ON THIS DAY Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD

December 4, 2017

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE

DECEMBER 4, 1941 A CONCERT in honour of the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin’s birthday will be broadcast on December 21 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sir Henry Wood [founder of the Proms]. It will be given before an invited audience and broadcast ‘live’ in the afternoon.

DECEMBER 4, 1969

CHARLES MANSON, leader of the hippie Satan’s Slaves cult, which police say is involved in the Sharon Tate murders, ordered his followers to kill blindly out of ‘revenge’, a court was told by one of the girls who worships him. Susan Atkins, 21, said in Santa Monica that Manson ordered the murders ‘as a symbol of protest’.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

PHILIP HAMMOND, 62. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is one of the richest members of the Cabinet, thought to be worth upwards of £8m thanks to a property development company he helped set up. TV presenter Richard Madeley, who went to the same Essex school as Hammond, said back then he was ‘a Goth’ with ‘long, jet-black hair’. ‘Phil looked like Johnny Depp back in his pomp, and used to arrive in class in a leather trench coat.’ JAY-Z, 48, born Shawn Corey Carter, is a U.S. rapper who grew up in Brooklyn’s drug-infested Marcy Projects. Since his first hit Dead Presidents, he has sold more than 75 million albums. He started making music after receiving a boom box from his mother on his 12th birthday. In 2008, he married singer Beyonce Knowles and they now have three children — Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir.

BORN ON THIS DAY

DEANNA DURBIN (19212013). The Canadian actress and singer (right) starred in musicals including Three Smart Girls and Can’t Help Singing. By 21, she was the world’s most highly paid female star. In her teens, she’d auditioned for the voice of Snow White in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, but was deemed too mature-sounding. Adriana Caselotti — who was five years older — won the part.

RONNIE CORBETT (1930-2016). The Scottish comedian and actor was one half of the Two Ronnies, and at 5ft was the shortest officer in the British Forces when he did national Service with the RAF. Once, bemoaning his height and job prospects, he said: ‘I mean, could you see anyone employing me in a bank? Whatever I did to seem dignified, they’d think I was the teaboy.’

ON DECEMBER 4…

IN 1954: The first Burger King opened in Miami, Florida. IN 1961: Health Minister Enoch Powell announced in Parliament that ‘birth control pills can be prescribed under the NHS’.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION Benedick (coined by Shakespeare) A) A person admirable for basic decency. B) A hypocrite with delusions of sanctity. C) A newly married man. Answer below

PHRASE EXPLAINED

Lovely jubbly: Used to express delight. ‘Jubbly’ is a euphemism for money and the expression came from the comedy Only Fools And Horses in which it was one of the best-loved catchphrases of Del Boy (right).

QUOTE FOR TODAY

I Don’t know how long a child will remain utterly static in front of the television, but my guess is that it could be well into their 30s. A.A. Gill, journalist (1954-2016)

JOKE OF THE DAY

Which pet makes the most noise? A trumpet. Guess the Definition answer: C