ON THIS DAY
August 7, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
AUGUST 7, 1945
JAPAN is faced with obliteration by the new British-American atomic bomb — the mightiest destructive force the world has ever known — unless she surrenders in a few days. Already Japan has felt the terrible effects of one of the bombs at Hiroshima. [Another bomb fell on Nagasaki two days later. Japan surrendered on August 15.]
AUGUST 7, 1967
PRiNCE PHiLiP tried bicycle polo yesterday — and was involved in a spectacular crash. His antics had the Queen roaring with laughter. The Bicycle Polo Association secretary had asked Prince Philip to become its patron. He said: ‘Prince Philip replied that he could not, but would like to see us play. We didn’t expect him to join in.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NiCK ROSS, 70. The television presenter hosted BBC Crimewatch between 1984 and 2007 and was known for his catchphrase: ‘Don’t have nightmares, do sleep well.’ in 2013, he caused a storm when discussing rape in his book Crime and compared ‘provocatively dressed’ women to a bank ‘storing sacks of cash by the door’. HELEN FLANAGAN, 27. The Manchester- born actress (pictured) has played Rosie Webster in Coronation Street since she was nine. The former i’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here contestant has a daughter, Matilda, with her partner, former Chelsea and now Celtic winger Scott Sinclair, and was once voted the sexiest woman in Britain by readers of FHM magazine.
BORN ON THIS DAY
KENNETH KENDALL (1924-2012). The broadcaster, who was born in india, became the first person to be seen reading the news on the BBC in 1955 (newsreaders had previously only been heard). He went on to Channel 4 game show Treasure Hunt in the Eighties alongside Anneka Rice. KERMiT LOvE (1916-2008). The American puppeteer made his name dressing The Muppets. He spent much of his life explaining to fans that the programme’s most famous character, Kermit the Frog, was not named after him; the amphibian had been created before Love came on board.
ON AUGUST 7…
IN 1974, the French stuntman Philippe Petit walked on a high wire strung without permission 1,350ft up between the New York World Trade Center’s Twin Towers.
IN 1987, American Lynne Cox became the first person to swim from the last American island in the chain between Alaska and Siberia to the first Soviet one, covering the 2.7 miles in a bathing suit.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Clipsome (coined 1816) A) Eminently embraceable. B) violent, brawling, quarrelsome. C) An eccentric, showy person with superficial manners. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Mad as a March hare: Hares are unusually wild during their rutting season in March, which is their rutting season. The phrase was popularised by Lewis Carroll in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865).
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I cAn speak Esperanto like a native. Comedian Spike Milligan (1918-2002)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the rock-star llama promise his record producer? ‘Alpaca concert hall!’ Guess The Definition answer: A.