ON THIS DAY
AUGUST 15, 2015
IT’S DAY 227 OF 2015
IT’S 227 years since William Brodie, by day a respected cabinet maker but by night a burglar, was hanged in front of thousands in Edinburgh. His story was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde. 227g (8oz) was the standard weekly ration of sugar per person in World War II. People were also rationed to 227g of sweets and 227g of jam per month. THOMAS WHITTLE, whose parents were among the first fleet of British emigrants to arrive in Australia in 1788, was the first non-indigenous child to be born in the colony — 227 years ago. THE last time the UK won the Eurovision Song Contest was when Love Shine A Light by Katrina And The Waves received 227 points in 1997. This year we got five points.
THERE ARE 138 DAYS LEFT
THE average British home has 138 books on its shelves, but just over half of them have not been read. BETWEEN 1961 and 1989, 138 East Germans were killed trying to escape to the West over the Berlin Wall. A study into sex lives found that Greeks were he most active with adults having sex an average 138 times a year. The British make love 118 times a year — well ahead of the Japanese at 45.
THERE are 138 known pyramids in Egypt.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ACTOR Sir Tony Robinson, 69. Famous for his role as Baldrick (pictured) in the Blackadder series, he married 30-year- old Laura Hobbs in 2011 and now has a motherin-law, Pamela, who is four years his junior. THE Princess Royal, 65. The only daughter of the Queen, Anne was third in line to the throne when she was born, moved up to second aged two, but is now 12th. HUNGER Games actress Jennifer Lawrence, 25. The American star was the second youngest female to win the Best Actress Oscar (aged 22) for her role in Silver Linings Playbook. The youngest was Marlee Matlin, then 21, for Children Of A Lesser God in 1986.
BORN ON THIS DAY
FRENCH Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1761-1821). Born in Corsica, his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo helped advance dentistry skills, as a glut of healthy teeth from young soldiers killed in battle were made available to the rich and vain in the form of false teeth. BRITISH composer, Samuel ColeridgeTaylor (1875-1912). Famed for his Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, the London-born son of an African doctor and English mother died of pneumonia aged 37. His music was so well regarded by society that George V awarded his wife, Jessie, an annual pension of £100.
ON AUGUST 15TH...
IN 1971, Yorkshireman Harvey Smith (pictured) gave a V-sign to the judges after winning the British Show Jumping Derby and was stripped of his title and the £2,000 prize. The two-finger gesture became known as ‘a Harvey Smith’ in the Seventies. IN 1960, Graham Miller was the first general motorist to buy food at a motorway service station in Britain — on the M1 at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire. Watford Gap services opened in 1959 but was only for lorry drivers. IN 1980, pilot Gerry Breen arrived in Land’s End — four days after leaving John O’Groats by hang-glider.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.
Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY did the scarecrow get a pay rise? His employers thought he was outstanding in his field.