Issue ^#787 - 4^th October 2024

Edited by and copyright ©2024 Simon Lamont
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tfir@simonlamont.co.uk

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Unless otherwise indicated dollar values are in US dollars. Currency conversions are at current rates at time of writing and may be rounded.
The Friday Irregular uses Common Era year notation.

^{^} ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Friday 4th October     - Day 278/366		-		Artist Lucas Cranach the Younger born, 1515. English and Dutch galleons defeated a Spanish fleet in the English Channel, 1602. Engineer John Rennie the Elder, designer of the Waterloo Bridge in London, died, 1821. Opera singer Jenny Twitchell Kempton born, 1835. The Orient Express ran for the first time, 1883. Poet Anne Sexton died, 1974. The start of World Space Week. World Animal Day.
Saturday 5th October     - Day 279/366		-		King Alfonso VII of León and Castile signed the Treaty of Zamora, recognising Portugal as a kingdom, 1143. Philosopher and writer Denis Diderot born, 1713. Composer Jacques Offenbach died, 1880. "Love Me Do", the Beatles' first single, was released in the UK, 1962. Golfer Laura Davies born, 1963. Actress Gloria Grahame died, 1981. World Teachers' Day.
Sunday 6th October     - Day 280/366		-		Ermentrude of Orléans, Queen consort of West Francia, died, 869. Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premiered in Florence, 1600. Soprano Jenny Lind born, 1820. Poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson died, 1892. The Jazz Singer, the first prominent "talkie" motion picture, opened, 1927. Cricketer and commentator Richie Benaud born, 1930.
Monday 7th October     - Day 281/366		-		Roman politician Drusus Julius Caesar born, 14 BCE. Charles the Simple, former King of West Francia and of Lotharingia, died, 929. Uppsala University in Sweden was inaugurated, 1477. Author and American patriot Ann Eliza Smith born, 1819. Léon Gambetta escaped the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, in a hot air balloon, 1870. Architect Beatrice Hutton died, 1990.
Tuesday 8th October     - Day 282/366		-		Tartar rule over Moscow ended with the Great Stand on the Ugra River, 1480. Princess Sophia Albertina of Sweden born, 1753. Novelist and playwright Henry Fielding died, 1754. George Stephenson's locomotive Rocket completed the Rainhill trials, 1829. Chef Albert Roux born, 1935. Soprano Kathleen Ferrier died, 1953.
Wednesday 9th October     - Day 283/366		-		The earliest-known record of the Prague astronomical clock, 1410. Abolitionist Mary Ann Shadd, the first black female publisher in North America, born, 1823. Historian George Ormerod died, 1873. Actor and screenwriter Chris O'Dowd born, 1979. The musical The Phantom of the Opera opened in London, 1986. Writer and U.S. Ambassador to Italy [1953-56] Clare Boothe Luce died, 1987. World Post Day.
Thursday 10th October     - Day 284/366		-		The crew of Columbus' ship Santa Maria attempted a mutiny, 1492. Artist Jean-Antoine Watteau born, 1684. Mathematician and astronomer David Gregory died, 1708. Major construction of the Panama Canal was completed with the destruction of the Gamboa Dike, 1913. Singer-songwriter Kirsty McColl born, 1959. Tennis player Charlotte Cooper died, 1966. World Mental Health Day. World Day Against the Death Penalty. World Porridge Day.

^{^} THE WISDOM OF...

This week, Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.

^{^} FILM QUIZ

A selection of quotations from films containing the word 'October' in the title, either as a whole word or part of a word. Answers next issue or from the regular address.

• Sure Dr. Von Braun is a great scientist, but he isn't my hero.
• Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary - The American Navy. For forty years, your fathers before you and your older brothers played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage.
• I have so many unanswered questions, questions I feel but can't even begin to speak because there are no words to express them.
• - Looking for moths again?
  - Moths? No. I was looking for a boot.
• I didn't give up! I didn't give up!

Last issue's 'business' quotations were from:

• Time is a funny thing. When I was a kid, the days lasted forever. But the years, well, they went by so fast.
      -- The Boss Baby 2: Family Business [2021]
• Miss Laurel was just showing me her acetates.
      -- Monkey Business [1952]
• I don't believe this! I've got a trig midterm tomorrow, and I'm being chased by Guido the killer pimp.
      -- Risky Business [1983]
• You're just wasting your breath, and that's no great loss either.
      -- Monkey Business [1931]
• I don't see how is it that you, my own sister, can stuff your face and nothing happens and I subsist on 60 calories a day or else blow up like a Macy's Day float!
      -- Big Business [1988]

^{^} WEIRD WORLD NEWS

Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...

