Issue ^#833 - 5^th September 2025

Edited by and copyright ©2025 Simon Lamont
( Facebook  /  Bluesky )

tfir@simonlamont.co.uk

The latest edition is always available at http://www.simonlamont.co.uk/tfir/index.htm
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Unless otherwise indicated dollar values are in U.S. 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 5th September     - Day 248/365		-		Catherine Parr, sixth wife of King Henry VIII of England, died, 1548. King Louis XIV of France born, 1638. Tsar Peter I of Russia imposed a tax on beards (clergymen and peasants were exempt), 1698. Actress Raquel Welch born, 1940. Manson family cult member Lynette Fromme attempted to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, 1975. Writer Fritz Leiber died, 1992. International Day of Charity (UN).
Saturday 6th September     - Day 249/365		-		Puritans settled Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1628. Astronomer and surveyor Metius died, 1635. Teacher and activist Catharine Beecher born, 1800. Allied forces liberated the city of Ypres in Belgium, during World War II, 1944. Singer-songwriter Buster Bloodvessel born, 1958. Actress Liz Fraser died, 2018.
Sunday 7th September     - Day 250/365		-		Queen Elizabeth I of England born, 1533. John Shakespeare, father of William Shakespeare, died, 1601. The city of Boston, Massachusetts, was founded, 1630. Motion picture pioneer William Friese-Greene born, 1855. INTERPOL, the International Criminal Police Organisation, was formed, as the International Criminal Police Commission, 1923. Memoirist Karen Blixen died, 1962.
Monday 8th September     - Day 251/365		-		Scottish knight Sir Simon Fraser was hung, drawn and quartered for his role in the Wars of Scottish Independence, 1306. Playwright Henry Medwall, the first known English vernacular dramatist, born, 1462. Michelangelo's David was unveiled in Florence's Piazza della Signoria, 1504. Soprano Ninon Vallin born, 1886. The body of Annie Chapman, Jack the Ripper's second victim, was discovered in London, 1888. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms died, 2022. International Literacy Day (UNESCO).
Tuesday 9th September     - Day 252/365		-		Mary Stuart, aged nine months, was crowned "Queen of Scots" in Stirling, 1543. Artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder died, 1569. French politician Cardinal Richelieu born, 1585. The first actual computer bug, a moth caught in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University, was discovered, 1947. Model Rachel Hunter born, 1969. Actress Caitlin Clarke died, 2004. Kiku no Sekku (Chrysanthemum Day) in Japan. Emergency Services Day in the UK.
Wednesday 10th September     - Day 253/365		-		The Lesser Judgment Day earthquake hit Constantinople, 1509. Composer Henry Purcell born, 1659. Philosopher and novelist Mary Wollstonecraft died, 1797. Abebe Bikila became the first sub-Saharan African to win an Olympic gold medal, running the marathon barefoot at the Summer Olympics in Rome, 1960. Photographer Melanie Pullen born, 1975. Low-budget filmmaker Stanley Long died, 2012. World Suicide Prevention Day.
Thursday 11th September     - Day 254/365		-		Scots led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, 1297. Naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi born, 1522. Italian noblewoman Beatrice Censi was executed for the murder of her abusive father, 1599. Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, 1789. Astronomer Mary Watson Whitney born, 1847. Actor Kenneth Cope died, 2024. National Day of Service and Remembrance (aka 9/11 Day) in the US.

^{^} THE WISDOM OF...

This week, Barack Obama:

Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11.

^{^} FILM QUIZ

A selection of quotations from films starring Scarlett Johansson. Answers next issue or from the regular address.

• How hard is it to paint a pretty girl?
• Think about it. If you go into the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't now be changed by your new future!
• I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses... taking pictures of your feet.
• - This isn't Tesco's, is it?
  - No.
• I want a husband who loves me. Who thinks it first thing every morning and last thing at night.

Last issue's quotations from films starring Billy Crystal were:

• You ain't gonna get any nouveau, amandine, thin crust, bottled water, sauteed city food. Food's brown, hot, and plenty of it.
      -- City Slickers [1991]
• Paul, you have to channel all this nice grief into a murderous rage.
      -- Analyse This [1999]
• - Farm boy, polish my horse's saddle. I want to see my face shining in it by morning.
  - As you wish.
      -- The Princess Bride [1987]
• Kids these days. They just don't get scared like they used to.
      -- Monsters Inc. [2001]
• You know, I have a theory that hieroglyphics are just an ancient comic strip about a character named Sphinxy.
      -- When Harry Met Sally [1989]

^{^} WEIRD WORLD NEWS

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

• Two Amur leopard cubs, a species critically endangered in the wild, have been born at St Louis Zoo. ● A four-year-old cow that fell into deep mud and became trapped by a fallen branch has been rescued by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Services. Almost completely submerged the cow was only able to breathe because its nostrils were still above the mud. ● Eight Socorro dove chicks have hatched at Chester Zoo. The species is extinct in the wild, with fewer than 200 of the birds surviving in zoos around the world. ● When a local man went to photograph wildlife at Aberhafesp Brook in Newtown, Powys, he discovered that the brook had almost completely dried up in this summer's hot weather and the few puddles of water left were teeming with fish, many already dead, the others gasping. He called Natural Resources Wales (NRW) but they did not get back to him so, with other residents, he collected and relocated thousands of small fish to a nearby river. NRW later cricised them, saying that many fish, especially smaller species, do not "survive the stress of being handled and relocated", but, as the group pointed out, without their help and with no response from NRW, all the fish would have died. ● A new species of dinosaur has been identified from fossils discovered in Morocco. Spicomellus afer, the oldest member of the ankylosaur group, lived 165 million years ago and is notable for the 3'- (1m)-long spikes sticking out of its neck, in addition to the shorter spikes that covered its upper body, as with other ankylosaurs. ● The sailback houndshark has long been thought to be extinct, having been described by a single specimen in the late 1970s and with no other sightings recorded, but six new individuals, including the first identified male, were recently seen in the waters around Papua New Guinea. ● Trail cameras in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Nigeria have recorded two silverback Cross River gorillas for the first time. There are thought to be only 200-300 mature Cross River gorillas left in the wild, due to hunting and deforestation.


• Astrophotographer Mario Rana was recording video of Saturn a few weeks ago when he noticed a single-frame flash on the planet. It could be the first recording of an impact on the gas giant, but it could also have been sensor noise, a processing artifact or a satellite crossing the field of view, so the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory has put out a request for anyone else who was filming Saturn at the time to share their recordings. ● Data from the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission has shown the presence of hematite, a type of rust, on the Moon, despite there being no oxygen or significant water to react with iron in Moon rocks to form the rust. It is speculated that the Moon might get some oxygen via the 'tail' of the Earth's magnetic field, which the Moon passes through for six days of every lunar cycle; the magnetic field also protects the Moon from solar hydrogen, which would prevent rust from forming. There are water molecules on the lunar surface, most notably at the poles, which could be exposed by micrometeorite impacts. ● On August 15^th 1977 astronomers at Ohio State University recorded a strong narrowband radio signal on their Big Ear radio telescope. It was so anomalous that Jerry Ehman wrote "Wow!" on the computer printout, giving the signal the name it has come to be known by. The source of the signal has never been identified, but SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) researchers have long claimed that it could be the proof they are seeking. Researchers at the University of Puerto Rico's Planetary Habitability Laboratory have now offered a more mundane explanation after going through old data with modern methodologies. Their initial report suggests that it might have been a sudden brightening of hydrogen in interstellar clouds triggered by a powerful transient source such as a magnetar flare. The team plan to archive and share all the data collected by the Big Ear, including the Wow! signal by 2027 to mark its 50^th anniversary.


