Monday 15 June 2009

Huge Explosion Rocks Central Manchester


On this day in 1996, a massive bomb devastated a busy shopping area in central Manchester. The bomb exploded at about 11.20 BST on Corporation Street outside the Arndale shopping centre. Two hundred people were injured in the attack, mostly by flying glass, and seven were said to be in a serious condition. Police believe the IRA planted the device. A telephone warning was sent to a local television station at 10.00 BST - just as the city centre was filling up with Saturday shoppers. The caller used a recognised IRA codeword.

One hour and twenty minutes after, police were still clearing hundreds of people from a huge area of central Manchester. Army bomb disposal experts were using a remote-controlled device to examine a suspect van parked outside Marks & Spencer when it blew up in an uncontrolled explosion. Many of those injured were outside the police cordon. Seventy bystanders were ferried to three hospitals in ambulances. Others walked or were taken by friends.

Prime Minister John Major insisted the multi-party Northern Ireland peace talks that had begun a week earlier would continue, but called on Sinn Fein - the political wing of the IRA - to condemn the attack and demand a ceasefire.
Click on the following link to watch events as they happened, and see the police evacuating the immediate area.

Today's Smile


Pilots And Mechanics

Taken from actual Qantas so called 'gripe sheets' on which pilots report any problems to mechanics after each flight.


Pilot: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
Mechanic: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

Pilot: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
Mechanic: Evidence removed.

Pilot: DME volume unbelievably loud.
Mechanic: DME volume set to more believably level.

Pilot: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
Mechanic: That's what they're there for.

Pilot: IFF inoperative.
Mechanic: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

Blankney Pictures

The pactice putting green just inside the
entrance to Blankney Park.

Broken Britain

Above are excerpts from an article in last Thursday's Daily Mail. The report was produced by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, after consultation with 3,500 people. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is one of four Trusts established in 1904, by Joseph Rowntree a leading philanthropist, but perhaps better known as one of Britain's favourite chocolatiers. The report portrays a broken Britain, in which caring, morality, and respect for others seem to have disappeared from our way of life. The Foundation's purpose is to search, demonstrate and influence, providing evidence, solutions and ideas that will help to overcome the causes of poverty, disadvantage and social evil. The above report suggests they have a huge task ahead of them.
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Footnote:
Joseph Rowntree was a quite remarkable man, in tomorrows Journal we shall be taking a look at the life of this interesting man. Don't miss it!




American Law And Disorder

Attorney: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
Witness: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
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Attorney: All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
Witness: Oral.
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Attorney: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
Witness: The autopsy started around 8.30 p.m.
Attorney: And Mr Denton was dead at the time?
Witness: If not, he was by the time I finished.
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Attorney: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
Witness: Are you qualified to ask that question?
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Brainteaser - Yesterday's Answer

Yesterday's brainteaser was a story about two men, one who claimed he could sing a song about any ladies name the other man cared to choose, the second mean laughed and bet him he couldn't do it. The name chosen was Joanna Armstrong-Miller. The man sang the song right through and won his bet.
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Which song did he sing?
Answer
Happy Birthday To You.........
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