• Firefighters in Cumbria were called in recently to rescue a bullock that had become trapped in a sinkhole. They worked with heavy plant operators and the farmer to pull the animal, called Cinnamon, to safety uninjured. ● Fifteen pine martens, cat-sized members of the weasel family, have been released on Dartmoor, Devon. The species is thought to have become extinct in the wild in the county more than 100 years ago, due to the loss of their woodland habitat. The fifteen were taken from healthy populations in Scotland. ● A woman returning to south Wales from Guyana in South America unknowingly brought two unusual hitchhikers back with her. They went unnoticed for three months until her daughter, ecologist Daisy Cadet, saw two clearwing moths on a windowsill. Thinking they were a native UK species she posted a picture on social media which reached Mark Sterling and David Lees, the moth experts at the Natural History Museum who realised that they were not only non-native but a previously unidentified species, since dubbed Carmenta brachylados. The mystery of how they came to the UK was solved when Daisy remembered that her mother had been to Guyana some months earlier and discovered the remains of two cocoons in her handbag. ● Drone footage off the coast of Chile has recorded orcas hunting and eating dusky dolphins for the first time; they have previously been filmed hunting porpoises but not eating them. ● Two beaver kits have been born on the Lowther estate in Cumbria, four years after their parents were introduced to live in a fenced-off enclosure for their safety. Beavers were hunted to extinction on mainland Britain in the 16^th Century. The presence of the beavers, who enlarged their ponds, has led to increased populations of lapwings, mallards, greylegs and moorhens as well as insects and bats on the estate. ● Lord Firebrand, also known as Yogi, the military horse who was the Parade Commander's mount for the 70^th anniversary celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's reign in 2022 then led the procession taking her coffin from Buckingham Palace to lie in state in Westminster Hall, has been awarded the PDSA Order of Merit, the "animals' OBE". Yogi, known for his calm disposition, also took part in numerous Trooping the Colour ceremonies, state visits and State Openings of Parliament. He retired in December. ● Chester Zoo has planted almost 19,000 trees, a mix of species including beech, oak and hazel, on land it owns to form part of a wildlife corridor between two smaller woods creating a continuous woodland that will be a habitat for wildlife.


• Billions of years ago Mars had an atmosphere and researchers at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology now think they know what happened to it. They have proposed that water on the surface of the planet was slowly drawn down through the clay rocks, triggering a slow chain reaction that drew carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, converting it to methane. As part of the reaction process iron oxide, which gives Mars its red colour, would also have been created. If Mars' crust is rich in methane it is possible that it could be used as an energy source by manned missions. ● A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying atronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) after its launch was delayed by Hurricane Helene. It will return to Earth in February carrying crew including astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the ISS after travelling there aboard a Boeing Starliner capsule, which had to be returned to Earth empty after developing faults.


• Analysis of a sample of the world's oldest-known wine, discovered in a 2,000-year-old glass urn in a Roman tomb in Spain earlier this year, has found that it contained cremated bones as well as a gold ring, shedding light on Roman funerary practices in the region. ● Archaeologists in Peru have identified 303 previously unknown giant symbols, or geoglyphs, carved on the Nazca Desert, Peru, after using AI to analyse high resolution aerial photographs. Because of the limited number of already-identified geoglyphs in the desert to train it, the AI was not perfect, identifying 1,309 candidates which were then narrowed down by the researchers. The purpose of the Nazca geoglyphs, some of which are too big to be clearly identified at ground level, is mostly unknown, although some smaller ones are thought to lie alongside ceremonial trails. ● Palaeontologists near Grande Prairie, Alberta, in Canada, have discovered a 600lb (272kg) fossilised dinosaur skull, thought to be from a Pachyrhinosaurus, a herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 72 million years ago. ● After recent storms the Costguard service in Cumbria was alerted to a shipwreck near Whitehaven. It was not a new wreck though, but the boilers of the Spanish steamship Izaro, which hit rocks off the coast in 1907 en route to Maryport. The crew survived and swam to shore but the ship was sunk, with the boilers washing nearer to the coast, where they are sometimes visible at exceptionally low tides. ● Building work to convert a former school in Shipley into a mental health and wellbeing centre has uncovered a World War II bomb shelter. ● A well-preserved woolly rhinoceros, its skin, horns and fur intact, has been revealed by melting permafrost in eastern Siberia. Unlike modern rhinoceros, with their rounded horns, one of the woolly rhino's horns was considerably larger and blade-shaped. ● The world's oldest known cheese has been discovered alongside mummies in a Chinese tomb. It dates back some 3,600 years, contains DNA from both cows and goats, and is a predecessor of modern kefir cheese. ● Audio cassettes of a two-hour interview given by the Beatles to American journalist Jean Shepherd in October 1964 for a feature article in Playboy magazine are to be auctioned on Merseyside later this month. While the article is known, the full recordings of the interview, recorded at a Torquay hotel, have never been released. The tapes have an estimated value of £10,000 ($13,300) ● A painting of Senhouse Street, Maryport, in Cumbria, by L.S. Lowry is to be auctioned this month. Although many of the building have changed purpose since Lowry painted them in 1955, the location is still recognisable today. The painting is estimated to sell for £700,000-£1m ($930,000-$1.33m).


• Texas customs officers who stopped a 43-year-old American woman reentering the USA from Mexico recently searched her suitcases after they seemed to be heavier than they should be. They discovered more than 280 boxes of undeclared medicines, including diazepam and tramadol, but the weight was due to 40 large sausages of Mexican bologna weighing almost 750lb (340kg). Mexican bologna is banned in the US because of the risk of introducing foreign diseases to the US pork industry. They also found more than $7,600 (£5,700) cash hidden in her car. ● Customs officers at Tashkent airport in Uzbekistan were stunned when they asked a man entering the country to open his carry-on case, only to discover a 10'- (3m)-long Burmese python curled up asleep. The man was arrested. ● An 81-year-old Montana man is to be sentenced in federal court for illegally using tissue samples and testicles from large Marco Polo sheep hunted in Central Asia and the US to illegally create hybrid 'giant' sheep for trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota. He faces up to five years in prison (although prosecutors have asked for a probationary sentence instead) and a fine of up to $250,000 (£188,000). ● Authorities in Romania have arrested two men and seized 75 plastic drums of frozen fruit pulp after discovering 16 tonnes of cocaine hidden in them.


• The European and Japanese space agencies have released the first images from their Earthcare satellite, which uses Doppler radar to show the density of ice, snow and rain in clouds, as well as their speed as they fall, to a resolution of around 3'/s (1m/s). The satellite should help meteorologists improve weather forecasts by imaging clouds around the globe, not just locally from land-based weather stations. ● Mount Everest is growing by about 0.08" (2mm) a year thanks to the Arun river 47 miles (75km) away. As the river flows through its basin it washes away rock and sediment from its river bed, slightly reducing the force on the mantle (the layer beneath the Earth's crust), pushing the crust upwards. As well as Everest, the nearby Lhotse and Makalu, the world's fourth and fifth highest peaks, are also rising. ● The border between Switzerland and Italy has had to be redrawn because it is defined by glacial ridgelines and areas of permanent snow, but melting glaciers has caused the lines to move. Last year Switzerland's glaciers lost 4% of their volume. ● Next Monday the UK's last coal-fuelled power station, at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, will close. Britain was the first country to produce electricity at scale from burning coal, and it will be the first to stop the practice.

IN BRIEF: To mark its centenery as a wedding venue London's Old Marylebone Town Hall hosted 100 weddings, civil partnerships or vow renewals on October 1^st, each costing just £100 ($133) each. ● Thousands of people gathered in Eden Park, Aukland, earlier this week to set a new record for the largest haka performance. The haka is a Maori ceremonial dance involving chanting, stomping and eye movement, most famously performed by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team before matches. The previous record was set in France in 2014. ● After pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in the US presidential election one enraged Texan Trump supporter paid $4,000 (£3000) to buy a guitar she had signed, so he could film himself smashing it with a hammer. It later emerged that not only was the signature fake but the guitar itself was one she had most likely never even seen, as it bore the wrong Eras Tour logo and typeface... ● The Villa Vie Residence's Odyssey residential cruise ship, set to repeatedly sail around the world every three years, has been stuck in Belfast for five months because of problems with its rudders and gearbox. Instead of their cabins, costing between $99,000 and $899,000 (£74,500-£676,000), passengers - some of whom had sold their homes to buy their cabins outright - were staying in hotels while the ship was laid up at the Harland and Wolff shipyard. The ship finally sailed on Tuesday, only to come to a halt just off the coast because of a problem with uncompleted paperwork, which necessitated a return to Belfast for another day.

UPDATES: Forty-nine saplings grown from seeds taken from the Sycamore Gap tree after it was illegally felled last year are to be planted across the UK at sites including schools and Windsor Great Park. A National Trust ranger inspecting the stump of the tree has found that there are eight shoots, about 1½" (3.8cm) growing from its base. They will be left to grow for a few years before any decision is made on how to manage the tree, either as a coppiced stool or trimmed back to a single tree. Either way, it will take about 200 years to grow to the size of the original tree.

^{^} OBITUARIES

Actor John Ashton (Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop films, M*A*S*H, 76), singer-songwriter Martin Lee (The Brotherhood of Man, "Angelo", "Save Your Kisses For Me", 77), actor John Amos (Coming to America, Roots, Die Hard 2, 84), snooker commentator and journalist Clive Everton MBE (founder of Snooker Scene magazine, BBC snooker coverage for more than 30 years, 87), country music singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson ("Me and Bobby McGee", A Star Is Born, Convoy, 88), actress Barbara Leigh-Hunt (Frenzy, Henry VIII and His Six Wives, Vanity Fair [2004], 88), actress Dame Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Downton Abbey, Harry Potter films, 89).

^{^} DUMBLEDORE BEAR'S LOTTERY PREDICTOR!

Dumbledore Bear, our in-house psychic predicts that the following numbers will be lucky:

2, 8, 18, 31, 43, 49

[UK National Lottery, number range 1-59]
You can get your very own prediction at http://www.simonlamont.co.uk/tfir/dumbledore.htm.

^{^} AND FINALLY...

    Little Mary's mother had taken her daughter and Little Jennifer for a riding lesson, and Little Jennifer had just come home. "How was it, Little Jennifer," her mother asked her.
    "It was fun, Mummy! We had to get over small jumps!"
    "Goodness me! How did that go?"
    "My pony jumped over them ok, but Little Mary's pony was much more polite."
    "How so?"
    Little Jennifer smiled as only she could. "Her pony let her go over the jumps first, Mummy!"

---

^{^} ...end of line