• A family out for a walk near Gudersleben, Germany, after a rainstorm discovered a dagger lying on the ground. It was later identified as a plate-tanged dagger dating to between 2,200 BCE to 800 CE, that had been exposed by the rain. It might have been a ritual offering. ● The recent hot weather has revealed the location of lost buildings at historic sites across Britain. Grass above buried structures dries faster than other areas, leading to parch marks mapping out buried walls. At Mottisfont, a former Augusting Priory near Romsey in Hertfordshire they have revealed the location of buildings dating to the 13^th century that were abandoned when the site was remodelled 300 years ago, while the site of a large guest house has been revealed at Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire. ● France has formally returned the skull of a Malagasy king killed by French soldiers asserting colonial control over the Menabé kingdom in western Madagascar in August 1897. King Toera was killed and decapitated, his head sent to Paris. ● Frank Hornby, engineer and inventor of Meccano, Dinky cars and Hornby model trains, was born in a house at Copperas Hill in Liverpool on May 15^th 1863. The site is now part of Liverpool Lime Street railway station and, for many years, there was a commemorative plaque at the station but it disappeared years ago during renovation work. A local heritage group has now found the original plaque, and the station is seeking permission to reinstall it on a stone column near the former location of the house. ● We recently reported that new analysis showed that the Shroud of Turin, believed by some to have been the burial shroud of Jesus, was more likely wrapped around a model than a person. Now a medieval document has come to light that shows that, even in the Middle Ages, it was considered a fake by many. In the document, written by Nicole Oresme, a respected theologian who later became Bishop of Lisieux in France, writes "I do not need to believe anyone who claims: 'Someone performed such miracle for me', because many clergy men thus deceive others, in order to elicit offerings for their churches. This is clearly the case for a church in Champagne, where it was said that there was the shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the almost infinite number of those who have forged such things, and other." ● Archaeologists in Puémape, Peru, have discovered the remains of more than a dozen people dated to around 400 BCE. all buried face down with their hands tied behind their backs. The skeletons also bore evidence of having been hit in various parts of the body, with multiple fractures, suggesting that they might have been a ritual sacrifice, possibly following a conflict. ● An auction of horror film memorabilia in Los Angeles later this month will include an animatronic Billy puppet from Saw III, expected to sell for $30,000-$60,000 (£22,300-£44,600), a stunt copy of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis from Evil Dead II, a Candyman costume from Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, including the hook, and the chainsaw wielded by Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) in the TV series Ash Vs Evil Dead.


• A drunk driver in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, opened his car door, hit a kerb and fell out, managing to run over his own legs. He was arrested but refused medical treatment. ● Police had to be called to Leek, Staffordshire, after a woman at a children's fun day took off her top and started twerking to the music on stage before climbing onto her car and continuing to twerk and move suggestively while shouting obscenities, in just her bra and trousers. ● A man has been arrested after jumping into Rome's Trevi Fountain. ● A Wisconsin man who faked his own death to flee his family, leaving his phone and ID in an overturned kayak on a fishing trip to flee to Canada, then on to Georgia, the former Soviet state, to meet a woman he had met online, has been sentenced to 89 days in jail and ordered to pay $30,000 (£22,000) towards the cost of search and rescue operations when he disappeared. ● Mystery continues to surround Giuseppe Ghislandi's early C18^th painting Portrait of a Lady (Contessa Colleoni). Looted by the Nazis in World War II the painting was lost until an Argentine estate agent recently posted pictures of a Buenos Aires house they were selling, which showed it hanging above a sofa. The house belongs to one of the daughters of Friedrich Kadgien, a senior SS officer who fled to South America after the war ended. Attempts by both media and the organisation working to recover artwork looted in the war to contact the daughters have been unsuccessful, and a police raid on the house found that the furniture in the room had been rearranged and the painting had disappeared. Local prosecutor Carlos Martí told reporters that his office was considering it an alleged cover-up of smuggling. ● Officers at Miami International Airport arrested a woman after a routine inspection found two small turtles hidden in her underwear. One had died, the other was handed to wildlife authorities.


