Hello again folks and welcome to another week! Whatever you are doing, wherever you are doing it, take it easy and have fun.
On This Day – 30th June 1937 – The first emergency phone number, 999, launches in London
Ever had to call an emergency service? These days dialling 911, 112 or whatever emergency number your country uses is second nature. But on this day in 1937, it was all new and ‘999’ was the number.
When telephones were new, you picked up the handset and clicked the line to attract the attention of the operator. If it was an emergency, you asked the operator to connect you to the relevant service. As telephones proliferated and the technology improved, automated exchanges were implemented using Strowger switchgear and you could dial the person you needed to speak with directly. What progress! However, if there was an emergency and you did not know the number of the police station or fire brigade, you had to use the operator.
Following an incident in London in 1935 where a caller was in a queue for an operator to report a house fire in which five people were killed, a government inquiry recommended a short code be set up. Consequently, the ‘999’ number was implemented, covering just a 12-mile radius from Oxford Circus in central London. After the Second World War, it rolled out to other major cities and eventually covered the whole of the UK by 1976.
The system was implemented around the world albeit with variations in number for various switching reasons. The US implemented the 911 number in the 1970’s and it is now commonplace across the Americas. European countries use 112, occasionally alongside another local shortcode. In the UK both 999 and 112 will work and some mobile handsets will redirect 911 to the emergency services. But remember folks, only use these numbers in an emergency, our overworked emergency services have enough to deal with without hoax or prank calls.
Read more here.
Also on this day:
1905 – Albert Einstein publishes an article introducing the Theory of Special Relativity
1934 – The Night of the Long Knives in which the Nazi’s purged their political enemies
1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette (red or otherwise) rolls off of the production line
1972 – The first leap second is added to the UTC time system
1990 – East and West Germany merge their economies
Arrivals
1939 – Barry Hines, British author and screenwriter (‘Kes’, ‘Threads’)
1942 – Rober Ballard, US oceanographer, discovered the wrecks of the Titanic and the Bismarck
1951 – Stanley Clarke, US jazz bass player (Return to Forever)
1953 – Hal Lindes, US guitarist and composer (Dire Straits)
1963 – Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish heavy metal guitarist
Departures
1966 – Margery Allingham, British detective novelist (The ‘Campion’ novels)
1984 – Lillian Hellman, US writer and playwright, blacklisted in the McCarthy era
2001 – Chet Atkins, US guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer
2003 – Buddy Hackett, US comedian and actor
2017 – Barry Norman, British TV presenter and journalist (the BBC ‘Film….’ Series)
The Funnies:
Recipe of the day: Eton Mess
This recipe from BBC Food is a variation on the classic summer dessert, perfect for this time of year.
Ingredients
· 600g/1lb 5oz strawberries, hulled
· 2 tbsp icing sugar
· 600ml/20fl oz double cream
· 200g/7oz seasonal berries (such as raspberries, cherries, currants, or more strawberries)
· 5 readymade meringue nests or 1 batch of the homemade meringues (below)
For the homemade meringues
· 2 large egg whites
· 120g/4¼oz caster sugar
· ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Method
- If you are using homemade meringues, make these first. Preheat your oven to 110C/100C Fan/Gas ¼ and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.
- Put the egg whites into a clean mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until stiff peaks form when you lift out the whisk. Whisk in the caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is really thick, glossy and will hold in a stiff peak. Briefly whisk in the vanilla.
- Place 5 large dollops of the meringue on the prepared baking sheet, leaving space in between. Bake on the lowest shelf of your oven for an hour, or until the meringues easily peel away from the paper. Cool and keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days before using.
- For the mess, put 150g/5½oz of the strawberries into a blender or food processor with ½ tablespoon of the icing sugar. Pulse to form a smooth purée. Halve or quarter the remaining strawberries into bite-size pieces.
- Whip the double cream and remaining 1½ tablespoon of icing sugar together until soft peaks form when you remove the whisk (they should almost hold their shape).
- To assemble, crumble 4 of the meringues and add to the cream along with all the berries. Fold in lightly, then very briefly stir in the strawberry purée to make swirls in the cream (as you spoon the mess into bowls it will ripple more). Divide between 6 bowls or glasses, crush the final meringue over the top and eat immediately.
Choon of the Day
In honour of where I spent the last week…
Quote of the Day:
“Vimes had spent his life on the streets, and had met decent men and fools and people who’d steal a penny from a blind beggar and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he’d never met The People. People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn’t that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people.” (Night Watch)
– Sir Terry Pratchett
Comic of the Day:
Mouseover: “To combat the threat, many airlines are installing wing-mounted spray bottles. ”
Image Credit: https://xkcd.com/3108
Explain XKCD: explain xkcd
Inspirobot Always Controversial, Occasionally Inspirational Quote of the Day:
If you missed Friday’s console based Spark! from @Lonny6654, you can find it here:
(Spark! Pro series – 27th June 2025)
