ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 28, 1939 A rECOrd list of 2,657 divorce cases is down for hearing during the Michaelmas sittings, which begin next Tuesday. Mr Laurence Olivier, the actor, is being sued for divorce by his wife, formerly Miss Jill Esmond, the actress. They were married in 1930, and have a son, born in 1936. SEPTEMBER 28, 1967 THE children who posted two white mice with a ‘Please find them a home’ note to the television programme Blue Peter have written to the BBC again, asking to be forgiven after both animals died. A letter signed ‘Two Sorry People’ arrived yesterday. It said: ‘We saw Blue Peter and heard you telling us off. But we had to send the mice to you or kill them ourselves.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NAOMI WATTS, 50. The Kent- born actress, right, starred in 2005’s King Kong and played the Princess of Wales in 2013’s diana. Her father Peter was a sound engineer for Pink Floyd, and his laugh can be heard on their album The dark Side Of The Moon. Her mum Myfanwy was a model. Watts has said: ‘I wanted my parents to wear three-piece suits and tweed, not leather pants and four-inch platform boots.’ JON SNOW, 71. The Channel 4 News anchor started grilling politicians early — as a nineyearold he was introduced to Harold Macmillan at school and asked him ‘if he was married to the Queen’. The PM replied: ‘No, I am a Conservative politician.’ Last year, it was claimed Snow chanted ‘F*** the Tories’ at a music festival. He said: ‘After a day at Glastonbury, I can honestly say I have no recollection of what was chanted.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
BEN E. KING (1938-2015). The U.S. singer-songwriter, right, found fame as frontman of The drifters and with solo hits, including Spanish Harlem. Stand By Me, which was sung at the duke and duchess of Sussex’s wedding, was his favourite and he said: ‘I still perform it in all my shows. I’ll do it as long as I’m breathing.’ PETEr FINCH (1916-1977). The Londonborn Australian star was a renowned hell-raiser and womaniser — his affair with Shirley Bassey led to the collapse of her marriage to director Kenneth Hume. Finch, who died of a heart attack, was best known for winning a posthumous Oscar for his role in 1976’s Network. A former newspaper reporter, he said of his career change: ‘If I was going to be broke, I decided I might as well do it with actors as anyone else.’
ON SEPTEMBER 28...
IN 935, St Wenceslas (of carol fame) was killed by his brother, Boleslav the Cruel. IN 1745, God Save The King was first performed in London’s drury Lane Theatre.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Adumbrate (1883) A) To cover. B) To represent in outline. C) Embarrassment. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Toffee-nosed — meaning snobbish or pretentiously superior; from World War I, the origin is not ‘toffee’ but ‘toff ’, 18th century slang for someone well-dressed.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
TiME is a great teacher but unfortunately it kills all its pupils. Hector Berlioz, French composer (1803-69)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT happened when 19 and 20 got into a fight? 21. Guess The Definition answer: B