ON THIS DAY
February 17, 2018
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 17, 1950
FRAUS rule the Rhineland in the five-day pre-Lent carnival that began today. If a man refuses to obey an order, women have the right to mob him and take off his trousers.
FEBRUARY 17, 1967
EXHIBIT Number Seven gave a wolf-whistle in court yesterday, looked at a woman magistrate and shrieked: ‘ Hello, what a smasher!’
The magistrate was Mrs Audrey Lennox. The wolf-whistler was a mynah bird.
He was carried in his cage into Tottenham Court, North London, when Anthony Bowden, 27, of Wood Green, was accused of breaking into a pet shop and stealing him.
Later Mrs Lennox said: ‘I don’t think the mynah’s remarks were directed at me.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JULIA MCKENZIE, 77. The actress is best-known for starring in the Eighties sitcom Fresh Fields, costume drama Cranford and more recently for playing Miss Marple (pictured). She was also the Queen’s body double for a film used in the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, waving in a helicopter next to Daniel Craig’s James Bond, before a stunt double played the monarch parachuting into the Olympic stadium. MICHAEL JORDAN, 55. Described as ‘the greatest basketball player of all time’, the 6ft 6in American topped Forbes’ most recent list of highest paid retired athletes (ahead of the late Arnold Palmer in second, and David Beckham — who wore shirt No 23 at real Madrid in honour of Jordan — in third). Even though he stopped playing in 2003, he earned £64 million in 2016.
BORN ON THIS DAY
GENE PITNEY (1941-2006). The American singer-songwriter, pictured, who had a hit with 24 Hours From Tulsa, was more popular in Britain than his home country, and died in a Cardiff hotel room during a UK tour. He had more than 40 hits, but only one UK number one: Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, a duet with Marc Almond. RUTH RENDELL (1930-2015). The Essexborn crime writer, creator of Inspector Wexford, had her first six novels rejected by publishers. The Labour peer remarried her husband two years after their divorce, praising him as the sort of man with whom she could go on a 200-mile car trip without needing to say a word.
ON FEBRUARY 17 . . .
IN 1863, the International red Cross was founded in Geneva by five men. IN 1867, the first ship sailed through the Suez Canal. IN 1950, David Attenborough wed Jane Oriel. They were married until her death in 1997.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Isinglass (1545) A) Framework of hoops under a dress. B) A type of sleet. C) Gelatine made from fishes’ air bladders. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Hoist with one’s own petard: Meaning to be caught in one’s own trap, the phrase comes from Hamlet. Petard is 16th-century French for a small bomb. It was typically hoisted up to destroy obstacles but this was extremely dangerous to the person placing it.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
It’s the greatest thing since they reinvented unsliced bread. William Keegan, English author
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY do the royal Family never play musical chairs? they prefer Game Of thrones. Guess the Definition answer: C