ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 19, 1969
A qUIET family wedding at a church in the country . . . that was the hope yesterday of pop singer Lulu, 20, as she married Maurice Gibb, 19, of the Bee Gees. But 2,000 fans, mostly women and teenage girls, had other ideas. They were besieging the parish church in Gerrards Cross, Bucks, when Lulu arrived 15 minutes late.
FEBRUARY 19, 1996
IT CAN calculate 200 million chess moves a second, but the world’s most powerful computer, Deep Blue, had one almost human flaw — arrogance. Deep Blue was not programmed to accept a draw if one was offered by an opponent. And that proved to be its downfall when 32-year-old chess genius Garry Kasparov offered the computer a draw. Deep Blue refused — and Kasparov went on to clinch victory in the six-game match and collect £260,000 prize money.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SEAL, 57. Born Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel to a Nigerian mother and Brazilian father, the British singer- songwriter has sold more than 20 million records. He wed supermodel Heidi Klum (pictured in 2011) after proposing to her in an igloo in Canada in 2004. By 2014, things had cooled off between them, and they divorced. GwEN TAyLOR, 81. The Derbyshire-born actress played Mrs Big-Nose in Monty Python’s Life Of Brian and had starring roles in ITV sitcoms Barbara and Duty Free. She says she still has members of the public asking her about the latter: ‘I’ll get people in the supermarket joking, “Are you going to pay for that in pesetas?’
BORN ON THIS DAY
LEE MARVIN (1924-1987). The Hollywood actor, who starred in The Dirty Dozen and The Professionals, won an Oscar for 1965’s Cat Ballou. A former plumber’s apprentice, he said he learned how to act while serving in the Marines: ‘I acted every day . . . If they asked me if I was anxious to get out there and kill the enemy, I answered that I was.’ KAREN SILKwOOD (19461974). The U. S. nuclear plant technician and union activist discovered she and her flat had been contaminated with plutonium. She died in a car crash while driving to meet a reporter to discuss safety concerns, with some alleging she was murdered. Her story was turned into a film, Silkwood, with Meryl Streep in the lead role (pictured).
ON FEBRUARY 19
IN 1977, Leo Sayer scored his first number one hit, when I Need you. IN 2014, David Bowie became the oldest recipient of a Brit award when he won best British male at 67.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE CORRECT DEFINITION: Peticure (c 2017)
A) A small pill. B) A pedicure for pets. C) A type of argument. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Like water off a duck’s back: Meaning without any effect and typically describing an ineffective insult. Coined in the 1800s, it alludes to how a duck can dive under water, only to come back up dry thanks to a special coating on its feathers.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.
Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright (1860-1904)
JOKE OF THE DAY
A MAN walks into a bar with a chunk of Tarmac under his arm and says: ‘Pint, please, and one for the road.’
Guess The Definition answer: B.