Moonraker is the third novel by the British author Ian Fleming to feature the Secret Service agent James Bond. It was published by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1955 with a cover design conceived by Fleming. The only Bond novel set entirely in Britain, it features Drax, an ex- Nazi working for the Russians, who plans to build a rocket, arm it with a nuclear warhead, and fire it at London. Moonraker, like Fleming's previous novels, was well received by critics. It plays on fears common in the 1950s, including rocket attacks (following the V2 strikes of the Second World War), Soviet communism, the re-emergence of Nazism and the "threat from within" posed by both ideologies. Fleming examines Englishness, and the novel shows the virtues and strength of England. Adaptations include a broadcast on South African radio in 1956 starring Bob Holness and a 1958 Daily Express comic strip. The novel's title was used in 1979 for the eleventh official film in the Eon Productions Bond series and the fourth to star Roger Moore as Bond; the plot was significantly changed from the novel to include excursions into space.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonraker_(novel)

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1081:

The Komnenian dynasty came to full power when Alexios I Komnenos was crowned Byzantine Emperor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_I_Komnenos

1566:

A covenant of nobles in the Habsburg Netherlands presented Governor Margaret of Parma a petition to suspend the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compromise_of_Nobles

1847:

Britain's first civic public park, Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead, Merseyside, opened. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead_Park

1936:

Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado hit Tupelo, Mississippi, killing about 436 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Tupelo%E2%80%93Gainesville_tornado_outbreak

2009:

The North Korean satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 was launched from the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground and passed over Japan, sparking concerns by other nations that it may have been a trial run of technology that could be used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-2

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

tonology: 1. (linguistics, uncountable) The study of tone in human languages. 2. (linguistics, countable) The system of rules governing tones in a particular language. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tonology

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.   --Booker T. Washington https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington