LEAP YEAR DAY

■ Today comes around just once every four years, but why and what is special about February 29… and what happened in previous years? ❑ Each year is 365 days long. Not quite – each year is actually slightly less than 365¼ days in length.

❑ An extra day is added to the calendar every four years to ensure the Earth keeps in step with the seasons.

❑ Leap Year Day is the day on which women can propose to men. It doesn’t always go well. In 1727, spinster Helen Morrison advertised for a husband in the Manchester Weekly Journal. Such was the outrage caused by her ad, the mayor had Miss Morrison committed to a lunatic asylum for a month. ❑ People born on February 29 usually celebrate their birthday on February 28.

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Billy the Kid’s killer Sheriff

Pat Garrett was shot dead on this day in 1908 in a row over goats. Despite shooting Garrett in the back, the killer, Jesse Brazel, was acquitted.

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Agadir was struck by an earthquake on February 29 in 1960, killing 12,000-15,000 people, including many European tourists, in less than 15 seconds.

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The Moroccan city was evacuated two days after the quake to prevent diseases spreading and many corpses were doused in paraffin and set alight. In total about 80% of the conurbation was destroyed.

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Hugh Hefner opened his first Playboy Club on this day in 1960. The “30 most beautiful girls in Chicagoland” were hired to “decorate” the venue.

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Everything in the first club, which was located in Chicago, cost $1.50. Bunnies’ husbands and blokes had to collect them two blocks away.

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Gone With The Wind triumphed at the 12th Oscars today in 1940. The film won eight awards but not one recipient thanked Margaret Mitchell who wrote the original book. She wanted her favourite actor to play the lead Rhett Butler – Groucho Marx. The final choice Clark Gable lost out on Best Actor to Robert Donat in Goodbye Mr Chips.

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On February 29, 1972, John Lennon’s US immigration visa expired and the ex-Beatle began a four-year fight to get permanent residency in America.

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The US Government tried to deport Lennon as an undesirable but he finally won his fight the day before his 35th birthday and was given his green card in 1976.

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Composer Gioachino Rossini was born today in 1792. He wrote his first opera at 18 but his second one was closed by the police for obscenity. He loved food so much he had to have a section of his dining room table cut away to accommodate his paunch.

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He is probably best known for composing the William Tell Overture – better known as the Lone Ranger theme tune.