ON THIS DAY
August 17, 2015
IT’S DAY 229 OF 2015
Between them, the 53 past British prime ministers have had 229 children. Charles Grey, PM between 1830 and 1834, had the most: 17 children, one of whom was illegitimate. eleven PMs were childless. Over an average lifetime, a person spends the equivalent of 229 working days being delayed by things outside of their control, such as traffic jams and late meetings.
CAROLINE HERSCHEL, sister of the astronomer royal, sir william Herschel, was the first woman to discover a comet, 229 years ago.
THE Himalayas, which includes nine of the world’s top ten highest peaks, cover 229,000 square miles, making it 1,000 times larger than the island of Corfu.
THE 229th Pope, Gregory Xiv (1535-1591), ruled that people who bet on papal elections would be excommunicated.
THERE ARE 136 DAYS LEFT
The BBC bought 136 tv licences for itself last year, at a cost of £19,788.
at THE start of world war ii, there were just 56 ships flying the irish flag. By the end of the war, ireland, a neutral country, had lost 16 ships in unprovoked actions by the Germans with a loss of 136 lives.
THE longest ever tour de France cycle race took place in 1926 and, at a distance of 3,570 miles, was equivalent to 136 marathons.
WHEN Bucks Fizz (right) won the eurovision song Contest singing Making Your Mind Up in Dublin in 1981, they got 136 votes. norway came last with ‘nul points’.
TRAVELLING around the circumference of the Moon at 50 mph would take 136 hours non-stop. to travel around the equator at the same speed would take 498 hours.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
FOOTBALL pundit thierry Henry, 38 (right). the former French i nternational i s an arsenal legend for holding the club record for the most goals scored: 228. His nickname is ‘titi’ — an old French word for apprentice, which has come to mean a youngster with lots of attitude and spirit. OLYMPIC gold medallist ice skater robin Cousins, 58. He has two Guinness world records: the longest axel (rotating) jump, 19 ft 1 in, and the longest back flip on skates, 18 ft.
BROADCASTER John Humphrys, 72. Best known for radio 4’s today programme and Mastermind, the Cardiff-born presenter has started a campaign to ban the word ‘so’ at the start of sentences.
HOLLYWOOD actor robert De niro (72). the taxi Driver star gained 60lb (27kg) to play Jake laMotto in raging Bull — and won the 1981 Oscar for Best actor.
BORN ON THIS DAY
TED HUGHES (1930-1998). Britain’s Poet laureate from 1984 until his death. Both his wife, american poet sylvia Plath, and his mistress assia wevill killed themselves by putting their head in a gas oven.
ACTRESS Mae west (1893-1980). the new York-born star was famous for her saucy one-liners, such as: ‘i’ll try anything once, twice if i like it, three times to make sure.’
ON AUGUST 17
in 1896, Mrs Bridget Driscoll of Croydon became the first British pedestrian killed by a motorcar. in 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, swimmer Michael Phelps won a record eight gold medals, breaking the previous record of seven, held by american Mark spitz for 36 years.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people. If I’m not there, I go to work.
Comedy writer Robert Orben
JOKE OF THE DAY
DID you hear about the man whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.