ON THIS DAY
July 11, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JULY 11, 1946
PARISH councillors at Cofton Hackett, Worcs, wrote to the War Office asking that German prisoners in their neighbourhood be kept in camp after 6pm because the men ‘throw kisses to their young ladies’. Women complain they can’t roam the lanes without being ‘pestered’, and some allege notes have been put through their letter-boxes asking them to meet prisoners after dark.
JULY 11, 1962
THE first historic ‘space-vision’ pictures to be transmitted directly across the Atlantic flashed onto British TV screens at 1am today. Viewers saw the pictures — relayed from America to the 34½ in satellite Telstar 2,000 miles above the ocean — for 30 seconds. Similar satellites will bring live programmes from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to British audiences.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JOHN KETTLEY, 65. The BBC weatherman — pictured in the Nineties and who worked at the Met Office for 30 years — was accused by his colleague Bill Giles of plotting with Michael Fish to overthrow him. He was turned into a cult hero by the novelty record John Kettley Is A Weatherman, by Sunderland band A Tribe of Toffs, which peaked at 21 in the UK singles chart at Christmas 1988. SUZANNE VEGA, 58. The U.S. singersongwriter and music producer has had hits with Luka and Tom’s Diner. She auditioned for the lead role in Desperately Seeking Susan, but lost out to Madonna. She was Glastonbury Festival’s first female headliner in 1989, but took to the stage wearing a bulletproof vest after a girl infatuated with her bass player issued death threats.
BORN ON THIS DAY
THOMAS BOWDLER (1754-1825). The English physician and writer published The Family Shakespeare, a censored version of the Bard’s works that he deemed acceptable for genteel women and children. His version removed unpleasant deaths, swearing and anything sexual from Shakespeare’s plays. It was hugely popular in the 19th century and his name inspired the verb ‘bowdlerise’ — to expurgate or cut out.
ON JULY 11 ...
IN 1804, former U. S. treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton — now the subject of a hit stage musical — was fatally shot in a duel with vice-president Aaron Burr.
IN 1859, the bell at Westminster’s clock tower, nicknamed Big Ben, rang out for the first time. Two months later it cracked and didn’t ring again for four years.
IN 1988, boxer Mike Tyson announced he had hired Donald Trump as an adviser.
WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY
Set-jetting: Travelling to visit the famous locations of films or TV programmes.
GUESS THE DEFINITION Caxon (coined 1756)
A) The leather strap to bind a hawk’s wing. B) A worn-out wig. C) A small cavity in a rock. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED
A flea in one’s ear: Meaning a stinging rebuke, it refers to a common problem in the Middle Ages of being infested with fleas and other parasites, and getting a flea in the ear was particularly painful.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
MY PROBLEM was that I was always missing. Miss World, Miss England, Miss UK . . . George Best, professional footballer (1946-2005)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S a comedian’s least favourite drink? Booze. Guess The Definition answer: B