ON THIS DAY
March 29, 2016
IT’S DAY 89 OF 2016
IN 1923 it rained on the Hebridean island of Islay for 89 days in a row — a British record. The Pembrokshire village of Eglwyswrw, near Cardigan, came close to beating that a few months ago, with 85 days of rain. Farmers had reported that even the sheep were ‘looking depressed’ as their fleeces wouldn’t dry out. ON THE popular Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, a cross between Twitter and Facebook, any searches for the number 89 are blocked by the authorities around the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, when hundreds of students in Beijing were massacred by troops.
THERE ARE 277 DAYS LEFT
OFFICIAL records show that between 1951 and 1999, 277 people who have since died turned down an honour from the Queen. They included the artists L.S. Lowry and Francis Bacon, sculptor Henry Moore and authors Evelyn Waugh, Philip Larkin, C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl. THE Grand Canyon in Arizona is 277 miles long and one mile deep. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the deepest canyon in the world — the Barranca del Cobre in Mexico and Hell’s Canyon in Idaho are deeper. A PAIR of signed size 9 Clarks shoes, r i ght, belonging to f ormer Labour leader Ed Miliband sold last November for £277 on the auction site eBay, with proceeds going to charity. Current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s size 11 Flexi leather shoes sold for £415.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ELLE MACPHERSON, 52. For her first film, Sirens ( 1994), the Australian model, nicknamed ‘ The Body’ put on 20lb in weight and posed naked as a period artist’s model. Hugh Grant played the artist. ERIC IDLE, 73. The Monty Python comic’s father Ernest was an RAF airman who was killed in a road accident while on leave and hitch-hiking home to his wife and baby Eric the day before Christmas Eve 1945. JOHN MAJOR, 73. As Prime Minister between 1990 and 1997, he was responsible for starting the Northern Ireland peace process, ending the poll tax, privatising British Rail and introducing the National Lottery. His father, Tom Major-Ball, a music hall performer, trapeze artist and gnome manufacturer, was 64 when his wife, Gwen, gave birth to baby John.
BORN ON THIS DAY
ARTHuR NEGuS, right, (1903-1985). Best known as the first presenter of Antiques Roadshow, and appearing on its forerunner Going For A Song, the antiques expert’s TV career only began when he was 62. RuBy MuRRAy (1935-1996). The Irish vocalist became one of the most popular singers of the Fifties. Her distinctive husky voice was, in part, the result of a throat operation when she was a child.
ON MARCH 29 . . .
IN 1886, a new ‘esteemed brain tonic and intellectual beverage’ was created by an Atlanta pharmacist called John Pemberton. It was called Coca-Cola after two of its ingredients, coca leaves and kola nuts. IN 1974, the Terracotta Army of 8,000 lifesize pottery soldiers, thought to date from the 3rd century BC, were uncovered near Xian in China by farmers digging a well.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
EvEryonE is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses have their bright ideas closer together. Georg Lichtenberg, scientist (1742-1799)
JOKE OF THE DAY
AS I stood in the park I wondered why the frisby was getting bigger and bigger ... then it hit me.