ON THIS DAY
July 22, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JULY 22, 1942
THE BBC has banned ‘ slushy’ — or oversentimental — songs from its popular music programmes. Following complaints from listeners, it sent a letter to music publishers and dance band leaders demanding more virility and robustness as opposed to ‘musical slop’. The letter said the BBC would not tolerate an ‘anaemic or debilitated vocal performance by male singers’ and would exclude ‘numbers which contain innuendo considered to be offensive’.
JULY 22, 1953
MISS DIANA DORS, the 22- year- old actress, has been charged with breaking and entering. Under her married name, Diana Mary Gittins, she will appear before Blackpool magistrates on Friday. Miss Dors said: ‘We were released on £10 surety. I thought I was worth much more than that.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BONNIE LANGFORD, 53. The EastEnders actress (right) did her first performance at just four months old when she was carried on stage in a play produced by her mother. She later hit the big time after winning talent show Opportunity Knocks at the grand old age of six. WILLEM DAFOE, 62. The American actor, who has voiced characters in several animated films and adverts, starred in Platoon, The English Patient and American Psycho — and has been described as a specialist in ‘scene-stealing weirdos’. He was thrown out of high school for making a pornographic film ‘about oddballs, including nudists’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
AMy VANDERBILT (1908-1974). The American queen of etiquette wrote a column on manners syndicated in more than 100 newspapers worldwide. She answered such pressing questions as ‘Does a secretary need a chaperone?’ and drew up a code of courtesy for New york bus and subway passengers. But woe betide anyone who addressed her as ‘Ms’ — a title she detested: ‘Look it up in the dictionary. It means “manuscript”.’
ON JULY 22...
IN 1706, the Treaty of Union was signed, uniting England (including Wales) and Scotland to create the United Kingdom. IN 2013, the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to Prince George. He’s four today.
WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY
SLaShkini: a one- piece swimsuit ( pictured) that incorporates random cut-outs in order to appear to have been artfully slashed.
GUESS THE DEFINITION Clumpst (coined 1388)
A) In shooting: amiss in some way. B) Without stones or grit (of soil). C) Of hands stiff with cold.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Loose cannon: A term used to describe one who is dangerously unpredictable. It may derive from English warships when, in battle, cannons would break loose and slide around the deck, crushing any crew in their path.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
TheY say the definition of ambivalence is watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your new Cadillac. David Mamet, American playwright
JOKE OF THE DAY
THERE was a big paddle sale at the boat shop. It was quite an oar deal. guess The Definition answer: C.