Casino Royale (1953) is a James Bond novel, the first of twelve featuring the British secret agent by Ian Fleming. At a casino in Royale-les-Eaux, Bond beats Le Chiffre, the treasurer of a French trade union and a member of the Russian secret service, in a high-stakes baccarat game; Bond wins 80 million francs belonging to SMERSH, the Soviet counterintelligence agency. He is supported by Vesper Lynd, a member of his own service, as well as Felix Leiter of the CIA and René Mathis of the French Deuxième Bureau. Fleming took plot elements from his wartime experiences in the Naval Intelligence Division and based some characters on people he met during the war; the character of Bond also reflected many of Fleming's personal tastes. Looking for distraction in advance of his forthcoming wedding, Fleming wrote the draft in early 1952 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. The book was given broadly positive reviews by critics at the time and sold out in less than a month after its UK release, although US sales upon release a year later were much slower. The story has been adapted several times, including in a daily comic strip and twice on film, a 1967 adaptation starring David Niven and a 2006 version starring Daniel Craig.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1742:

Messiah, an oratorio by baroque composer George Frideric Handel, premiered in Dublin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)

1829:

The Roman Catholic Relief Act was granted Royal Assent, removing the most substantial restrictions on Catholics in the United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Relief_Act_1829

1919:

British Indian Army troops massacred hundreds of unarmed men, women and children who were attending a peaceful gathering at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

1945:

World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces captured Vienna in German-occupied Austria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Offensive

2009 - Twenty-three people died in a homeless hostel fire in Kamień Pomorski, Poland, the country's deadliest fire since 1980. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamie%C5%84_Pomorski_homeless_hostel_fire

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

pink slime: 1. (paper manufacture) An undesirable pink-colored microbial mass occurring in the slurry used in making paper. 2. (informal) A meat byproduct produced from otherwise unusable material such as skin and connective tissue, spinal bones, and digestive tissue by heating and then mixing with ammonia in a centrifuge to produce a food additive. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pink_slime

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another, for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the Constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.   --Thomas Jefferson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson