ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE OCTOBER 19, 1971
THE Profumo Affair was laid to rest last night in, of all places, stepney. And by, of all people, the Queen. she smiled, held out her hand, and said how nice it was to see him. Her former Minister of War, John Profumo, bowed. For the past eight years he has worked self-effacingly at Toynbee Hall, the charity that addresses poverty in London’s East End.
OCTOBER 19, 2000
THE mystery bidder who paid £1.67 million for the piano on which John Lennon wrote Imagine was revealed yesterday as George Michael. He plans to keep the instrument in Britain. The upright steinway was sold at a pop memorabilia auction in the Hard Rock Cafe, London, on Tuesday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MAVIS NICHOLSON, 90. The broadcaster began life in poverty in Glamorgan — sharing a bed with her grandmother — yet went on to become Britain’s first female chatshow host. Kingsley Amis claimed to have invented the word ‘Lefties’ to describe Mavis (above) and her husband, Geoff. Mavis, whose subjects included Elizabeth Taylor, David Bowie and Margaret Thatcher, has been called the greatest Tv interviewer of all time. JOHN LITHGOW, 75. The U.s. actor, who studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, starred in Terms Of Endearment and played Winston Churchill in netflix’s The Crown. Last year he wrote and illustrated a book of poetry about President Trump called Dumpty.
BORN ON THIS DAY
AUGUSTE LUMIERE (1862-1954). The Frenchman, with his brother Louis, invented an early motion-picture camera and projector called the Cinématographe (from which we get cinema) and created what is regarded as the first motion picture, 1895’s La sortie Des Ouvriers De L’Usine Lumière (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). SIMON WARD (1941-2012). The actor from Kent, who starred in Young Winston (pictured), The Four Musketeers and All Creatures Great And small, trained at Rada alongside Anthony Hopkins, with whom he shared a room. Ward said his looks prevented his success in U.s. movies: ‘I was too young for the butler. I was not craggy enough for the leading man.’
ON OCTOBER 19…
IN 1961, Helen shapiro went to no.1 with Walking Back To Happiness. IN 1970, British Petroleum announced it had struck oil in the north sea.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: horripilation (17th century) A) A covering or vestment. B) Goose bumps. C) Terror. ( Answer below) PHRASE EXPLAINED: Somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan — meaning extremely Right-wing in one’s political views. Genghis Khan was an early 13thcentury founder of the Mongol empire and a repressive and tyrannical ruler; sometimes the early 5th- century warlord Attila the Hun is used instead in this phrase.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful William Morris, English designer (1834-1896)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you get if you cross a pig and a centipede? Bacon and legs. Guess The Definition answer: A