ON THIS DAY
November 29, 2016
IT’S DAY 334 . . .
THE last people executed for witchcraft were hanged 334 years ago. Following the Bideford witch trial in Devon, Temperance Lloyd, Susannah Edwards and Mary Trembles were put to death. Modern-day Labour MP for Exeter Ben Bradshaw backed an unsuccessfiul campaign for the women to be pardoned three years ago. A guitar Elvis Presley was given by his father sold for $334,000 in May. It is thought Vernon Presley added a black finish to the gibson Dove guitar after Elvis earned his black belt in karate.
THERE ARE 32 DAYS LEFT
A PARSON Russell terrier from Hertfordshire holds the world record for the most doggy tricks in one minute. Six-year- old Smurf performed 32 tricks in 60 seconds last year, including walking on his hind paws, twisting in a circle, limping, begging, bowing — and even making a cup of tea. ALBERT EINSTEIN gave his $32,000 Nobel Prize money to his first wife, physicist Mileva Maric, as part of their divorce settlement of 1919. It’s been suggested Albert ( right) felt indebted to Mileva, who helped him with some of his most crucial work. THE shortest frontier in the world between two sovereign countries is that of the Holy See or Vatican City in Rome, Italy, which measures just 3.2km (1.9 miles).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SIMON AMSTELL, 37. The Essex-born comedian and former presenter of BBC2 panel show Never Mind The Buzzcocks did his first stand-up gig at 13 and has since said of his chosen career path: ‘That’s a peculiar thing to want to do. There’s something wrong with that kid, I think.’ jacques CHIRAC, 84. The former French president was renowned for changing his ideology and was nicknamed La girouette — the weathervane. In 2005, he declared that Finland had the worst food in Europe, then added of the British: ‘One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
C.S. LEWIS (1898-1963). The author of The Chronicles Of Narnia (right) was born Clive Staples Lewis and fought at the Battle of the Somme. He said the world of Narnia ‘all began with a picture of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about 16. Then one day, I said to myself: “Let’s try to make a story about it”.’ LOUISA MAY ALCOTT (1832-1888). The American writer best known for Little Women, though she also penned racier pulp fiction, featuring incest, transvestites and drug addicts. Like her book’s protagonist Jo March, Alcott was a tomboy and said: ‘No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race, and no girl if she refused to climb trees and leap fences.’
ON NOVEMBER 29...
IN 1947, the United Nations passed a resolution calling for the partition of Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states.
IN 1961, Enos the chimpanzee was launched into space aboard Mercury Atlas 5. He was the second chimp in space but the first to orbit Earth — he travelled twice around the planet before returning home safely.
IN 2001, Beatle george Harrison died from cancer at the age of 58. Sir Paul McCartney said: ‘He is really just my baby brother. I loved him very much and I will miss him greatly.’
QUOTE FOR TODAY
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval George Santayana, Spanish-born philosopher (1863-1952)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT kind of paper likes modern music? Wrapping paper.