ross Geller’s girlfriend, wife, then exwife in U. S. comedy Friends. Her three children’s middle names are Marmalade, Mustard and Mash. TOM JONeS, 76. The Pontypridd-born singer, with hits including Delilah and Sex Bomb. Legend has it that when he sang the theme song for the Bond film Thunderball, he tried to hold the final note so long he passed out in the singing booth. LIAM NeeSON, 64. The charismatic Ballymena-born actor known for playing Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List and for starring in the Taken series of films. He is a trained fork-lift truck driver, having driven one while working for Guinness.
BORN ON THIS DAY
PRINCe (1958-2016). The Grammy-winning musician ( pictured), whose hits include Purple Rain and Kiss. The ‘ Parental Advisory: explicit Content’ signs now seen on more risque songs came about after Tipper Gore, wife of U. S. Vice- President Al Gore, heard the lyrics to Prince’s Darling Nikki. DeAN MARTIN (1917-1995). The Rat Pack crooner, famous for his perennial Christmas favourite Let It Snow! His death on Christmas Day 1995 was one of the few occasions when the lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in a sign of respect.
ON JUNE 7th...
IN 1929, Vatican City became an independent nation in its own right, following the ratification of a treaty between Mussolini’s fascist government in Italy and church representatives. It is now the smallest country in the world.
IN 1939, after crossing near Niagara Falls, King George VI became the first British monarch to make an official visit to the United States of America.
IN 1982, elvis Presley’s Memphis home, Graceland, was opened as a tourist attraction almost five years after his death.