ON THIS DAY
November 27, 2018
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE NOVEMBER 27, 1956
BANDLEADER Tommy Dorsey, 51, was found dead in bed at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut, yesterday. A post-mortem revealed he had accidentally choked to death in his sleep. Police said Dorsey left a personal note addressed to his wife, Janey. Frank Sinatra, who Dorsey helped make famous, said: ‘He was a great musician.’
NOVEMBER 27, 1967
DENNIS LEoN, a sales executive, who likes girlfriends with long hair, described his perfect woman to a computer and the space-age matchmaker came up with the answer . . . short-haired Lynn Brown, a 24year-old secretary. Now the couple, who in computer language are ‘mutually compatible’, plan to wed next year — the first British bride and groom selected by machine.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MANoLo BLAHNIk, 76. The Spaniard is one of the world’s most famous shoe designers, and has been hailed as the ‘ sultan of slippers’ by Vogue. The former set designer grew up on the Canary Islands and, as a child, made tinfoil shoes for the local iguanas. Madonna once said his shoes were ‘as good as sex — and they last longer’. PRoFESSoR GREEN, 35. The Londonborn rapper, whose real name is Stephen Manderson, was divorced from former Made In Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh in 2016 after two and a half years of marriage. He once said: ‘When I was growing up, I wanted to be a lawyer or a barrister, but I ended up being a drug dealer.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
BuSTER MERRYFIELD (1920-1999). The actor from London was best known for playing uncle Albert (right) in only Fools And Horses. on the show, he smoked a pipe, but was a health fanatic in real life. A former schoolboy boxing champion, he was a bank manager but took early retirement aged 57 to become an actor — and was in the BBC show from 1985 until it ended in 1996. JIMI HENDRIx (1942-1970). The u.S. musician, who died of a drug overdose in London aged 27, was almost as famous for his on-stage antics — playing his guitar with his teeth and setting fire to it at the end of the show — as for his music. He was a big fan of Coronation Street, and especially Ena Sharples — and his track, Third Stone From The Sun, was said to be influenced by the show’s theme tune.
ON NOVEMBER 27…
IN 1852, English mathematician and computer pioneer Ada Lovelace died, aged 36. IN 1914, Britain’s first policewomen started work, in Grantham, Lincolnshire. IN 2000, ten-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor was stabbed to death in Peckham, South London.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Take toko (c. 1840) A) To flee. B) To have a pinch of snuff. C) To take four dozen lashes in the old Navy without crying out. answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Moot point
— refers to a matter that is uncertain or undecided, and so open to debate; in medieval times ‘ mot’ or ‘mote’ was an assembly; so something that was mooted was put up for general discussion.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
THE public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all. Mark Twain, U.S. writer (1835-1910)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT happened when the five-legged man put on his trousers? They fitted like a glove. Guess The Definition answer: C.