ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUGUST 20, 1940
PUBlIC authorities are legally obliged to see that street sandbins and lampposts are indicated with white paint in the blackout, it was decided in the King’s Bench Division. Mr Arthur lyus, of Bushwood, leytonstone, who fractured a rib when he walked into a sandbin, was awarded £ 190 damages against Stepney Corporation.
AUGUST 20, 1968
TOM JONeS (right) will become Britain’s biggest money-spinning pop star in the next 12 months, earning £800,000 singing throughout the world.
The Welsh singer’s golden trail starts with a three-week tour of Britain in October. He then goes to New York for leading TV shows, and in December he will be ‘at home’ with just one TV spectacular. Jones, 28, who married his childhood sweetheart when they were both 16 and has one son, explained: ‘Christmas is a time when families should be together.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
AMY ADAMS, 44. The Hollywood actress, who has been nominated for five Oscars but never won, has starred in American Hustle and played lois lane in 2013’s Superman movie Man Of Steel. The daughter of a U.S. serviceman, in 2014 she gave up her first-class seat on a plane to swap with a U.S. soldier in economy. DAVID WAllIAMS, 47. The Britain’s Got Talent judge was the biggest selling author of 2017, with sales of his children’s books notching up £16 million — but he has said his own son, Arthur, born during his fiveyear marriage to model lara Stone, doesn’t like them very much. Walliams’ luxury item on Desert Island Discs was a gun so he could shoot himself if he got too lonely.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JIM BOWeN (1937-2018). The Cheshire-born former binman found fame as host of darts-themed gameshow Bullseye (right), though he said he was the producers’ fifth choice. He decided to try out comedy after watching Ken Dodd perform live for seven hours — and with his catchphrases ‘Super, smashing, great’ and ‘You can’t beat a bit of Bully’ he became a household name. Bowen died just three days after Dodd in March. JACqUelINe SUSANN (1918-1974). The U.S. novelist, a failed actress, wrote Valley Of The Dolls, which at the time of her death was in the Guinness Book Of Records as the best-selling novel in history. Her critics were unimpressed. Gore Vidal said: ‘She doesn’t write, she types.’
ON AUGUST 20...
IN 1989, 51 people died when a dredger, the Bowbelle, collided with a pleasure boat, the Marchioness, on the River Thames.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Blip (1915)
A) To switch an aircraft engine on and off. B) A small cavity in a rock. C) A soldier without military skill. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
To open a can of worms: To examine something complicated which would be much better left alone. First used in America in the Fifties, it comes from anglers using worms as bait for fishing — and keeping them in cans with the lid tightly closed.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort. Jane Austen, novelist (1775-1817)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a bear without fur? Bare. Guess The Definition answer: A