ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE OCTOBER 6, 1947
PRInCeSS elizabeth will vow ‘ To love, cherish and to obey’ Lieut. Philip Mountbatten when they marry in Westminster Abbey next month. A Church authority explained: ‘Parliament did not accept the 1928 revision of the Prayer Book in which the word ‘obey’ was omitted ... and the King would not sanction that which Parliament refused to accept.’
OCTOBER 6, 1970
JAnIS JOPLIn, the pop star who sang the blues, was found dead, aged 27, in her Hollywood hotel room yesterday, her arms punctured by fresh needle jabs. Police said the cause of death was a drugs overdose — ‘probably heroin’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BRITT eKLAnD, 78. The Swedish actress, ex-wife of Peter Sellers and ex-partner of Rod Stewart, played Mary Goodnight in The Man With The Golden Gun. She said the chance to be a Bond girl was ‘the greatest gift my profession has given me’. ekland revealed this year that she always travels with a folder of old photos of herself in a bikini. LORD (Melvyn) Bragg, 81. The Carlisleborn presenter of Radio 4’s In Our Time and The South Bank Show co-wrote the screenplay for 1973 film Jesus Christ Superstar and has been dubbed ‘the handsome face and adenoidal voice of British arts’. He has not taken a Tube since the 1960s, when he stood on the platform ‘and I knew I was going to throw myself in front of it’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
BARBARA CASTLe (1910-2002). The Labour MP for Blackburn, who served under Harold Wilson as transport secretary and social services secretary, brought in child benefit, the breathalyser test and the 70 mph speed limit. She was also the architect of the equal Pay Act. Castle wrote in her diary: ‘In my political life I always found men vulnerable to a little femininity.’ RICHIe BenAuD (19302015). The Australian cricketer became the first man to achieve 2,000 runs and 200 wickets at Test level — before becoming a globally recognised commentator. His voice was so well known it was parodied by impressionist Rory Bremner. The Australian prime minister offered a state funeral, but his family declined.
ON OCTOBER 6…
IN 1936, english socialite Diana Mitford married British fascist leader Oswald Mosley in the Berlin home of Joseph Goebbels, with Adolf Hitler as a guest. IN 1989, American actress Bette Davis died, aged 81.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: cachexia (C1540) A) general ill health with emaciation B) a speech disorder C) persistent winking ( Answer below) PHRASE EXPLAINED too many cooks: meaning too many people involved in managing an activity can ruin it; alludes to each of many cooks adding something to a soup, which finally tastes awful; first found in 1785, from ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-born actress and inventor (1914-2000)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I TuRneD down a job today because the boss said she would only pay me in vegetables ... The celery was unacceptable. Guess The Definition answer A.