On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the tenth novel and eleventh book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. First published in 1963, it centres on Bond's search to find Ernst Stavro Blofeld after the events depicted in Thunderball (1961). In the novel, Bond falls in love with Tracy di Vicenzo during the story. The pair marry, but hours afterwards Blofeld and his partner, Irma Bunt, attack them and kill Tracy. Fleming developed Bond's character within the book, showing an emotional side that was not previously present. The novel is one of three Bond stories to deal with the disruption of markets and the economy, in this case Blofeld's planned disruption to the food supply by bioterrorism. The novel received broadly positive reviews. In 1969, the book was adapted as the sixth film in Eon Productions' James Bond film series. It was the only film to star George Lazenby as Bond. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and short stories.).
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1754:
French and Indian War: George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania, the only military surrender in his career. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Necessity
1940:
Second World War: The Royal Navy attacked the French fleet at Mers El Kébir, fearing that the ships would fall into Axis hands after the French–German armistice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir
1970:
Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashed into the slopes of the Montseny Massif in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-Air_Flight_1903
1979:
U.S. president Jimmy Carter signed a presidential finding, authorizing covert operations to aid the mujahideen against the Soviet- backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
goropism: 1. A hypothesis, similar to the one originally propounded by Goropius which is now discredited, that some attested or modern language such as Dutch, Hebrew, or Turkish was the original language of human beings. 2. An absurd etymology proposed as part of such a hypothesis. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goropism
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. --Tom Stoppard https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Stoppard