7 June 2017
shufti
[shoo-ph-tee]
noun
– a brief glance
plural: shuftis
Origin
From Egyptian Arabic شُفْتِي (šufti, “have you seen?”), from شَاف (šāf, “to see”).
Example
He sneaked a shufti before cautiously entering the darkened corridor.
Anagram
if huts
Today’s quote
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
– Mahatma Gandhi
On this day
7 June 1099 – the First Crusade: Siege of Jerusalem begins.
7 June 1893 – Mohandas Gandhi commits his first act of civil disobedience.
7 June 1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified by the Italian Parliament, allowing Vatican City to become an independent sovereign state.
7 June 1942 – Birth of Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. Often known as Colonel Gaddafi, leader of Libya. Died 20 October 2011.
7 June 1954 – death of Alan Turing, British mathematician and computer scientist. Turing is considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. He invented the ‘Turing machine’ which formulated the computer algorithm. It’s the forerunner for the modern computer. During World War 2, Turing was instrumental in cracking German messages encrypted by the Enigma machine. Sadly, Turing’s achievements were overshadowed by him being charged with gross indecency after admitting to being in a homosexual relationship. On 31 March 1952, following his guilty plea, he was chemically castrated. Two years later, on 7 June 1954,Turing took his own life with cyanide. On 10 September 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised on behalf of the British Government for the ‘appalling way he was treated’. On 23 December 2013, Queen Elizabeth II issued a posthumous royal pardon, clearing Turing of the charge of gross indecency. Born 23 June 1912.
7 June 1975 – the inaugural World Cup cricket match is held in London.
7 June 2015 – death of Christopher Lee, CBE, English actor and singer. Lee starred in hammer horror movies, including Dracula (in which he played the title character), Dracula has risen from the grave, Taste the Blood of Dracula, and Scars of Dracula. Fearing that he would become type-cast in horror roles as had happened to Vincent Price and Peter Cushing, he went in search of other roles. Lee starred in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. He played Saruman in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies, and Count Dooku in two of the Star Wars prequel films, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Born 27 May 1922.