ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
DECEMBER 29, 1939 Sugar and meat are to be added to the rationing scheme, the Food Minister has announced. This, he said, will be every housewife’s war effort. Why sugar? The Government wants to ‘cut down’ imports in order to conserve our foreign exchange for the purpose of armament buying. Why meat? Because the Government wants to make sure our Fighting Services receive their full allowance. DECEMBER 29, 1962 The Duke of Windsor today ridiculed reports discovered in Nazi archives that he intended to make himself supreme ruler of Britain when he came to the throne in 1936. He described reports by two of Hitler’s envoys as slanted and preposterous.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TED DANSON, 70. The u.S. actor is most famous for his lead role as Sam Malone in sitcom Cheers, appearing in more than 270 episodes. His affair with actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg led to his second divorce — from producer Casey Coates — in 1993 and one of the costliest celebrity settlements in history, at an estimated $30 million. MARIANNE FAITHFULL, 71. The Londonborn singer/songwriter who found fame in the Sixties with her first single, as Tears Go By, and even greater fame as rolling Stone Mick Jagger’s girlfriend. Born in London, her family had roots in the austrian nobility and her great-great-uncle was Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the 19th century austrian nobleman whose erotic novel, Venus In Furs, spawned the word ‘masochism’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
MARY TYLER Moore (1936-2017). The american actress made her name in The Dick Van Dyke Show in the Sixties and The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the Seventies. The latter, in which she broke the sitcom mould by playing a single, ambitious career woman, was listed as one of 17 shows that ‘changed television’ by Time magazine. Madame De Po M Pa Dour (1721-1764). Louis XV’s chief mistress was with the king for 19 years, though for many years they did not have sexual relations. She ‘contracted’ that out, finding young women for him to sleep with. She inspired the pompadour hairstyle in which hair is swept up into a puffy mass above the forehead.
ON DECEMBER 29…
IN 1986, former prime minister Harold Macmillan died aged 92.
IN 1997, authorities began to kill, disinfect and bury every chicken in Hong kong — an estimated 1.25 million — to prevent the spread of deadly bird flu.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Corniche (coined 1837) a) High-spirited; proud. B) Coastal road with panoramic views. C) Silvery grey. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Just deserts: Meaning a reward or punishment that is fully deserved. Derives from the old French deservir — to deserve.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
THE basic function of popular music is to create an environment for courting, love-making and doing the dishes. It’s useful because it addresses the heart in the midst of all these activities. Leonard Cohen, songwriter, singer and poet (1934-2016)
JOKE OF THE DAY
For Christmas, I bought my wife new beads for her abacus... It’s the little things that count. Guess The Definition answer: B.