ON THIS DAY

MAY 14, 1941

THE colossal task of organising Britain’s fire- watchers, who probably number 1,500,000, has been placed on the shoulders of a woman — Miss Ellen Wilkinson, joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Home Security. Some will say this is a mansize job. Others will point to her record as an organiser in Whitehall and of trade unions.

MAY 14, 1953

NEWS of the Coronation in Britain has been kept out of the Spanish newspapers as part of a new anti-British campaign in Spain, over the status of Gibraltar. Mr Anthony Nutting, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, condemned this censorship in the Commons last night as a ‘silly, senseless pinprick’.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MARTINE McCUTCHEON, 42. The singer and actress played Tiffany in EastEnders and the prime minister’s love interest in Love Actually. She appeared on TV for the first time at six weeks old, in a party political broadcast. She is on a comeback tour, having been diagnosed with ME and Lyme disease, suffered several miscarriages and been made bankrupt in 2013. DAVID BYRNE, 66. The Oscar-winning Scottish-born musician, who grew up in the U.S., was the frontman of Talking Heads, who had hits with Psycho Killer and Once In A Lifetime. His vocals were said to be so ‘yelp-y’ as a teenager that he was asked to leave the school choir.

BORN ON THIS DAY

BOBBY DARIN (1936-1973). The American singer-songwriter and actor had hits with Mack The Knife, Early In The Morning and Dream Lover. Darin was born Walden Cassoto and picked Darin out of a telephone book. He married Hollywood actress Sandra Dee in 1960. He died after open heart surgery and donated his body to science. ERIC MORECAMBE (19261984). Born John Eric Bartholomew, the comedian took his stage name from his birthplace, Morecambe in Lancashire. He met Ernie Wise as a teenager and their TV show attracted audiences of up to 28 million — including Morecambe himself. His son, Gary, said: ‘My father would laugh uproariously at the show.’

ON MAY 14…

IN 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed, with an appeal to the United Nations ‘to assist the Jewish people in the building of its state and to admit Israel into the family of nations’. IN 1996, actors Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith married in London. IN 1998, Frank Sinatra died, aged 82.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: trental (coined in Middle English 1100-1500) A) Quarrelsome, contentious about trifles B) Mass on the 30th day after death C) A person who turns the rope while others skip PHRASE EXPLAINED:

Happy as Larry: derives either from Laurence ‘Larry’ Foley (1849-1917), a boxer known as the ‘Father of Australian Boxing’ or it relates to the word larry, which once meant ‘a statement of excitement’ in parts the UK.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

NothiNg is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles. Charlie Chaplin, English actor and director (1889-1977)

JOKE OF THE DAY

WHAT do you call a cow that eats your grass? A lawn mooer. guess the Definition answer: B.