ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 17, 1923
IN A vivid despatch, Arthur Weigall, the distinguished Egyptologist, describes the opening in the Valley of the Kings yesterday of the burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tut-Ankh-Amen, who ruled in Egypt about 1350 BC. It is a wonderful golden tomb, with golden doors, sarcophagus and canopy.
FEBRUARY 17, 1970
PrINCE Philip, president of the World Wildlife Fund, explained on TV last night why he shoots red deer. It is necessary to keep their numbers down, he said. ‘It’s got nothing to do with whether you enjoy cropping them. This has to be done. Otherwise they would eat out their own habitat and degenerate.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NICK HEWEr, 76. Lord Sugar’s former Pr man was one of his advisors on The Apprentice, but now hosts Channel 4’s Countdown. Swindon- born Hewer admitted that producers of the BBC show chose candidates who ‘look like dum- dums’ because everyone watching has ‘got to know that they could do a better job’. BArrY HUMPHrIES, 86. The Australian comedian, actor and writer is best known as the creator of his alter ego, Dame Edna Everage (pictured), the housewife from suburban Moonee Ponds. Of his sense of humour, he once said: ‘I defend to the ultimate my right to give deep and profound offence. So long as people laugh while they’re being offended.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
ALISON HArgrEAVES (1962-1995). The Derbyshire-born mountaineer was the first British woman to climb the North Face of the Eiger — and did it while five-and-a-half months pregnant. She was also the first woman to climb Everest solo and without supplementary oxygen. Three months later, she died while descending Earth’s secondhighest peak, K2, at the age of 33. SIr ALAN BATES (1934-2003). The actor from Derbyshire was said to have ‘one of the most exposed behinds in cinematic history’ and was voted one of the sexiest men alive by Playgirl magazine after wrestling naked with Oliver reed in Women In Love. One of the original ‘angry young men’ of British theatre, Bates made his name in John Osborne’s play Look Back In Anger in 1956.
ON FEBRUARY 17
IN 1876, American Julius Wolff was credited as the first person to can sardines.
IN 1978, Kate Bush ( pictured) released her debut studio album, The Kick Inside, which featured her No 1 hit Wuthering Heights.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Doorbuster (c1949)
A) Huge coffee table book. B) Black eye. C) An article sold very cheaply in order to attract customers into a shop to buy more expensive things. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Little black book: First used in the mid1400s, it referred to a list of people who had committed crimes. By the 16th century, royalty kept a black book detailing the names of those who had sinned. Nowadays, it typically refers to a secret list of lovers.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
ThE interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
Sigmund Freud, Austrian founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S the difference between a lawyer and a herd of wild bulls?
The lawyer charges more.
Guess The Definition answer: C.