ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 17, 1968 The GPO’s bitterly criticised high-speed 5d letter service got off to a slow start yesterday. In some areas, less than 10 per cent of the mail went by the new ‘first-class’ post. One man at least was satisfied with the 4d post. Mr Bernard Shaw, secretary of the east Midlands Football League, received a letter from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, 30 minutes after it was posted a mile away. SEPTEMBER 17, 1969 ThaT bonny baby who plays adolf hitler in the TV advertisement for the magazine history Makers is a girl. Seven-month-old Jill’s father, Geoffrey, a 36, said: ‘She is nothing like hitler was as a baby, according to photographs. It was just the hair line.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SIr STIrLInG MOSS, 89. The ex-F1 star is regarded as the greatest driver never to win the World Championship. he was criticised for always trying to drive a British car, but Sir Stirling (right) said it was ‘better to lose honourably in a British car than win in a foreign one’. he retired from public life earlier this year because of ill health. narenDra MODI, 68. The Indian prime minister helped his father run a tea shop and later ran his own stall near a bus stand. For 40 years, he refused to acknowledge publicly the wife he married at 17 — until he filed his nomination for PM. he left her soon after their wedding and spent several years as a monk. They have never divorced.
BORN ON THIS DAY
TeSSa JOWeLL (1947-2018). The former Labour culture secretary, who died of brain cancer early this year, was described by Tony Blair as ‘the ultimate sensible loyalist’ and she said: ‘I would jump in front of a bus to save him.’ She said of her plan to distribute condoms for competitors at the 2012 Olympics: ‘all these athletes with beautiful bodies all . . . together, once their races are over, will end up having lots of sex.’ anne BanCrOFT ( 1931- 2005). The new York- born actress was most famous for her role as Mrs robinson in The Graduate, who seduced her daughter’s boyfriend, played by Dustin hoffman (above). In reallife, she was only six years older than him. Bancroft was married to comedian Mel Brooks for 41 years. She said: ‘The best way to get most husbands to do something is to suggest perhaps they’re too old to do it.’
ON SEPTEMBER 17…
IN 1978, rock band Queen filmed the video for their song Bicycle race at Wimbledon stadium, featuring 65 naked female cyclists. When the bike hire company found out, they demanded payment to replace the saddles.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Illeism (1809) a) referring to oneself in the third person. B) Lawlessness. C) Talking for its own sake. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Footloose and fancy free: refers to someone without responsibilities. Originated in the U.S. in 1880 and reached Britain in the 1940s; ‘footloose’ may refer to a prison chain gang while ‘fancy free’ was coined by Shakespeare in a Midsummer night’s Dream.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
BETTER by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad. Christina Rossetti, poet (1830-1894)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WhaT do you call a game where Germans throw bread at each other? Gluten tag. Guess The Definition answer: A.