ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE

NOVEMBER 20, 1954

THE radar speed cop, scourge of motorists in many parts of America, is now under test for the first time by a British police force. It is a small black box. And its invisible beam has already picked out scores of motorists who sped along Buckinghamshire roads unaware.

NOVEMBER 20, 1972

Princess ANNE has risked a protest from blood sport opponents by going fox-hunting. she is the first member of the Royal Family to do so for nearly 50 years. The princess (right) spent one day with the Zetland Hunt, based on the Yorkshire-Durham border. But she did not see a ‘kill’. The fox escaped the hounds and 140 riders.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

JOE BIDEN, 77. Barack Obama’s vice-president is one of the Democratic favourites to face Donald Trump at next year’s presidential election next year. Were he to win, he’d be the oldest first-time U.s. President in the country’s history. In 1972, his wife, Neilia, and their one-year- old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident while Christmas shopping. ANDREA RISEBOROUGH, 38. The Newcastle- born actress — a Rada contemporary of Tom Hiddleston — played Margaret Thatcher in the BBC’s Long Walk To Finchley (right) and Wallis simpson in Madonna’s feature-length directorial debut W.E. Asked who would play her in a film of her life, she replied: ‘su Pollard.’

BORN ON THIS DAY

EDWIN HUBBLE ( 1889- 1953). The influential U.s. astronomer, after whom the space Telescope was named, discovered there are countless galaxies beyond our own. He also came up with a system for classifying galaxies into ellipticals, spirals and barred spirals, called the Hubble tuning fork diagram — a version of which is still used today. EMILIO PUCCI (1914-1992). The Italian fashion designer, known for his brightly coloured geometric prints, was from an aristocratic background and joked that he was the first member of his family to work in 1,000 years. A member of the Italian Olympic ski team in 1932, his career took off by accident when Harper’s Bazaar published photos of him in the swiss Alps on leave from the Italian air force, wearing self-designed ski clothes.

ON NOVEMBER 20…

IN 1910, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy — author of War And Peace and Anna Karenina — died, aged 82.

IN 1992, a fire at Windsor Castle damaged 100 rooms. In a speech four days later, the Queen described the year as her ‘annus horribilis’.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: Talking packthread (coined c.1811)

A) To use indecent language. B) To speak through the nose. C) To whisper.

Answer below

PHRASE EXPLAINED

Fly by the seat of one’s pants — meaning going along with something, making a decision as one goes; the 1938 term comes from flying aircrafts without the ability to communicate or fully plan things out.