ON THIS DAY FROM THE ARCHIVE
MARCH 8, 2009
TWO soldiers were shot dead and at least four other people wounded outside a military barracks in the North last night. They were hit by bullets fired from a car passing the Massereene Barracks in Antrim. Two of the injured were military personnel and the others civilians.
MARCH 8, 2011
HE may have been ‘relaxin’ in Dublin’ last night, but Justin Bieber’s army of fans were gripped by a bout of Bieber fever. So-called Beliebers gathered from early morning at the Gibson Hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of the Canadian star, pictured, who is playing the nearby O2 tonight. Across the city, crowds stood watch outside the Merrion Hotel following reports he could be staying there. Bieber had tweeted that he was ‘relaxin’ in Dublin’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
GARY NUMAN, 66. The UK singer-songwriter had huge hits with Are ‘Friends’ Electric? and Cars. He said: ‘My uncle once worked it out that in the first two years I earned £6million.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
LAURIE CUNNINGHAM (19561989). The London footballer played for Leyton Orient and West Bromwich Albion, and was the first black player to represent England in a competitive game. CLAIRE TREVOR (1910-2000). The US actress, pictured right, starred in 65 films including Stagecoach and won an Oscar for Key Largo (1948).
ON MARCH 8 . . .
In 1950, the Volkswagen ‘Microbus’, an icon of 1960s counterculture, goes into production. In 2003, English pop star and actor Adam Faith dies, aged 62. WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Omophagist (coined 1884)
A) Collecting coins as a hobby. B) One who plays with one’s food. C) A person who eats raw flesh.
Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED Devil to pay: the bad consequences of one’s actions. In the full 1783 phrase ‘the devil to pay and no pitch hot’, the ‘devil’ is a seam between a ship’s garboard strake and keel, and to ‘pay’ is to cover it with pitch. When a vessel was leaned over for repairs, it was difficult to make this seam watertight before the tide turned.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read. Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer (1709-1784)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a retired legume? A has bean.
Guess The Definition answer: C.