ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
AUGUST 27, 1948
AN INCREASE in the fats ration might lead to a drop in cigarette demand, Dr Nevil Leyton suggested in a letter to the British Medical Journal this week. He wrote: ‘Reduction of fats from 75 grams to under 40 grams a day means that everyone feels hungry sooner. Smoking often relieves this sensation.’
AUGUST 27, 1994
A MAN given a battery-operated ‘heart’ in a pioneering four-hour operation by surgeons at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, was stable in hospital last night. If the ½ lb metal and plastic pump is successful it could cut demand for transplants and alleviate the donor organ shortage problem. The 62-yearold will be the first to use it permanently. [Named later as Arthur Cornhill, he died of kidney failure nine months later.]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SURANNE JONES, 42. The Bafta-winning actress from Lancashire appeared in Coronation Street before starring in Doctor Foster and Gentleman Jack, right. Her parents wanted to name her after her great-grandmother, Suranne, but the priest told her father it was ‘not a proper name’ and she was christened Sarah Anne instead. Jones took Suranne as her stage name. Her guilty pleasure is ‘expensive champagne’. LADY ANTONIA FRASER, 88. The London-born author, who wrote biographies of Marie Antoinette and Mary Queen of Scots, had an affair with playwright Harold Pinter, then married him. They met at a dinner party. As she went to leave, she recalled: ‘He looked at me with those amazing, extremely bright black eyes [and said] “Must you go?”’ — which became the title of her memoir of their life together. One interviewer compared her to Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds: ‘Clever, resourceful, well-bred.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
NAT LOFTHOUSE (1925-2011). The Bolton footballer, capped 33 times for England, received a £10 signing-on fee from Bolton Wanderers in 1939 — the day after Britain declared war on Germany — and was conscripted aged 18 as a ‘Bevin Boy’ coal miner. He said: ‘I know £10 doesn’t seem much these days but it was four times more than my dad was getting per week as a coal bagger for the Co-op.’ IRA LEvIN (1929-2007). The U.S. author wrote Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, A Kiss Before Dying and The Boys From Brazil — all turned into hit films. Levin said he fell in love ‘with theatre that grips and dazzles and surprises’ aged 15 after seeing Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians.
ON AUGUST 27...
IN 1956,
Calder Hall in Cumbria became the first commercial nuclear power station to be connected to a national grid.
IN 1964,
Mary Poppins premiered in LA.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Batrachian (c1830)
A) Frog or toad-like. B) Full-bosomed, shapely figure. C) Tawny. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Baptism of fire —
meaning a difficult introduction to a new job or activity. It derives from the words of John the Baptist in the Gospel of Matthew and refers to the fiery trials of faith.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than 100 men with guns.
Mario Puzo, U.S. writer (1920-1999)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the squid say when she gave birth? I had an inkling.
Guess The Definition answer: A.