ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JUNE 15, 1940
MR HAROLD NICOLSON, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Information, last night warned Britain against the possibility of a new Hitler peace offensive. ‘He will assure the peoples of France and Great Britain that he has no desire to subjugate their countries, but that all he desires is their complete disarmament,’ he declared. He will say . . . we must abandon our free, democratic institutions and accept a government nominated from Berlin, and, at the same time, surrender our Fleet.’
JUNE 15, 1989
A PLEDGE on Hong Kong was given by Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe yesterday. He said Britain ‘would have to respond’ if the people there tried to exercise their rights as refugees after China took over the colony in 1997. But he gave no indication of the number the UK would admit in any future crisis.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
COURTENEY COX, 56. Along with her five co-stars, the U.S. actress was eventually paid $1 million an episode for the sitcom Friends. Her mother is also called Courteney, the name Cox wanted to give her daughter, too, but her then husband objected and they compromised on Coco (all three pictured). Cox says the most expensive thing she has ever bought is a painting by Bristol street artist Banksy. HELEN HUNT, 57. The Hollywood star of Twister and What Women Want beat four British actresses — including Judi Dench and Kate Winslet — to win an Oscar for her role in 1997’s As Good As It Gets. She keeps her trophy on a shelf above her desk — ‘so if there’s another earthquake in California I’ll be killed by my own Academy award’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
RICHARD BAKER (19252018). The London-born broadcaster and Last Night Of The Proms presenter introduced the BBC’s first TV news bulletin in 1954 and became a hugely familiar face of the news. At his retirement home, he cut out interesting headlines from newspapers and at six o’clock read them to the other residents during supper. JOHNNY HALLYDAY (1943-2017). The Paris-born singer and actor was dubbed the ‘French Elvis’ and came top in a 2009 poll of the country’s favourite personalities. Hallyday once said: ‘French lyrics are too unwieldy for rock. Our words are too long. You just can’t sing rock ’n’ roll in French.’
ON JUNE 15 ...
IN 1888, Crown Prince Wilhelm (Queen Victoria’s eldest grandchild) became Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the last German Emperor. IN 1981, Duran Duran released their debut album, Duran Duran.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Ubiety (1665)
A) Things both spiritual and mystical. B) A mythical paradise. C) The state of being in a definite place. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Make do and mend: Used to promote thrift and the repairing of old clothes and furniture rather than buying new replacements and using up scarce resources; it was based on a naval term and widespread in the 1940s when food and clothing was rationed.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
U.S. writer Mark Twain (1835-1910)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY did the scientist disconnect his doorbell? He wanted to win the no bell prize. Guess The Definition answer: C.