John Le Mesurier (1912–83) was an English actor perhaps best
remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC
situation comedy Dad's Army between 1968 and 1977. He debuted on stage
in 1934, and became one of television's pioneering actors when he
appeared in The Marvellous History of St Bernard in 1938. From there, Le
Mesurier had a prolific film career and appeared in over 120 films
across a range of genres, normally in smaller supporting parts in
comedies; his roles often portrayed figures of authority such as army
officers, policemen and judges. He took a relaxed approach to acting and
described himself as a "jobbing actor", a term he used for the title of
his autobiography. On one of the few occasions he played the lead role
in his career, he received a British Academy of Film and Television Arts
"Best Television Actor" award for his performance in the Dennis Potter
television play Traitor. He later said that his parts he played were
those of "a decent chap all at sea in a chaotic world not of his own
making". After his death, critics reflected that for an actor who
normally took minor roles, the viewing public were "enormously fond of
him".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Le_Mesurier>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1831:
The Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England,
collapsed, reportedly owing to a mechanical resonance induced by troops
marching over the bridge in step.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broughton_Suspension_Bridge>
1910:
The SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the
Austro-Hungarian Navy, was launched.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Zr%C3%ADnyi>
1961:
Aboard Vostok 3KA-3, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the
first man to enter outer space, completing one orbit in a time of 108
minutes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin>
1968:
Six thousand sheep were killed on ranches near Dugway Proving
Ground in Utah as a result of the U.S. Army spraying a nerve agent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugway_sheep_incident>
2007:
The canteen of the Council of Representatives of Iraq building
was attacked by a suicide bomber, killing one Member of Parliament and
wounding 23 other people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Iraqi_Parliament_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ungulate:
Having hooves.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ungulate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The basic drive behind real philosophy is curiosity about the
world, not interest in the writings of philosophers. Each of us emerges
from the preconsciousness of babyhood and simply finds himself here, in
it, in the world. That experience alone astonishes some people. What is
all this — what is the world? And what are we? From the beginning of
humanity some have been under a compulsion to ask these questions, and
have felt a craving for the answers. This is what is really meant by any
such phrase as "mankind's need for metaphysics."
--Bryan Magee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bryan_Magee>