ON THIS DAY
February 5, 2016
IT’S DAY 36 OF 2016
THE 36 residents of the remotest part of the British Isles, the archipelago of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides, were evacuated in 1930 after finding life too isolated. The island is now a nature reserve, home to a colony of gannets.
IT WAS 36 years ago that 56-year-old actor Hugh Laurie, of House and Jeeves and Wooster fame, rowed for Cambridge in the 126th annual Boat Race. His boat narrowly lost after two clashes of oars.
GUY FAWKES was caught with 36 barrels of gunpowder in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament in 1605 — enough to destroy everything within a 40 metre radius.
THERE ARE 330 DAYS LEFT
A GREEK merchant and explorer, Pytheas of Massilia, produced the first written record of the British Isles, having sailed around them between about 330 and 320 BC. The inhabitants, he said, were skilled wheat farmers, usually peaceable — but formidable in war with their horse-drawn chariots.
THE rare element polonium, 330 times more radioactive even than uranium, was discovered by Polish scientist Marie Curie and her husband Pierre in 1898. In 2006, it was used to kill former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, who drank it in a cup of tea laced with the lethal powder.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
CRISTIANO RONALDO, 31. The Real Madrid and Portugal footballer spends 20 per cent of a normal day in his personal spa and all his towels have ‘CR7’ on them — his initials and shirt number. He shares his birthday with Barcelona’s Brazilian striker Neymar, 24, and Argentina and former Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez, 32.
SIR BEN AINSLIE, 39. Born in landlocked Macclesfield, he’s the most decorated sailor in Olympic history, with five medals in five consecutive Games, the first being Silver (1996) and the rest Gold (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012). Nicknamed ‘Beano’, he was the first person to carry the 2012 Olympic torch on its tour around the British Isles.
MICHAEL SHEEN, 47. Welsh actor best known for his uncanny portrayals of Tony Blair, David Frost, Kenneth Williams and Brian Clough. Like Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins, he is from the steel town of Port Talbot. His father worked as a Jack Nicholson lookalike.
BORN ON THIS DAY
FRANK MUIR (1920-1998). Former World War II RAF aerial photographer who went on t o become a comedy writer, raconteur and star of BBC word game Call My Bluff. With his colourful bowties and lisp, he was thought of as rather posh — but in fact he left school at 14 with no qualifications.
HIRAM MAXIM (1840-1916). American-born British inventor who created the Maxim Gun, the first portable fully automatic machine gun. A prolific inventor, he was also responsible for creating the world’s first automatic sprinkler to douse fires.
ON FEBRUARY 5...
IN 1811, the Prince of Wales became Prince Regent after his father, George III, was declared insane. Historians are divided over what caused the king’s illness — it was thought it was a result of the blood disorder porphyria, but new research says his manic episodes suggest he was bipolar.
IN 1824, 12-year-old Charles Dickens was sent out to work, labelling shoe polish bottles.
IN 1988, 3.8 million plastic red noses were sold for the first ever Comic Relief Red Nose Day. The event raised £15 million.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The key to healthy eating is to not eat any food that has its own TV commercial.
U.S. comedian Mike Birbiglia
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S the simplest way to work out if your hair is receding? If it takes you longer to wash your face — it’s receding.