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4 November 2011
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^ WORD OF THE WEEK
Petrescence |
Friday 4 November - The River Arno flooded, causing major damage in Florence, Italy, 1333; it would flood again on this day in 1966. Scientist Rasmus Bartholin died, 1698. Engineer Pierre-Simon Girard born, 1765. The University of Washington opened in Seattle, as the Territorial University, 1861. Composer Felix Mendelssohn died, 1847. Humorist Will Rogers born, 1879. Dr Jane Goodall recorded the first observation of a non-human animal - chimpanzees - creating tools, 1960. Actor Matthew McConaughey born, 1969. Author Michael Crichton died, 2008. Saturday 5 November - Meistersinger Hans Sachs born, 1495. Artist Mariotto Albertinelli died, 1515. The Gunpowder Plot was foiled when Guy Fawkes and a quantity of gunpowder were discovered in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament, 1605. Poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox born, 1850. American suffragette Susan B. Anthony defied the law and voted, later being fined $100, 1872. Physicist James Clerk Maxwell died, 1879. Actress Elke Sommer born, 1940. British forces won the Second Battle of El Alamein, 1942. Film director/producer Roy Boulting died, 2001. Guy Fawkes Night (aka Bonfire Night) in the UK, New Zealand and the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador. Sunday 6 November - Conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first known European to set foot in Texas, 1528. Poet Louis Racine born, 1692. Empress Catherine II of Russia, Catherine the Great, died, 1796. Actor Jonathan Harris born, 1914. The end of the Third Battle of Ypres, as Canadian forces took Passchendaele after three months of fighting, 1917. The Hawker Hurricane fighter made its maiden flight, 1935. Composer Edgard Varèse died, 1965. Model and charity marathon runner Nell McAndrew born, 1973. Steeplejack Fred Dibnah died, 2004. Monday 7 November - The oldest meteorite with a known impact date, the Ensisheim Meteorite, hit the earth outside Ensisheim, France, 1492. Inventor and submarine pioneer Cornelius Jacobszoon Drebbel died, 1633. Antiquarian William Stukeley born, 1687. The brigantine Mary Celeste sailed from New York; it would be found deserted but still under sail on December 4th, 1872. Revolutionary Leon Trotsky born, 1879. Naturalist and independent developer of the theory of evolution Alfred Russel Wallace died, 1913. 'Galloping Gertie', the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in a windstorm, 1940. Singer-songwriter Sharleen Spiteri born, 1967. Actor Steve McQueen died, 1980. Tuesday 8 November - Mystic Julian of Norwich born, 1342. Oxford University's Bodleian Library opened, 1602. Gunpowder Plot leader Robert Catesby killed, 1605. Game manufacturer Milton Bradley born, 1836. Gunfighter Doc Holliday died, 1887. Led Zeppelin released their untitled fourth album including the songs Stairway to Heaven and The Battle of Evermore, 1971. Actress Tara Reid born, 1975. Illustrator Norman Rockwell died, 1978. The Provisional IRA bombed a ceremony at Enniskillen honouring those killed in war, in the Remembrance Day Bombing, 1987. Lady Louise Windsor born to Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, 2003. Wednesday 9 November - The Mayflower Pilgrims sighted Cape Code, 1620. Historian William Camden died, 1623. Astronomer Benjamin Banneker born, 1731. Cartographer and artist Paul Sandby died, 1809. The Great Boston Fire of 1872, 1872. Architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott born, 1880. Poet Dylan Thomas died, 1953. Baritone Bryn Terfel born, 1965. The European Space Agency's Venus Express probe launched, 2005. Thursday 10 November - King George II of Great Britain born, 1683. Shawnee chief Cornstalk was killed, 1777. The French Convention proclaimed a Goddess of Reason, 1793. Composer Arthur Goring Thomas born, 1850. Henry Morton Stanley located explorer Dr David Livingstone in Ujiji, greeting him with "Dr Livingstone, I presume?", 1871. Poet Arthur Rimbaud died, 1891. Actor Roy Scheider born, 1932. The first iPods went on sale, 2001. Film producer Dino De Laurentiis died, 2010.
This week, Roger Ebert:Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly.
A mixed bag of quotations. Answers next issue or from the regular address.Last issue's quotations were:
- C'mon Hector, the MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives.
- Fly as you want. Griffin! I swallowed an ogre whole. You could be next!
- Don't that picture look dusty?
- Here's my day so far: went to jail, lost the girl of my dreams and got my butt kicked pretty good. Still, things could be a lot worse. Oh, that's right... I'm falling to my death. Guess they can't. How did it all come to this? Well, my end starts at the beginning... The very beginning!
- Good Lord, Lawrence! Why are you slapping a monkey?
- Every kid in Haddonfield thinks this place is haunted.
-- Halloween [1978]- Who am I? The beer wench?
-- Scream [1996]- Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!
-- Frankenstein [1931]- I can't be her mother...I don't know how to be myself!
-- Dark Water [2005]- This house has many hearts.
-- Poltergeist [1982]
Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...
BRAINSSS... MORE BRAINSSS... Phoenix, Arizona and Long Beach, California were both overrun by zombies last week, as people dressed as undead ghouls took part in Zombie Walk [Shuffle? - Ed] 3. The current record for participation in the event is held by Seattle, Washington, where 4,700 zombies gather for an earlier Zombie Walk, but Long Beach was keen to beat it and had representatives from Guinness World Records on hand; they are currently reviewing the numbers.
IS THERE ANYONE THERE? WOOF ONCE FOR YES... Paranormal researchers given permission to investigate the former RAF Scampton air base, now an historical museum, claim to have made contact with the ghost of Guy Gibson's dog. Gibson, who led the Dambusters raid from Scampton in 1943, suffered the loss of his dog Nigger (renamed Digger, for political correctness, in the upcoming film remake) in a road accident shortly before taking off for the Ruhr dams, and left instructions for the dog to be buried outside his office at midnight. Since then there have been several claimed sightings of a spectral black dog at the base.
IT WAS RAINING... Retired meteorologist Jim Rothwell has spent the last twenty years analysing data for central England from over 40 different sources to produce a weather record for the region stretching from 56 BCE to the present day. Rothwell, 80, who worked for the Met Office for 38 years believes his work will be of interest to anyone wanting to put historical events into the context of the weather at the time.
POST OFFICE PLANS SEVEN YEAR DELIVERY TIME... China's state-run post office is attempting to curb the increasing divorce rate in the country by promoting a service to let newly-weds write letters to each other, which will be sealed and delivered seven years later to remind them of why they got married. The post office is hoping that the scheme will make couples thinking of divorcing re-evaluate their relationship, and are also producing postcards, stamps and a 'Love Passport' that couples can have stamped on every anniversary. Couples who divorce within seven years and fail to notify the post office will still receive their letters...
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FOLLOW-UP. The 8-foot 100lb Lego man washed up in Florida and reported on in the last Irregular has been taken into police custody. The local tourism board had wanted to use it to promote the area but the local sheriff nixed the idea, saying that his office would hold the sculpture for 90 days like any other lost-and-found items.
BBC extends deal with All England Lawn Tennis Club to cover Wimbledon until at least 2017. Ben Cooper new controller of Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra. X Factor band Rhythmix agree to rename as Little Mix after name clash with disability charity. Strictly still out-rating X Factor. Rihanna forced to cancel Swedish gigs by 'flu. Red Hot Chili Peppers to play Knebworth gig next June. Steve Martin to publish book collection of tweets to raise money for charity. Adele told to cancel all remaining live gigs for 2011 to allow her throat to recover. Riot and fraud charges follow cancellation of Metallica gig in Delhi, India. Sir Peter Hall, son Edward among winners at Theatre Awards UK. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tyrannosaur, Shame, We Need to Talk about Kevin among British Independent Film Awards nominations. Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello to receive MTV O Music Award for performance at Occupy Wall Street demos. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn tops UK box office ahead of Paranormal Activity 3 and Johnny English Reborn. Pete Townsend uses inaugural BBC 6 Music John Peel Lecture to criticise Apple for stifling new bands and bleeding artists like a "digital vampire". Ted Hughes memorial stone to be placed in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner. Megan Fox to make Broadway debut during 24 Hour Plays event. SeeSaw UK on-demand TV streaming site shut down after less than two years after major networks pulled their content in favour of their own catch-up services. Minecraft wins GameCity arts award. Title of next James Bond film to be Skyfall. Klimt 1915 landscape looted by Nazis and recently returned to then-owner's relative auctions for US$40.4m (£25.4m). ITV recommissions Downton Abbey for third series. Lindsey Lohan sentenced to 30 days in prison. X Factor USA gets second series. UK library visits down 7.5m. US federal appeals court rules CBS shouldn't be fined over Janet Jackson 2004 "wardrobe malfunction" incident. Hugh Grant is a father; so (allegedly) is Justin Bieber - after a 30-second backstage quickie... Obits: US radio personality Tom Keith (64), DJ Sir Jimmy Saville (84), film producer Richard Gordon (85), singer Beryl Davis (87), actor Leonard Stone (87).
Video artist and designer Ahree Lee has taken a head shot of herself every day since 2001, and composited almost four years' worth of images into Me, an award-nominated 2½-minute short film. Here it is.http://www.ahreelee.com/film/me_film.html
^ THE AMAZING NOT-QUITE-RANDOM LOTTERY PREDICTOR!
Dumbledore Bear, our in-house psychic predicts that the following numbers will be lucky:14, 18, 19, 33, 34, 38
Little Jennifer's Aunt Agatha had come to tea, and Little Jennifer was bored, her situation not helped by the facts that she had been told to wear the hideous dress Aunt Agatha had given her for her last birthday, and that Aunt Agatha had eaten three big pieces of the chocolate cake her mother had made while Little Jennifer had only been allowed one small slice. Aunt Agatha licked the chocolate off her fingers, beamed at Little Jennifer, and asked, "Now tell me, Little Jennifer, what will you be doing when you're as big as me?"
Little Jennifer though for a moment before smiling politely, and her parents looked nervously at each other. "I'll be on a diet!"