ON THIS DAY
January 18, 2016
IT’S DAY 18 OF 2016
THe day before Welsh poet dylan Thomas died, he joked: ‘I’ve had 18 straight whiskies — I think that’s a record.’ A serial adulterer, he fell into a fatal coma in a Manhattan hotel, brought on by alcohol, morphine and breathing problems. He was not with his wife Caitlyn, but an American girlfriend. Queen Anne, who ruled england from 1702 to 1714, endured 18 pregnancies. Five children were born alive, but only one survived infancy – William, duke of Gloucester, who died aged 11. BIRMInGHAM’S Spaghetti Junction, officially the Gravelly Hill Interchange, serves 18 routes on five levels, as well as crossing a canal, two railways and a river.
THERE ARE 348 DAYS LEFT
THe words to Amazing Grace, published in 1779, were among 348 texts known as the Olney Hymns, written by John newton. A former slave ship captain, he found God in 1748 after surviving a violent storm at sea. THeRe are 348 people on the waiting list for gender reassignment surgery at london’s Charing Cross Hospital.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
KevIn COSTneR, 61. The Oscar-winning actor and director known for his roles in The untouchables, dances With Wolves and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (right). Before he found fame, he worked at disneyland as a wise-cracking skipper abord the Jungle Cruise ride — a job once held by funnyman Steve Martin. JAne HORROCKS, 52. The Ab Fab actress has mixed feelings about her time at drama school. One easter, she earned extra cash dressing up as Snoopy and parading around Harrods’ linen section. She ended up with glandular fever and had to take half a term off. dAvId BellAMy, 83. The effusive botanist remains an enthusiastic campaigner on the environment but is rarely asked to present Tv shows these days. The reason, he suggests, is his stance that manmade global warming is ‘poppycock’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
A.A. MIlne (1882-1956). The author was inspired to create his famous Winnie-the-Pooh (right) after seeing a Canadian bear called Winnie at london Zoo in the Twenties on a visit with his son Christopher Robin Milne. CARy GRAnT (1904-1986). The Bristol-born Hollywood great was actually born Archibald leach. One of his five wives was Woolworth’s heiress Barbara Hutton, then the richest woman in the world. dubbed ‘Cash and Cary’, their 1942 marriage lasted just three years. OlIveR HARdy (1892-1957). His 25-year partnership with Stan laurel was one of the greatest double acts in cinema history. While acting the parts of escaped convicts on a skyscraper building site for the film liberty, skinny laurel fretted that the girders, 150ft up, were made of wood. To reassure his partner of their safety, 21-stone Hardy jumped onto one girder — only to crash straight through. Fortunately, he fell only 20ft before being saved by a net.
ON JANUARY 18 . . .
In 1778, Captain Cook named the Sandwich Islands (now called Hawaii) in honour of the earl of Sandwich. Cook was killed a year later after a quarrel with the locals. In 1996, a service in Coventry Cathedral marking the motor car’s centenary was disrupted by a naked woman claiming to be lady Godiva, protesting about the thousands of deaths caused by vehicles.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a tiny fortune-teller who kills customers?
A small medium at large.