ON THIS DAY
IT’S DAY 281 . . .
in hit 2013 film the Wolf Of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the F-word is used 506 times — an average of 2.81 times every minute. this means the film, about disgraced stock broker Jordan Belfort, is the mainstream movie with the most swear words ever released. ENGLISH artist William hogarth’s landmark series of eight paintings A Rake’s Progress was engraved and published in print form 281 years ago. it tells the fictional story of tom Rakewell, who inherits a fortune before following a path of vice to prison and madness.
THERE ARE 85 DAYS LEFT
At 85 characters long, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the longest place name found in any Englishspeaking country. Shortened to taumata, it is the Maori name for a hill located close to Porangahau in new Zealand. Roughly translated, it means: ‘the summit where tamatea, the man with big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one.’ ARNOLD Schwarzenegger (right) was paid more than $85,000 just to say ‘hasta la vista, baby’ in the sci-fi sequel terminator 2: Judgment Day, in which he spoke just 700 words and picked up a pay cheque for $15 million for his role as a cyborg sent back in time to protect a teenage boy. THERE are 85 ways to knot a tie, according to a 1999 Cambridge University study. however, most looked unsightly, with only six deemed visually appealing enough to use. in 2014, a Swedish mathematician at the Royal institute of technology in Stockholm reassessed the evidence and found there are 177,147 possible ways.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
CLIVE JAMES, 77. the Australian-born tv critic, presenter, novelist and Formula 1 fan, right, once said: ‘Even in moments of tranquillity, Murray Walker sounds like a man whose trousers are on fire.’ James said he is ‘embarrassed’ to still be alive, two years after predicting his imminent death from leukaemia, during which he has become an avid fan of the great British Bake Off. DESMOND TUTU, 85. the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape town, who fought to end apartheid in South Africa, says his guiltiest pleasure is ‘flirting’ and his worst habit is ‘gobbling my food’. in honour of the nobel Peace Prize winner, a 2:2 degree is often referred to by students as a ‘Desmond’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR HAROLD KROTO (1939-2016). the English chemist won the nobel Prize jointly with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley, for their discovery of forms of carbon — fullerenes — in which the atoms are arranged in the form of a ball. Possible applications range from rocket fuel to drugs for treating Aids. growing up in Bolton, Kroto played the Duke of York to ian McKellen’s henry v in a school play.
ON OCTOBER 7th . . .
IN 1919, Dutch airline KLM was established — it is the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij). IN 1977, 90 sets of twins in matching outfits who were taking part in a Swedish academic study sailed to Felixstowe, Suffolk, on the ‘twins cruise’ for a shopping trip.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A WOMAN must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction Virginia Woolf, English novelist (1882-1941)
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW did Captain Kirk ruin his vinyl records? He played them all at warp speed.