ON THIS DAY
March 24, 2021
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
MARCH 24, 1939
DeMONSTRATIONS showing how London would be defended against air attack will be given in Hyde Park tomorrow week. There will be displays by anti-aircraft units, the balloon barrage, and auxiliary fire services. In the evening searchlight units will show how aircraft are ‘spotted’.
MARCH 24, 1970
PALACE officials will watch The Morecambe And Wise Show on BBC 2 tomorrow night to check it does not break a rule covering the impersonation of members of the Royal Family. One sketch includes a back-view shot of actress Jennifer Flint made up to look like Princess Anne.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JESSICA CHASTAIN, 44. The twice Oscar-nominated American actress and star of Interstellar, The Help and Zero Dark Thirty says she was the first woman in her family not to be a teenage mother. Before marrying an Italian count in 2017, Chastain (pictured) said: ‘I’m going to be kissing Colin Farrell [on set], so I have to date a guy who is self-confident.’ LORD ALAN SUGAR, 74. The Londonborn billionaire founder of Amstrad started out getting up at 6am as a teenager to boil beetroot for his greengrocer’s job. Known for his put-downs on The Apprentice, he said: ‘There’s only room for one bigmouth in my organisation, and that’s me.’ He was so preoccupied with his business that he once signed a birthday card to his wife: ‘Best wishes, Sir Alan Sugar.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
HARRY HOUDINI (1874-1926). The illusionist was born erik Weisz in Hungary. Fascinated with magic from a young age, his most daring escape act was from a locked ‘water cell’ which saw him hold his breath for more than three minutes. Before his death — from a ruptured appendix — he made a pact with his wife Bess that he would try to contact her from the other side, and she held a seance every year on the anniversary of his death, Halloween. WILLIAM MORRIS (18341896). The essex designer (pictured), a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement, sought to improve Britain with his fabric and wallpaper — which are still on sale. His motto was: ‘ Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.’
ON MARCH 24…
IN 1603, Queen elizabeth I died, aged 69, after 44 years on the throne. IN 1944, Allied prisoners broke out of the prison camp Stalag Luft III during what was later called the ‘great escape’.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Calumniate (coined c1550) A) To inflame. B) To slander. C) To blacken.
Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Rule the roost:
Meaning to dominate or govern a group. The 15th-century phrase originated as rule the roast, or be in charge of a banquet, but also alluded to a cockerel dominating a roost of hens.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
Richard Nixon, 37th U.S. President (1913-1994)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHO granted the fish a wish? The fairy codmother. Guess The Definition answer: B. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD