ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUGUST 12, 1940
UNDER an Aliens Order issued last night by Sir John Anderson, Home Secretary, foreigners are banned from all of Cornwall, Devon, and most of Somerset. They must get police permission to enter or remain, and obtain leave to have cameras, telescopes, maps or charts. You must tell police if an alien visits you in a protected area.
AUGUST 12, 1964
IT WAS all aboard the holiday train yesterday for the Royal Family as the Queen, six children — Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Princess Margaret’s children Viscount Linley and baby Lady Sarah Armstrong- Jones — two nannies and five dogs set off from Euston station for Balmoral.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
PETE SAMPRAS, 46. The U.S. tennis star (pictured) retired with 14 Grand Slam singles titles (since surpassed by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal) and career earnings of £33 million. His parents were often too nervous to see him play, and instead of watching the 1990 U.S. Open final against Andre Agassi on TV went shopping. They realised he had won the title for the first time when they saw him on a screen in an electronics shop. TOBIAS ELLWOOD, 51. The defence minister and ex-soldier was hailed a hero after he ran towards gunfire and tried to save PC Keith Palmer, stabbed to death in the Westminster terror attack in March. He said the hardest part was coming home to his eight-year-old son and explaining why ‘a bad person would do what he did’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
FULTON MACKAY (19221987). The Scottish actor played prison officer Mr Mackay (pictured) in TV sitcom Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker. Co- star Christopher Biggins said: ‘He would have rehearsed for ever given the chance.’ Barker, who played felon Norman Stanley Fletcher, once gently encouraged him to get a move on so he could practise his lines, too. Mackay was also considered to play Doctor Who. MARY ROBERTS RINEHART (1876-1958). The American mystery author was a war correspondent, and one of the brave first journalists to reach the Western Front in World War I. The phrase ‘the butler did it’ is attributed to her 1930 novel The Door, though she hadn’t even used the term.
ON AUGUST 12 . . .
IN 1898, Hawaii became part of the U.S. IN 1964, Great Train Robber Charlie Wilson escaped from Winson Green Prison, Birmingham. He was recaptured four years later in Canada.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Calenture (coined 1593)
A) Delirium suffered by sailors in the tropics. They imagine the sea to be green fields, and will jump into it. B) Dimple-like dent in cheeks. C) A beard comb. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED Fool’s paradise: Happiness based on false hope. From the Latin limbus fatuorum or paradise of idiots, one of three places where people not good enough for paradise can go.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A SHARP tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
Washington Irving, American writer (1783-1859)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I SENT my wife a huge pile of snow. Then I phoned her to ask: ‘Did you get my drift?’ Guess The Definition answer: A.