December 10, 2021 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE DECEMBER 10, 1952
LonDon’S four-day fog is blamed for more than 160 sudden deaths of old people reported in London. officials of Lewisham coroner’s court are working overtime, but inquests will be few, as examinations reveal chest complaints, aggravated by the fog, as the cause of death. [Modern estimates put total deaths at 10,000 to 12,000.]
DECEMBER 10, 1981
POP supergroup Abba, from Sweden, now have more money than their own King. Each member of the group has a declared fortune in excess of £2 million and last year their joint earnings were £7 million on which they paid £1 million tax. King Carl Gustaf of Sweden has a fortune of £2.7 million.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SULTAN KOSEN, 39. the 8 ft 3 in turkish farmer is the tallest person in the world. In 2009, he became the first man over 8ft to be measured by Guinness World Records for more than 20 years. As a teenager, Kosen signed to the Galatasaray basketball team in Istanbul, but was too tall to play. In 2013, he married a woman who is 5ft 9in. LoRD (JoHn) BIRt, 77. the Liverpool-born tV executive was director general of the BBC from 1992 to 2000, and he was described by playwright Dennis Potter as a ‘croakvoiced Dalek’. Birt produced David Frost’s 1977 interviews
with Richard nixon.
BORN ON THIS DAY
TOMMY RETTIG (1941-1996). the American child star started out aged six in a touring production of Annie Get your Gun. He is best remembered for playing the master of tV’s Lassie, saying: ‘With Lassie, I’d gladly work for free!’ In the 1980s, Rettig was arrested on drug charges but remained an advocate of marijuana. DOROTHY LAMOUR (1914-1996). the U.S. actress (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton) was dubbed the ‘sarong girl’ after the garment she first wore in 1936’s the Jungle Princess. Lamour went on to star opposite Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the Road to... series of movies.
ON DECEMBER 10 . . .
IN 1868, the world’s first traffic lights were erected outside the Houses of Parliament. IN 1953, the nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Winston Churchill.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Posset (c early 15th century)
A) Short and squat in build. B) A drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or the like. C) the smallest bell of a church peal.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Gloves are off:
meaning that people have decided to compete aggressively with each other; the expression dates from the 1800s and comes from boxing.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg,
German physicist (1742-1799)
JOKE OF THE DAY
What do you call a thieving bird? A robber duckie. Guess The Definition answer: B. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD