ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 7, 1958
DOCTORS in Munich were today fighting to save soccer manager Matt Busby, 48, after the air crash which killed 21, including seven of his Manchester United wonder team and injured ten more. A 4am hospital bulletin said: ‘Mr Busby is the worst injured of all, and we do not have much hope of saving him.’ Mr Busby and his ‘Busby Babes’ were flying home from Belgrade. [ Busby survived but a player, Duncan Edwards, died 15 days later.] FEBRUARY 7, 1973
THE BBC has ordered a clean-up in TV and radio after public protests. A new code governs sex scenes and swear words. It says: ‘It is principally three swear words which give offence: bloody, bleeding and God.’ on sex, it says that, as BBC TV goes into people’s homes, explicit sex scenes are forbidden
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
EDDIE IZZARD, 58. The cross- dressing Aden-born comedian used to call himself a transvestite but now identifies as transgender. He sat on Labour’s National Executive Committee in 2018 and said his aim was to be Mayor of London by 2020. His mother died when he was six and Izzard has said: ‘Everything I do in life is trying to get her back. I think if I do enough things . . . that maybe she’ll come back.’ BRIAN TRAVERS, 61. The saxophonist is a founding member of UB40. He missed his band’s 40th anniversary tour last year after surgery to remove two brain tumours. He insisted he had no plans to alter his lifestyle. He said: ‘I’ve got no regrets. I’ve lived my life to the full and I’m going to carry on living it to the full — I’m a rock ’n’ roller!’
BORN ON THIS DAY
HATTIE JACqUES (1922-1980). The Kentborn actress was a singer in the thieves’ pub in David Lean’s 1948 film of oliver Twist before appearing in 14 Carry on films. Dubbed ‘the nation’s matron’, she also starred in 1960s sitcom Sykes, playing Eric Sykes’ twin sister. Her 13year marriage to Dad’s Army’s John Le Mesurier ended after her affair with a charismatic used-car dealer, seven years her junior, who moved into the marital home. PETE PoSTLETHWAITE (1946-2011). The oscar-nominated actor from Warrington was described by Steven Spielberg as ‘the best actor in the world’ (after he starred in The Lost World: Jurassic Park). As a teenager he booked The Beatles to play at a village hall. His mother was disappointed he gave up training to be a priest — until the 1980s when he had his picture taken with the queen.
ON FEBRUARY 7...
IN 1987, Aretha Franklin scored her first British No 1 — a duet with George Michael, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).
IN 1992, the 12 European Community members signed the Maastricht treaty — creating the European Union.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Purl (c1545)
A) Light carriage pulled by one or two horses. B) To flow or ripple with a murmuring sound. C) A knock-down blow. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
In for a penny in for a pound: Meaning if you’re going to do something, go all out; coined in the 1600s, it is used as a debt warning that if one owed just one penny, one might as well owe a whole pound.