ON THIS DAY
October 16, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE OCTOBER 16, 1917
MATA HARI, the dancer (right) who was condemned to death by the Paris courtmartial on July 24 for spying for Germany, has been executed. At five o’clock yesterday morning, she was driven to Vincennes Fort, accompanied by her counsel and a Protestant pastor. She faced the firing party with great courage and refused to have her eyes bandaged.
OCTOBER 16, 1964
A BLoW was struck for the girls of oxford yesterday by the dons of 600-year-old new College — and in particular by Mr Geoffrey de Ste Croix, lecturer in Ancient History.
In an article in the oxford Magazine, Mr de Ste Croix sets out the argument for revolutionising oxford’s all-male colleges. He says: ‘no one will deny that some of the women who now have to be refused admission at oxford are abler than many of the men who are accepted.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
GARY KeMP, 60. The London-born singersongwriter, whose first wife was actress Sadie Frost, found fame with his younger brother, Martin, in new Romantic band Spandau Ballet. Kemp says he became a ‘bitter little snob’ towards his parents after starting grammar school, asking them: ‘Why don’t we have these books, read these kinds of papers? Why don’t we talk about philosophy? Why do I have such an ignorant family?’ TIM RoBBInS, 61. The 6ft 5in U.S. star of The Shawshank Redemption is the tallest actor to have won an oscar, for Mystic River. He says he often gets mistaken by members of the public for Tom Hanks and when he denies it: ‘They go, “oh, so famous that you can’t say hello to the little guy.” ’
BORN ON THIS DAY
MAx BYGRAVeS ( 19222012), right. The Londonborn star hosted Family Fortunes and starred in 19 Royal Variety Performances. Perhaps his best investment was buying the rights to Lionel Bart’s musical oliver! for £350 and selling them for £250,000. Bygraves was also a successful singer, with 31 gold discs. His novelty song You need Hands was covered by the Sex Pistols. eUGene o’neILL (1888-1953). The nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. dramatist wrote 38 plays, including Long Day’s Journey Into night. He died in a Boston hotel and his last words were said to be: ‘I knew it! I knew it! Born in a hotel room and, goddamn it, dying in a hotel room.’
ON OCTOBER 16 . . .
IN 1964, China detonated its first nuclear weapon.
IN 1987, the south of Britain was clearing up after the worst storms in living memory — following weatherman Michael Fish’s famous broadcast in which he insisted there wasn’t a hurricane on the way.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Homunculus (1650) A) enormous. B) Lying on the ground. C) A small human creature. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed: Meaning alert and eager; ‘bright- eyed’ is likely to come from the late 1500s and ‘bushy-tailed’ from around 1865; it’s used as a metaphor of a squirrel’s friskiness to allude to someone’s liveliness.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
MEn are never so good or so bad as their opinions. James Mackintosh, Scottish philosopher (1765-1832)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT does a spider’s bride wear? A webbing dress. Guess The Definition answer: C.