December 6, 2021 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE DECEMBER 6, 1920
DANCiNg of an exaggerated sexual tendency has for the past year been prevalent in the more fashionable places in Paris. Despite protests by church dignitaries who issued a formal ban against such dances as the ‘shimmy shake’, described as positively indecent), these ‘groggly grapples’ have been a prevalent malady in Paris.
DECEMBER 6, 2005
Sir eLtON JOHN is to marry David Furnish in the same venue as Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. the singer and his boyfriend will wed at Windsor guildhall after posting their banns yesterday. the ceremony will be on December 21, the first date on which gay couples can marry.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NiCK PArK, 63. While still at film school, the Preston-born animator created Wallace &
gromit — whom he has described as ‘the new Morecambe and Wise’ as so many sit down to watch them at Christmas. the winner of five Baftas and four Oscars said the high point of his life was: ‘Having lunch with the Queen. She talked very knowledgeably about animation.’ Peter WiLLey, 72. the former all-rounder from County Durham has been described as ‘one of the toughest men cricket has ever known’ and was said to be the only player ian Botham was too scared to play dressing-room practical jokes on. His son is David Willey, who plays cricket for yorkshire and england.
BORN ON THIS DAY
AgNeS MOOreHeAD
(1900-1974). the U.S. actress is best remembered for playing the sharptongued witch endora — mother to Samantha — in sitcom Bewitched. Moorehead, who made her screen debut in Orson Welles’s classic Citizen Kane, won two golden globes and was nominated for four Oscars. eLeANOr HOLM (1913-2004). the swimmer from New york was banned from the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the last minute, despite being the defending 100m backstroke champion, for boozing on the boat en route to the games. She enjoyed the social life in Berlin and said: ‘goering was fun, he had a good personality. So did the one with the club foot [goebbels].’
ON DECEMBER 6 . . .
IN 1917, Finland declared independence from russia. IN 1983, doctors carried out the first British heart and lung transplant. the patient, Lars Ljungberg, died 13 days later.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: larry (c 1850s)
A) to jest, to tease. B) A hoe with a perforated blade for mixing mortar or plaster. C) exhausted, worn out. (Answer below) PHRASE EXPLAINED Bull and bear markets: refers to economic trends: bull market occurs when shares are on the rise, while a bear market occurs when they are falling. the phrase mirrors the way each animal attacks: a bull thrusts its horns up into the air, while a bear swipes its paws down.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.
Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (1854-1912)
JOKE OF THE DAY
i USeD to be addicted to the hokey cokey . . . But I’ve turned myself around — and that’s what it’s all about! Guess The Definition answer: B Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN
and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD