ON THIS DAY
September 9, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE SEPTEMBER 9, 1949
SEVEN Lancashire Constabulary fingerprint experts have been diagnosed with mercury poisoning caused by the use of mercury powder to produce prints. The Chief Constable, reports The Lancet, has forbidden further use of the substance.
SEPTEMBER 9, 1966
THE cost of the Concord super-jetliner has leapt to £500 million — more than three times the original estimate. It is thought the final bill will be not less than £750 million. But both Britain and France are determined to go on with the project.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NATASHA KAPLINSKY, 45. The broadcaster and first winner of Strictly Come Dancing (pictured) answered an advert to read early morning TV news bulletins. On the BBC’s family history show Who Do You Think You Are? she discovered that several relatives — all Polish Jews — were murdered by the Nazis. Kaplinsky said researching her family’s past had been ‘the bleakest four days of my life’. ADAM SANDLER, 51, had the dubious honour, in 2014, of topping Forbes’ list of most overpaid actors for the second year in a row. The American star of Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer is the 41st highest grossing actor — his films have generated more than $2 billion (£1.52 billion) at the box office. No wonder he could afford a special tux for his dog, Meatball, who was ‘best man’ at his 2003 wedding to actress wife Jackie.
BORN ON THIS DAY
LEO TOLSTOY ( 18281910). The giant of Russian literature (pictured) made a mint from his 1873 novel Anna Karenina — but gave virtually all of it away, mostly to local beggars. His wife Sofia was not best pleased with what she saw as two-faced altruism: ‘His sermons on love and goodness have made him indifferent to his family, and mean the intrusion of all kinds of riff-raff into our family life.’ JAMES HILTON (1900-1954). The English author based the headmaster in Goodbye, Mr. Chips mainly on his father, the disciplinarian head of a London school. Hilton also gave us the word Shangri-La (a remote, utopian land) in his novel Lost Horizon. Several of his books were turned into successful films and Hilton moved to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter.
ON SEPTEMBER 9…
IN 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established.
IN 2015, the Queen became Britain’s longest- reigning monarch, surpassing Queen Victoria — but said the milestone was ‘not one to which I have ever aspired’.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Lyard (coined by Chaucer in his Friar’s Tale in the 14th century) A) Tawny; yellow tinged with red. B) Pale green passing into greyish blue. C) Dappled grey and white. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
True blue: Applied to a person of inflexible honesty and fidelity, it refers to Coventry Blue dye, noted for its colour fastness.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
NEVER go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.
Phyllis Diller, American comedienne (1917-2012)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT is a pretzel’s favourite dance? The Twist. Guess The Definition answer: C.