1... that Methionylalanylthreonyl...leucine is the longest chemical name to be written down, at 64,060 letters? 2...that an automatic number plate recognition system uses optical character recognition to read the license plates on vehicles? 3...that, in the 1996 film The Pompatus of Love, the main characters sit around discussing the meaning of the word "pompatus"? 4...that Captain Alexander Hood of the Royal Navy was killed in battle between his ship Mars and the French Hercule in 1798? 

Guitarist, singer, songwriter Eric Clapton is 60 years old today. A three-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Clapton was one of England's most influential rock musicians. His style is patterned after American blues guitar, and after musicians like B.B. King, T-Bone Walker and Robert Johnson. "Layla," inspired by his relationship with Pattie Boyd Harrison, is one of his most famous pieces.

You were at school and you were pimply and no one wanted to know you. You get into a group and you've got thousands of chicks there. " -- Eric Clapton

plectrum: guitar pick; a small, thin piece of metal or plastic used to pluck a stringed instrument

Dr. Crawford Long: first to use ether as an anesthetic (1842) Seward's Folly: US bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2m (1867) Pres. Reagan: shot & wounded by John Hinckley, Jr. (1981)

painters: Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) and Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) writers: Anna Sewell (1820-1878) and Sean O'Casey (1880-1964) performers: Warren Beatty (68), Robbie Coltrane (55), Paul Reiser (48), and Celine Dion (37)