ON THIS DAY
June 26, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JUNE 26, 1951
A YOUNG Scots guardsman fainted and fell on his bayonet while rehearsing at glencorse Barracks, near Edinburgh, yesterday for the presentation of Colours by the Duke of gloucester. The bayonet entered his cheek, penetrating his brain, and he died soon afterwards.
JUNE 26, 1964
CLIFF RICHARD does not have nervous breakdowns, women trouble, ulcers, or want to get away from it all. At 23, he seems to suffer none of the ills of most pop stars. He said: ‘I don’t worry more than a year ahead — otherwise I’d be a moping idiot. I reckon I’ll marry when I’m around 25.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ARIANA GRANDE, 24. The u.S. pop star (pictured) is to become the first honorary citizen of Manchester after organising the One Love concert in aid of victims of the bomb attack at her gig in which 22 people died. She apologised after being filmed licking doughnuts in a Californian bakery in 2015 — a prank that cost her the opportunity to sing for the-then u.S. president Barack Obama. GEORGIE FAME, 74. The jazz singer, who now lives in Sweden, worked in a cotton weaving mill before notching up number one hits in the Sixties with Yeh Yeh and The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde. Born Clive Powell, his stage name was given to him by his manager, who said: ‘If you don’t use it, I won’t use you in my show.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
LAURIE LEE (1914-1997). The gloucestershire-born poet and author of Cider With Rosie, which was published when he was 45. At 19, he walked to London, where he busked to raise enough money to travel to fight in the Spanish Civil War. However, he never fought, had several epileptic seizures and was sent home. ‘COLONEL’ TOM PARKER (1909-1997). The Dutch-born manager of Elvis Presley started out as a dog catcher. ‘Colonel’ was an honorary title given by the governor of Louisiana. He refused to write a book on Elvis, saying: ‘They want — dirt. But I’m not a dirt farmer.’
ON JUNE 26...
IN 1963, u.S. President John f. kennedy offered solidarity in West germany, declaring: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ (pictured).
IN 1906, the first grand Prix motor race was held outside Le Mans, france.
WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY
Smirting: flirting between people who are smoking cigarettes outside.
GUESS THE DEFINITION Snirtle (coined 1785)
A) To shout with the mouth wide open B) To fret, sulk; to cry in a whining fashion C) To laugh in a quiet, suppressed manner Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED A leopard can’t change its spots:
refers to the notion that things cannot change their innate nature, from the quotation in Jeremiah in the king James Bible: ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.’
QUOTE FOR TODAY
PERSONALLY, I have always looked on cricket as organised loafing. WILLIAM TEMPLE, former Archbishop of Canterbury (1881-1944)
JOKE OF THE DAY
A SOLDIER survived mustard gas in battle, and then pepper spray by the police. He’s now a seasoned veteran. Guess the Definition answer: C