ON THIS DAY
September 8, 2016
IT’S DAY 252...
THE most expensive drum kit ever sold at auction — a five-piece Premier set used by The Who’s Keith Moon from 1968 to 1970 — fetched more than $252,000 (£139,650) at Christie’s in 2004. The anonymous U.S. buyer paid nine times the pre-sale estimate of £15,000. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART composed his first-ever symphony at eight,
252 years ago, in London, where his family settled for a year as part of their ‘grand tour’ of western Europe.
THERE ARE 114 DAYS LEFT
IT TOOK Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt
114 seconds to win his nine gold medals in three Olympic finals — less than two full minutes. Even including the earlier heats, he’s spent just under five and a half minutes running in the Olympics. ENOUGH polos — thehe mint with the hole — aree made every year for each person in Britain to guzzle 114. CANADIAN Kunal Jain holds the record for the loudest tongue click,, generating a sound levelvel reading of 114.2 decibels — more than the average lawnmower (90dB) and car horn (110 dB).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ANNE DIAMOND, 62. The former breakfast television presenter headed a campaign about cot death after losing her own baby Sebastian at four months in 1991. Its advice to put sleeping babies on their backs is thought by some experts to have saved up to 20,000 lives. MARTIN FREEMAN, 45. The Hampshireborn star of TV’s The Office, Sherlock and The Hobbit had asthma as a child and would sometimes faint when singing and dancing for his family — who initially believed it was part of his act. LINDA KRISTIN BENNETT, 54, the London-born businesswoman and founder of upmarket fashion empire LK Bennett is responsible for Theresa May’s most distinctive fashion accessory and, indeed, is known as the ‘queen of the kitten heel’. Bennett is also a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, and designed the shoes the Duchess of Cornwall wore when she married Prince Charles.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIEGFRIED SASSOON (1886-1967, right). The Kentborn World War I poet was given the nickname ‘Mad Jack’ for his near- suicidal behaviour fighting on the Western Front, including the single-handed capture of a German trench. He is then said to have calmy sat down and started reading a book of poems before returning to his own side. He also had a number of affairs with high-profile lovers, including the actor Ivor Novello and German aristocrat Prince Philipp of Hesse. PETER SELLERS (1925-1980). The comic actor started his career as a drummer with several jazz bands. His first business cards said: ‘Peter Sellers, Drums and Impressions.’
ON SEPTEMBER 8...
IN 1664, New Amsterdam was renamed New York after the Dutch surrendered to the British. The name was in honour of the Duke of York, who had organised the mission.
IN 1914, Private Thomas Highgate from Kent became the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during World War I.
IN 1943, Italy’s surrender and signing of an unconditional armistice with the Allies was announced — two months after Benito Mussolini had been ousted from power.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
It’s better to burn out, than to fade away Neil Young, singing legend, still shining brightly at 70
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHO’S the boss of the hankies? the hankie chief.