ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JULY 9, 1947
The betrothal of Princess elizabeth with Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, RN, will be formally announced on Thursday by King George. My information comes from people in the closest touch with the Greek Royal Palace. Prince Philip of Greece became a British citizen this year, and notice of his naturalisation in the London Gazette stated he had become a commoner.
JULY 9, 1994 ACTOR O.J. Simpson is to stand trial accused of murdering his ex-wife and her boyfriend. Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell ruled that after six days of a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles there is ‘ample evidence for me to believe this defendant is guilty’. [Simpson was acquitted at the end of a sensational trial the following year.]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JIM Kerr, 61. The Glasgow-born lead singer of rock band Simple Minds (right) had eighties hits including Don’t You (Forget About Me) and Belfast Child. Both his marriages failed — the first to Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde and the second to actress Patsy Kensit. He started his band with a £100 loan from his ‘brickie’s labourer’ father. RICHARD WILSON, 84. The actor from Renfrewshire is best known for playing Victor Meldrew in sitcom One Foot In The Grave. The former hospital lab technician studied at RADA and was told by a tutor upon arrival: ‘We’d better see to that accent of yours.’ He once said: ‘I’m saddled with this catchphrase but when I direct actors, I find myself saying: “I don’t belieeeve it!”’
BORN ON THIS DAY
BARBARA CARTLAND (1901-2000). The romance novelist from Birmingham (right) claimed to have sold more than a billion books and was step-grandmother to Princess Diana. She said she declined 49 proposals before marrying Army officer Alexander McCorquodale in 1927. Three years after their split in 1933, she wed his cousin Hugh. Of Diana, Dame Barbara said: ‘The only books Diana ever read were mine, and they weren’t awfully good for her.’ MeRVYN PeAKe (1911-1968). The Chineseborn British author and illustrator wrote the Gormenghast fantasy series, adapted for the BBC in 2000. While serving as a War Artist, he would send chapters back home to his wife, who said they were one of the three things she would save in an air raid (along with their children and nappies).
ON JULY 9…
IN 1762, Catherine the Great was proclaimed empress of Russia. IN 2001, The Office, a mockumentary sitcom written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first aired on BBC2.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Piggin (c1554)
A) A pathway up to a steep hill. B) A small wooden pail. C) A monk. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Ignorance is bliss — meaning if you are not aware of an unpleasant fact or situation, you cannot be affected by it. From On A Distant Prospect Of eton College, by 18thcentury english poet Thomas Gray: ‘Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.’
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I have always imagined Paradise as a kind of library.
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer (1899-1986)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I’M getting married to a pencil. I can’t wait to introduce my parents to my bride 2B.
Guess The Definition answer: B.