French aviator Adolphe Pégoud made headlines across Britain after performing a death-defying parachute jump from a plane in 1913. This event was one of the earliest parachute jumps in Europe.
Promoter's Unusual Offer
Following the jump, a London promoter immediately tried to hire Pégoud to jump off the top of Blackpool Tower for a summer crowd. According to the article, Pégoud wisely declined, preferring the open sky to Lancashire's famous sea breezes.
Historical Context and Trivia
The article also includes a series of trivia questions and answers for August 19. Questions include: The Roman Road Ermine Street ran from London to Lincoln and York. The profession for someone with the letters FRCVS after their name is a veterinary surgeon. Dan Dare fought the Mekons in the comic The Eagle. According to Mohs scale of hardness, the softest mineral is talc. Grace Darling rowed through a storm with her father in 1838 to save nine shipwrecked souls off the Farne Islands. Half an A4 sheet is A5 size paper. Dublin is the capital of the Irish province of Leinster. A couple celebrates their tin anniversary after ten years. In May 2006, Belfast Airport officially changed its name in honour of George Best. Betty Grable was known as the girl with the Million Dollar Legs.
Additional Trivia
Further questions from the article include: Children's author Mary Pollock is better known as Enid Blyton. The River Jordan flows into the Dead Sea. The zodiac symbol for Gemini is the Twins. The town on the South coast of England that became a city as part of the millennium celebrations is Brighton and Hove. In the Bible, Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt. The novelist credited with the introduction of pillar boxes in the United Kingdom is Anthony Trollope. The boxer banned for taking a bite out of Evander Holyfield's ear is Mike Tyson. The Murray-Darling is the longest river in Australia. A cheetah is unlike other cats because it cannot retract its claws. Botswana was called Bechuanaland prior to 1966.
