ON THIS DAY
October 8, 2018
OCTOBER 8, 1947
TO CUT wasted food and help feed Europe, the National Restaurant Association in New York is telling restaurateurs to stop serving three-layer cakes and sandwiches with the crusts cut off. As an example in the nation’s first ‘meatless Tuesday’, President Truman had cheese souffle for lunch.
OCTOBER 8, 1948
IN ITS first ten weeks, the National Health Service treated nearly 30 million patients. More than a million people went to the dentist, and the rush for spectacles was so great that the output cannot keep up with the demand. There seemed to be ‘a most extraordinary proportion of the population which has bad eyesight’, said the Minister of Health, Mr Aneurin Bevan.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MARTHA KEARNEY, 61. The BBC presenter (right) was once told by a boss that she was ‘too smiley’ to be promoted. She had the last laugh this year, becoming co-host of Radio 4’s flagship Today programme. While covering her first general election, in 1987, an egg aimed at Liberal leader David Steel struck Kearney. She said: ‘I did a ridiculously girlie scream. It’s not how I wanted my first appearance on the BBC — wiping egg yolk out of my cleavage.’ BRUNO MARS, 33. The Hawaiian-born pop star, who has had five UK No 1s, was born Peter Gene Hernandez. He was interviewed by Jonathan Ross when he was four — as an Elvis Presley impersonator. He was the 11th highest-paid celebrity in the world last year, according to Forbes, after grossing $250 million on his world tour.
BORN ON THIS DAY
ALASDAIR MILNE (1930-2013). The Indiaborn Scotsman succeeded David Attenborough as the BBC’s director of programmes before becoming the first director-general to be sacked after rows with the government. John Birt, the next-but-one DG, said Mrs Thatcher ‘regarded Milne as an arrogant public-school toff, presiding over an unmanaged, out- of- control institution’. Milne’s Winchester- educated son, Seumas, is Jeremy corbyn’s head of communications. JUAN PERON (1895-1974). The three-time President of Argentina’s fame was outstripped by that of his second wife, actress Eva Duarte ( right). Eva is thought to have had a prefrontal lobotomy before her death at the age of 33 to control pain brought on by cancer, but one neurosurgeon accused her husband of ordering the operation to control her unpredictable behaviour.
ON OCTOBER 8…
IN 1818, the first mention of a boxing match featuring the use of padded gloves appeared in a Paris newspaper. IN 1971, John Lennon released his album Imagine in the UK. WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION Deipnosophist (1845) A) A gourmet. B) A person who lives inland. c) A compulsive liar. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Ivy League: Originally the name of a football league of eight colleges, it refers to u.S. east coast universities and the link between ivy and ancient institutions.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
EVERY man is surrounded by a neighbourhood of voluntary spies. Jane Austen, novelist (1775-1817)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a man living on your doorstep? Matt. Guess The Definition answer: A.