ON THIS DAY
June 26, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JUNE 26, 1950
THE United Nations Security Council last night called for a ceasefire in Korea [after North Korean forces invaded South Korea, marking the start of the Korean War]. It condemned the invasion by Communists from North Korea as aggression. The ceasefire resolution was imposed by America and backed by Britain. Russia did not attend.
JUNE 26, 1991
MARTINA NAVRATILOVA gained a historic 100th Wimbledon win. Few of the successes that make up that century have been as edgy as the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over 22-year-old South African Elna Reinach.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ARIANA GRANDE, 27. The American singer-songwriter (pictured) has had six UK No 1s and is the world’s highest-paid female musician, according to Forbes (earning almost £60 million in the past year). Twentytwo people died when her Manchester concert was targeted by a suicide bomber in 2017 . She raised almost £20 million for victims with her subsequent One love benefit event. JASON SCHWARTZMAN, 40. The American actor, once dubbed ‘the coolest man in Hollywood’, starred in The Grand Budapest Hotel and Saving Mr. Banks. He is a nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and cousin of Nicolas Cage. He played louis XVI in 2006 film Marie Antoinette, directed by another cousin, Sofia Coppola, who he said changed his life when she gave him David Bowie’s ziggy Stardust album aged 11.
BORN ON THIS DAY
PRINCESS George of Hanover (1914-2001). The last surviving sister of the Duke of Edinburgh was born Princess Sophie of Greece in Corfu. A great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, at 16 she married Prince Christoph of Hesse, who served in the SS. He was killed in an air crash in 1943. VIOLETTE SZABO (19211945). The Paris- born perfume saleswoman (pictured) became a British agent after her husband was killed while serving with the French Foreign legion during the Second Battle of El Alamein. She sabotaged German infrastructure and spied on industrial plants before she was caught, tortured and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she was executed. Her posthumous George Cross for bravery was presented to her daughter in 1947.
ON JUNE 26...
IN 1977, Elvis Presley performed his final concert, in Indianapolis. He died two months later. IN 2005, Countdown host Richard Whiteley, the first face on Channel 4, died aged 61.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Concinnate (early 17th century)
A) To lend advice. B) To arrange or blend together skilfully, as parts or elements. C) To plot. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
To fight like Kilkenny cats: meaning to fight almost to the death. The phrase alludes to an Irish fable in which two cats had such a ferocious struggle that only their tails remained at the end.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.
George Orwell, English novelist (1903-1950)
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW does NASA organise a party?
They planet.
Guess The Definition answer: B.