ON THIS DAY

JULY 26, 1945

ArMED police guarded two lorries which yesterday took back to Buckingham Palace gold plate, jewels and art treasures stored during the war in the dungeons of Windsor Castle. the gold plate is to be used for a state banquet at Buckingham Place in the event of President truman visiting London after the Potsdam Conference [a meeting of the ‘Big three’ Allied leaders to decide how to administer defeated Nazi germany].

JULY 26, 1955

SOLDIErS in Western Command will not be allowed to leave camp in teddy Boy outfits. In future, they will be paraded and told they must wear uniform if they have not got conventional civilian clothes. Officers will keep a look- out for the long draped jacket, the velvet collar and tight drainpipe trousers of the Edwardian suit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

SANDrA BuLLOCk, 53. the American actress and producer (right) has starred in Speed, While You Were Sleeping and the Blind Side, for which she won an Oscar in 2010. the day before collecting her prize, she turned up to receive a golden raspberry award for Worst Actress for All About Steve. She arrived with a trailer full of DVDs of the film to hand out to the audience. kEVIN SPACEY, 58. the double Oscarwinning American actor was sent to military academy after setting fire to his sister’s tree house, but was thrown out for fighting. he set his heart on acting after playing Captain Von trapp in a school production of the Sound Of Music.

BORN ON THIS DAY

CArL JuNg ( 1875- 1961). the Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist had a friendship, and intense rivalry, with Sigmund Freud. they would often analyse each other’s dreams. the Police’s album, Synchronicity, was named after Carl Jung’s theory of ‘meaningful coincidence’. On the cover, Sting is seen reading a book called Synchronicity by Jung. ALDOuS huXLEY ( 1894- 1963). the English author, best known for his 1932 dystopian novel Brave New World, started writing as a teenager after an infection which left him temporarily blind. As a French teacher at Eton, he taught Eric Blair (george Orwell), who would write a not dissimilar bleak futuristic novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

ON JUNE 26... In 1951,

Disney’s Alice In Wonderland (right) had its world premiere in London. In 1956, President Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal. In 2016, hillary Clinton became the first female Presidential nominee of a major u.S. party.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION Liripipe(coined 1737) A) the little dot above the letter i. B) the long tail of a graduate’s hood. C) Shaped like the letter L. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED

Fall on your sword: Literally, commit suicide; figuratively, to take personal responsibility and offer resignation. Dates back to ancient rome. Plutarch records in the Life Of Brutus, ‘grasping with both hands the hilt of his naked sword, he fell upon it and died’ — though often men asked a friend to assist.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley, English novelist (1895-1972) I’VE got a new job for a company that makes rubberised computer keyboards. They offer flexible shifts. Guess The Definition answer: B