ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MAY 7, 1960

THE handclasp firm, the tread purposeful . . . that’s how they left the Abbey. This was the Princess and the Commoner fused into a union with a pageantry and pomp even the sun could not resist. On Mr Armstrong-Jones’s face a look of realised responsibility; on Princess Margaret’s, the radiance of a bride content in her husband’s protection.

MAY 7, 1963

THE U.S. Air Force said that a new attempt to put about 400 million copper ‘needles’ in space will be made soon.The needles would test ways of establishing long- distance communications in the event of ‘black-outs’ caused by radiation in outer space.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

RICHARD O’SULLIVAN, 74. The actor (pictured), who played Elizabeth Taylor’s younger brother in Cleopatra, is best known for his Seventies sitcom roles in Man About The House, Robin’s Nest and Doctor At Large. O’Sullivan lives in a home for retired actors in South London after suffering a stroke in 2003. SIR NICHOLAS HYTNER, 62. The former director of the National Theatre for 12 years has also directed films including The History Boys, The Madness Of King George and The Lady In The Van. While studying at Cambridge, he shared a house with comedians Griff Rhys Jones and Rory McGrath.

BORN ON THIS DAY

ROBERT BROWNING (1812-1889). The English poet, married to fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, is best known for The Ring And The Book and The Pied Piper Of Hamelin. He coined several words, including cheese- ball ( thought to be mozzarella), garnishry (adornment) and febricity (the state of being feverish). GARY COOPER ( 19011961). The lanky American actor (whose real name was Frank) won Oscars for his roles in Sergeant york and High Noon (pictured, with co-star Grace Kelly). As a boy, he spent four years in England attending Dunstable Grammar School. His bow-legged walk, which the LA Times wrote ‘made him seem like a cowboy even in a business suit’, was the result of breaking his hip in a car accident as a child.

ON MAY 7…

IN 1956, Tory Health Minister Robert Turton said the government would not launch a campaign against smoking because a link to cancer had ‘not been proved’.

IN 2017, at 39, Emmanuel Macron became the youngest President in French history.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: Admiral of the narrow seas (coined early 17th century) A) One nervously affected by the privations of war service in the Tropics. B) An officer always ready to take part in the social side of naval life. C) A drunkard who vomits over his neighbour at table. Answer below

PHRASE EXPLAINED

Bubble and squeak: Traditional dish of cooked cabbage fried with potatoes and meat, its name comes from the fact that the cold meat and fried greens were first boiled and so hissed or squeaked in the frying pan.