March 23, 2021 ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MARCH 23, 1956

PRINCE Rainier, returning to Monaco for his wedding next month to film star Grace Kelly, said tonight: ‘I am not sure when I fell in love with Miss Kelly. But it was almost love at first sight.’ He denied that he was marrying just because the people of Monaco wanted an heir to ensure their Principality does not become part of France. ‘I did not have a pistol at my back, if that is what people think,’ he said.

MARCH 23, 1970

THE BEATLES smoked a marijuana cigarette in the lavatories at Buckingham Palace the day in 1965 when they got their MBEs, according to a Paris magazine. John Lennon is quoted as saying: ‘We were splitting ourselves like crazy because we had just smoked a “joint” in the toilets of Buckingham Palace.’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

SIR Steve Redgrave, 59. The rower from Buckinghamshire became the first Briton in 2000 to win gold at five successive Games. Sir Steve was asked to join his school’s rowing team at 13 ‘because I had big hands and feet and so was liable to become a big person’. CHAKA KHAN, 68, right. The U.S. singer-songwriter, the ‘Queen of Funk’, was born Yvette Marie Stevens. Her hits include I’m Every Woman, Ain’t Nobody and I Feel For You. Khan gave Whitney Houston her first break, asking the 15-yearold to sing backing vocals on Khan’s first solo album.

BORN ON THIS DAY

Joan Crawford (1904/8-1977). The U.S. star of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? was born Lucille Fay LeSueur. But her birth year is less certain — though 1908 is on her tombstone, her daughter insisted it was 1904. Said to be hugely selfish, she had a long-running feud with co- star Bette Davis, who said of her rival: ‘Joan Crawford — I wouldn’t sit on her toilet!’ WERNHER von Braun (1912-1977). The German aerospace genius became the Nazis’ leading missile scientist and invented the unstoppable V-2 rocket, which slaughtered civilians indiscriminately. He surrendered to the U.S., then had a major role in the space programme that led to the moon landing.

ON MARCH 23 ...

IN 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced plans for his missile defence system, dubbed ‘Star Wars’. IN 2020, PM Boris Johnson said in a televised address: ‘From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home.’

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: Abditory (1658) A) A hidden or withdrawn place B) The affected use of archaic language C) A resignation. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED To go like the clappers: Meaning very quickly or full out; a ‘clapper’ is the tongue or striker of a bell which moves very quickly when it is rung. Started off as wartime RAF slang.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions. TH Huxley, English biologist (1825-1895)

JOKE OF THE DAY

WHAT did the llama say when her boyfriend surprised her with a weekend getaway? Alpaca bag. Guess The Definition answer: A Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN

and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD