ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 229 OF 2016
WILLIAM BRADLEY — also known as the Yorkshire Giant — was the tallest British man ever recorded and was born 229 years ago. By 18, he had shot up to 7ft 8in and later used a 5ft 10in walking stick. His teachers punished naughty boys by making Bradley lift them up and put them on high ceiling beams in the classroom until they learned their lesson.
THE original Lord’s Cricket Ground held its first cricket match — between Middlesex and Essex — 229 years ago, the same year Marylebone Cricket Club was founded. Thomas Lord, a cricketer and wine trader, opened the ground in Dorset Fields, now Dorset Square, in Marylebone, around a mile from the present ground.
THERE ARE 137 DAYS LEFT
THE world’s largest collection of traffic cones is owned by David Morgan, who has 137 different types. He has even featured as a pin-up, in The Dull Men’s Calendar. The 74-year-old from the Cotswolds said: ‘Luckily they stack well.’
THE largest speeding fine ever levied was a £180,000 ticket given to an anonymous motorist caught driving a Ferrari Testarossa at 137kph (85mph) in a 80kph (50mph) zone in Switzerland. The fine was so high because the driver was a repeat offender and it was calculated on his wealth of £14 million.
PSALM 137 has the opening line ‘By the rivers of Babylon’, which inspired a composition by Johann Sebastian Bach — and one of Boney M’s biggest hits. A musical interpretation of the verse has also featured in TV series Mad Men.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ULRIKA JONSSON, 49 (right). The Swedish-born former weathergirl and Gladiators presenter had a ‘bit of slap and tickle’ with Prince Edward when he was still single. Her most famous affair was with former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was in a relationship with Nancy Dell’Olio. Jonsson later said: ‘Sex with Sven was as ordered and functional as an ikea instruction manual.’
JAMES CAMERON, 62, director of the two highest-grossing movies so far, Titanic and Avatar, which made £3.86billion between them. in 2013, a new species of frog, Pristimantis james cameroni, from Venezuela, was named after him because of his efforts in environmental awareness.
JOHN CHALLIS, 74. Boycie in Only Fools And Horses, he lives in Wigmore Abbey in Herefordshire, which had ‘wildlife in the living room and ivy growing through the hessian wallpaper’ when he and his wife moved in. it was used in Only Fools spin-off The Green Green Grass, in which he starred with Sue Holderness as wife Marlene.
BORN ON THIS DAY
T. E. LAWRENCE (1888-1935). ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, the British soldier and scholar, was born in Tremadoc, North Wales. The teetotal, vegetarian non-smoker was only 5ft 5in — his height was thought to have been stunted by childhood mumps. This compares with the 6ft 2in of Peter O’Toole, who played him on screen.
ON AUGUST 16...
IN 1977, Elvis Presley died, aged 42. He was found slumped in a bathroom at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
IN 2001, Princess Diana’s former butler and ‘rock’, Paul Burrell, was charged with theft from her estate and from Princes Charles and William. A year later, his trial collapsed after the Queen recalled a conversation in which Mr Burrell told her he was storing some of Diana’s possessions.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I married beneath me, all women do.
Nancy Astor (first female sitting MP, 1879-1964)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY can’t two waiters play tennis? They only want to serve.