ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MARCH 22, 1949
LorD ABerDAre, honorary adviser to Mr J. Arthur rank on children’s cinema clubs, wants Westerns and serials axed and the standard of entertainment raised. he said most Westerns ‘have long dialogues to which children do not listen’. There are 406 Saturday children’s clubs in the odeon and Gaumont-British cinema circuits with membership of nearly 400,000 children.
MARCH 22, 1968
NexT time you see a woman, have a look at her legs. They may tell you how intelligent she is. So says Dr Martin Cole, who began supervising an intensive scientific study of women’s legs, which aims to find out whether breeding, social status and the regions of Britain help to shape the human body. Dr Cole said: ‘In fact, the more intelligent women have better-shaped legs.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JAMeS PATTerSoN, 71. The U.S. author, creator of the Alex Cross and Women’s Murder Club novels, was the first ever to sell more than a million e-books. The former advertising copywriter, who once wrote a jingle for Toys r Us, has frequently been rated as the world’s best- selling author and, according to Forbes, is the world’s richest writer, worth $700 million. ANDreW LLoYD WeBBer, 70. The prolific english composer has said he is ‘actually rather bored’ with his milestone birthday and just wants ‘to get on’. he is worth £740 million and owns seven London theatres. The father-of-five once interviewed a ‘very scary’ Vladimir Putin for the 2009 eurovision Song Contest.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JohN ‘ Jocky’ Wilson (1950-2012). The Scottish darts player was twice world champion in the eighties before heavy drinking and smoking took their toll on his health. Famed for his lack of teeth, he said he ate a lot of sweets as a child and didn’t use a toothbrush — because his granny told him ‘the english poison the water’. LeoNArD ‘Chico’ Marx (1887-1961). The U.S. actor and eldest of the Marx Brothers was often seen playing the piano, but he could also play the cornet, zither and violin. Born Leonard, he became Chico by accident — he liked chasing women or ‘chicks’ and was at first called Chicko. he ended up managing the group, but had to be put on a weekly allowance to stop him gambling.
ON MARCH 22...
IN 1956, Martin Luther King was fined $500 after he was convicted of organising an illegal boycott of buses in Alabama.
IN 2017, a terrorist drove a 4x4 at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a policeman at the Palace of Westminster. Five people died and dozens were injured. The attacker was shot dead.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Girouettism (coined 1825) A) Altering one’s opinion to follow a trend. B) The act of spinning round. C) Playfulness. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
As dull as dishwater: referring to people who are uninteresting or jobs that are tedious; from the phrase ‘ as dull as ditchwater’, being a dull, muddy colour.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
An ideA, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself. Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
JOKE OF THE DAY
hoW did the telecoms engineer catch his fish? By dropping them a line. Guess The definition answer: A.