ON THIS DAY
WHENIT’S DAY astronaut6 OF Alan 2016 Shepard, Commander of Apollo 14, went to the Moon in 1971, he smuggled a makeshift 6 iron on board to hit a couple of golf balls on the lunar surface. A club pro in Houston connected the shaft of a lunar sample scoop to the head of a Wilson iron.A METHUSELAHIt made Shepard is the the first name and givenonly manto a to bottle play that golf holds anywhere6 litres other of than champagne.Earth. In 2014, Methuselahdeal in Tesco branchesfor announced£499 frequented— andit wasby offered London’sselling thea fizz-lovingMELfor 6 decades BLANC,City provided workers.the actorthe voice who of ter lover carrot-lovingBugs of Bunny,the veg. cartoonwas He not charac-a had greata spittoonso when he he couldhad installedto spit bite outin on his them. carrots studio
THERE ARE 360 DAYS LEFT THE Mars,now makingnasahas been Curiosityits taughtway car-sizedacrosshow to the use rover surfaceits robotic robot,of armbe visuallyto take checkeda 360-degreefor any ‘selfie’, damage. so it can FIVE— 360 per million cent peopleof the — world’ssuffer hearing populationloss thatas ‘disabling’.the World But Health only Organisationenough hearing classes aids are ten beingof them. made to meet the needs of one in
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIGELLAcelebrity food LAWSON,writer and 56. daughterThe broadcaster,of former Chancellorwon £1,000 afterof the accepting Exchequera bet nigel from Lawson friends that session. she It couldn’tturns out eat she30 pickledcould. eggs in one SYLVIAQueen, the SYMS, veteran 82. actressIn the played2006 film the The role of Mirren,the Queenwho starred Motheras Elizabeth alongsideII. In Helen fact, there betweenis only Sylvia 11½ and years Helen difference— but 26 in yearsage between their characters in the film. ROWANknown around ATKINSON,the world61. The as comedianMr Bean attendedChorister School Durham — Cathedral’swhose corridors famousand cloisters were used in the Harry Potter films — at the same time as Tony Blair.
BORN ON THIS DAY JOAN OF ARC (1412-1431). The teenage military leader and later Roman Catholic saint who galvanised the 13th- century French in their fight against England was burnt to death at the stake at the age of 19. Centuries later, her iconic hairstyle was the i nspiration for the ‘ bob’ — a haircut that became all the rage in the Roaring Twenties. JOHN DELOREAN (1925-2005). The American engineer left General Motors in the Seventies to set up his own car company, DeLorean Motors, in northern Ireland. It produced just 9,000 cars — one of which was turned into a time machine in the 1985 film Back To the Future. The company went bust in 1982, way before the film was released.
ON JANUARY 6 . . . IN 1066, Harold Godwinson was crowned Harold II. The last Anglo-Saxon King of England, his reign lasted nine months before he was killed at the Battle of Hastings. IN 1540, Henry VIII married his fourth wife, the German Anne of Cleves (right), nicknamed ‘The Flanders Mare’. The marriage was never consummated — in part because Henry found her looks and body odour off-putting.
QUOTE FOR TODAY A good speech should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
JOKE OF THE DAY WHAT lipstick‘Can you did from put the herit on duck localmy say bill?’ shop? when she bought