ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MARCH 20, 1945
ICED cakes were legally on sale again yesterday, when the ban imposed in May 1943 was lifted. But it was impossible to buy one, even in London’s most expensive shops. The manageress of a shop once renowned for its rich cakes and pastries said the only thing she could do was to ice customers’ cakes if they provided their own icing sugar. MARCH 20, 1973 WEENY- BOPPER idol David Cassidy yesterday criticised the use of guard dogs to keep 2,000 fans at bay outside his London hotel. The alsatians tore girls’ clothing, bit one member of the pop entourage on the arm and took chunks out of their handlers’ leather jackets. One girl, who claimed a handler was shouting ‘get her, get her’ to his dog, ran into a moving car.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DAME VERA LYNN, 102. The ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’ (pictured in the Forties), who sang in Egypt, India and Burma in World War II despite warnings about the risks she faced, is a big fan of Dolly Parton: ‘Her lyrics are similar to mine: simple, expressive, from the heart. Our voices are in the same kind of register, too. And, like me, Dolly sings with clear diction. Of course, we dress differently.’ SPIKE LEE, 62. The American film director won his first competitive Oscar (he had already received an honorary Academy Award) last month for best adapted screenplay for BlacKkKlansman. At New York University, he shared classes with fellow directors (and future Oscar winners) Oliver Stone and Ang Lee. And one of his teachers was Martin Scorsese.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR MICHAEL REDgRAVE (1908-1985). The Bristol-born stage and screen actor, a former teacher, made more than 50 films. He is best remembered for playing bouncing bomb inventor Barnes Wallis in The Dam Busters in 1955. He kept his bisexuality a secret during his lifetime and had affairs with Noel Coward and Edith Evans. SISTER ROSETTA THARPE (1915-1973). The U.S. singer-songwriter has been dubbed ‘the first guitar heroine of rock ’n’ roll’ by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which said Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis wouldn’t have been the stars they were without her influence. She was the first person to put Little Richard, then 14, on stage, and Johnny Cash’s favourite singer.
ON MARCH 20…
IN 1974, six shots were fired at a Rolls-Royce carrying Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips. Four people were wounded in the failed kidnap attempt.
IN 1991, Michael Jackson signed a $65 million (£39 million) deal with Sony. It came after he sold 75 million albums in the Eighties — more than any other artist in the decade.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Puggle (1990s) The offspring of A) a dragonfly; B) an echidna (right); or C) a pigeon.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Keep on the straight and narrow: To behave in an honest way; most likely an adaptation of ‘strait and narrow’, from the gospel of Matthew: ‘Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life.’