ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 11, 1947
COOK your dinner by wireless. Turn a knob and see your family joint done in less than five minutes. Impossible? Not at all — you will be able to see ‘radio cookery’ at the Daily Mail Ideal home Exhibition. Simply place the food between two metal plates, switch on the ‘oven’ — and before you have finished laying the table your meal will be ready.
FEBRUARY 11, 2005
fED up with her son’s dithering, the Queen urged Prince Charles to marry Camilla Parker Bowles amid fears that continuing uncertainty about their affair would damage the monarchy. The couple will wed at Windsor guildhall on April 8, followed by a blessing at St george’s Chapel.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NATALIE DOrMEr, 38. The reading-born actress ( right) starred in The hunger games and as Margaery Tyrell in game Of Thrones. Despite being a straight-A student, she did not get the grades to study history at Cambridge — she misread an A-level question — so went to drama school instead. She said: ‘I was a daydreamer as a kid. I wanted to act because of whatever artistic bone is in my body.’ DEBOrAh MEADEN, 61. The entrepreneur has invested almost £4 million since joining BBC2’s Dragons’ Den in 2006. She once ran a bingo concession at Butlin’s before taking over her family’s holiday company. She said: ‘One of my staff was asked: ‘Is Deborah a team player?’ They said: ‘Yes, as long as she’s captain.’ I thought that was brilliant.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
BUrT rEYNOLDS (19362018). The U.S. actor and director starred in Deliverance, The Cannonball run and Smokey And The Bandit (right). reynolds had hoped to be a footballer but for a knee injury. he said: ‘It tore me apart. My dad probably took it harder than I did.’ reynolds posed nude for the centrefold of Cosmopolitan magazine in 1972. LESLIE NIELSEN ( 1926- 2010). The Canadian actor starred in forbidden Planet and the Naked gun series. But he is probably best remembered for a single line in Airplane! A pilot says to his character: ‘Surely, you can’t be serious,’ to which he replies: ‘I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley!’ Nielsen, who was legally deaf, wore a hearing aid for many decades.
ON FEBRUARY 11…
IN 1990, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years. IN 2010, English fashion designer Alexander McQueen hanged himself on the eve of his mother’s funeral.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Fanfaronade (coined by Sir Walter Scott in 1827)
A) Sound of a thunderclap. B) Drum beat or trumpet blast, which announces a surrender. C) Extravagant boasting Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Necessity is the mother of invention:
Meaning people are more inspired to create something new when they have to, rather than when they simply desire to. from Plato, who saw that having a problem can supply additional creativity to finding the solution.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
He who meanly admires mean things is a Snob.
William Makepeace Thackeray, British novelist (1811-1863)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WhAT was the car doing in the dressing
room? Changing attire.
Guess The Definition answer: C. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD