Terry Burrows (UK) cleaned three standard 114.3 x 114.3 cm (45 x 45 in) office windows set in a frame with a 300 mm (11.75 in) long squeegee and 9 litres (2 gal; US 2.37 gal) of water in 9.14 sec at the National Window Cleaning Competition in Blackpool, UK, on 9 October 2009.
The fastest-selling gaming peripheral is Kinect for Xbox 360, which sold through an average of 133,333 units per day in its first 60 days on sale from 4 November 2010 to 3 January 2011.
The fewest runs scored off a bowler taking all ten wickets is ten, off Hedley Verity (1905-43) for Yorkshire v. Nottinghamshire at Leeds on 12 Jul 1932 though the full analyses for some early performances of the feat are unknown.
Although platforms for take-offs and landings had been fitted to warships as early as 1910, the first ship with a runway running the full length of its deck was HMS Argus, launched in 1918. When construction of Argus began in 1914 she was intended to be a passenger liner, but in 1916 the incomplete vessel was bought by the British Royal Navy and completed as an aircraft carrier, with a flight deck 172 m (565 ft) long and space for 20 aircraft. She had a
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The 36-seat British De Havilland Comet 1 was the world’s first jet-powered commercial aircraft, and was powered by four De Havilland Ghost 50 engines mounted within its wings. It first flew on 27 July 1949 and made its first scheduled passenger-carrying flight, between London, UK, and Johannesburg, South Africa, on 2 May 1952, when BOAC (The British Overseas Airways Corporation – predecessor to British Airways) inaugurated the first commercial jet service. Flying at speeds as high as 800 km/h (500 mph) it made scheduled stops
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A Finn Dorset sheep called Dolly (named after country singer Dolly Parton) was the first animal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, as revealed in February 1997 by Dr Ian Wilmut (UK) at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. This was achieved using a sheep ovum whose DNA-containing nucleus had been removed and replaced with the DNA-containing nucleus of a cell obtained from a 6-year-old Finn Dorset sheep’s udder. The result was a developing embryo that was then transferred to a surrogate
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The earliest machine propelled by cranks and pedals with connecting rods was built in 1839-40 by Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1810-78) of Dumfries, Scotland. A copy of the machine is now in the Science Museum, London, England. Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is often credited with designing the first ‘bicycle’, having drawn a machine propelled with cranks and pedals in the 1490s. Macmillan was the first person known to have constructed such a machine, but this was not followed up. Four-wheeled bicycles were produced
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The earliest bowler to take all 10 wickets in an ICC international cricket match with limited overs was Mehboob Alam (Nepal) for Nepal against Mozambique in Jersey, UK, on 25 May 2008. The match was contested as part of the 2008 ICC World Cricket League Division V competition. The accomplishment has only happened professionally in two other instances, both in Test cricket with unlimited overs: once each by Jim Laker (UK) and Anil Kumble (India)
GTA III was the first game to be recognized by the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) for selling over 1 million copies in the UK. Notably, it is also the first British game to make the ELSPA Award Million-Seller list. GWR Video Gamer’s Edition 2008.
The Hawk-Eye technology, which tracks and predicts the path of a ball in flight using eight cameras placed around the edge of the playing field, has revolutionized the officiating of sports such as cricket and tennis. Operating at 500 frames per second, the system is accurate to within 3mm and has helped officials to make more informed decisions as to, for example, whether a ball has crossed a particular line. First developed by 26-year-old British mathematician Paul Dawkins in 1999, Hawk-Eye made its broadcast debut
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