• New research has suggested that the collapse of the Atlantic meriodonal overturning circulation (Amoc), which brings warm water from the tropics to Europe and the Arctic, already at its weakest in 1,600 years, is no longer a low-likelihood event and the tipping point could be reached in a few decades if fossil fuel emissions are not drastically cut. If the Amoc does shut down the climate in Britain and Europe will become significantly more extreme and sea levels could rise by an additional 20" (50cm) within a century of it stopping. ● The Australian government is set to ban the little plastic fish-shaped containers that hold soy sauce and often come with take-out and supermarket Japanese meals, including sushi. ● It has long been known that fish can die caught in abandoned fishing nets, but a dead whale washed ashore in Oman recently was found to have become so tightly-wrapped in so-called 'ghost gear' that it could not breathe. ● Scientists studying ancient Roman concrete have found that incorporating volcanic ash and seashells in concrete can both reduce the carbon footprint of the production process and make the concrete self-healing. ● Tourists in Malta are being asked to help climate change research by placing their phones in special holders to take photographs of the coastline, uploading the photographs to researchers. The CoastSnap network is already operational in France, Spain and the UK. ● The Met Office has announced that this summer was "almost certainly" the hottest on record in the UK. ● This summer also saw the worst wildfire season in Europe since records began in 2006, with 2.5m acres (1 million hectares) - about half the land area of Wales - burned across the member nations. ● In the UK there have been calls for the military to halt live-fire exercises in Summer; of 439 wildfires on Ministry of Defence land between January 2023 and July 2025 385 were caused by the manoeuvres themselves, according to research by the BBC. It is not just modern ordnance causing problems; firefighters tackling a blaze on Langdale Moore in Yorkshire, a military tank training ground during World War II, found that the fire was exposing and in some cases detonating, wartime bombs.

IN BRIEF: DNA analysis of the "bloody tears" supposedly wept by a statue of the Virgin Mary in the Italian town of Trevignano has matched it to the blood of the statue's owner, Gisella Cardia. ● Retired Paralympian swimmer Lydon Longhorne has become the first quadruple amputee to complete an Ironman Triathlon - a 2.4-mile (3.8km) swim, a 112-mile (180km) bike ride and a 26.2-mile (42.2km) run - in less than 24 hours. ● Brothers Jamie, Ewan and Lachlan MacLean, from Edinburgh, have claimed a new record after rowing non-stop and unsupported across the Pacific Ocean - from Peru to Australia - in 139 days, five hours and 52 minutes. ● Musician Marty Rafferty, from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, has set a new record for busking, performing for 24 hours with only a 30s break between songs apart from sanctioned rest breaks. If that was not hard enough he had broken his thumb the week before... ● Over the last few weeks self-proclaimed "patriots" have been flying the English St George's flag and painting it on roundabouts to protest against immigration, but someone tasked with painting the red-cross-on-white flag on a roundabout at Newton Farm in Hereford got a little confused. They painted a white cross on a red background, apparently announcing their allegiance not to England but to Denmark... ● Fast food chain Taco Bell has withdrawn its AI technology from drive-through restaurants after videos of the system getting orders wrong went viral online. ● It is [checks calendar] September 2^nd as this is being written, over 100 days until Christmas, but UK TV channel GREAT! Romance has already rebranded itself as GREAT! Christmas and begin airing festive films...

^{^} OBITUARIES

Drummer Ray Mayhew (Sigue Sigue Sputnik, 60), actor Graham Greene (Dances With Wolves, The Green Mile, Northern Exposure, 73), television journalist, editor and executive Stuart Prebble (World in Action, Grumpy Old Men, Portrait Artist of the Year, 74), boxer Joe Bugner (European heavyweight champion [1971, 1972-1976], 83-fight career included bouts against Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Henry Cooper and Frank Bruno, 75), actor Randy Boone (The Virginian, Cimarron Strip, The Twilight Zone - "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms", 83), writer, journalist and screenwriter Christopher H. Bidmead (Doctor Who, Rooms,New Scientist, 84), physicist Professor Rainer Weiss (conceived the gravitational wave-detecting LIGO, co-winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics, pioneered measuring the Cosmic Microwave Background, 92).

^{^} DUMBLEDORE BEAR'S LOTTERY PREDICTOR!

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

1, 11, 12, 13, 29, 56

[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...

    A Jehovah's Witness approached a house to see a small girl sitting on the doorstep. "Hello there," he said, "is your mother at home?"
    "Yes."
    "Thank you." He rang the doorbell and waited, but nobody came. He knocked on the door and waited, but still nobody came. Frustrated he looked at the girl. "I thought you said your mother was in."
    Little Jennifer looked up at him and smiled as only she could. "She is, but I don't live here. I'm waiting for my friend Little Mary and her mummy to get back from the shops!"

---

^{^} ...end of line