ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JANUARY 20, 1966
RUSSIA’S latest spaceship has showers and electric razors, says Izvestia, the government newspaper. It told of a simulated space trip. Observers expect a real flight soon.
JANUARY 20, 1977
CELEBRITIES chosen by Madame Tussauds don’t usually yawn through a sculptor’s sitting. Yesterday, though, the occasion proved tedious for Shep, the border collie from BBC TV’s Blue Peter. The last dog to appear at Madame Tussauds famed waxworks was Sir Walter Scott’s pet.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
HEATHER SMALL, 57. The london-born singer with M People, a former job centre worker, had hits with Moving On up and Search For The Hero. Her solo anthem, Proud, was the soundtrack for the london Olympics. Small said: ‘I was so moved to think that these people... who are like super-beings, would choose my song to encapsulate their endeavours.’ TOM BAkeR, 88. The liverpudlian actor starred in Doctor Who as the fourth incarnation of the Time lord. He also narrated little Britain. His voice was voted the uk’s fourth most recognisable after those of the Queen, Tony Blair and Mrs Thatcher.
BORN ON THIS DAY
CLARICE CLIFF (1899-1972). The ceramic artist from Stoke-on-Trent began work aged 13. She made her name with her Bizarre range of art deco pieces, marketed as ‘ceramics made for women, by women’. The V&A museum said she ‘brought modernity to the kitchen sink’. Cliff, played by Phoebe Dynevor in the 2021 film The Colour Room, had a secret relationship with her married boss for years and it was described as ‘the worst kept secret in the world’. They went on to marry. DEFOREST KELLEY (1920-1999). The u.S. actor played Dr leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy of the uSS enterprise in the original TV series and first six Star Trek films — making a catchphrase out of ‘He’s dead, Jim.’ kelley had wanted to be a real doctor but his parents could not afford to pay for medical school. But he said his legacy was having inspired viewers to take up medicine: ‘These people are doctors now, all kinds of doctors who save lives.’ Before Star Trek, he made his name in westerns such as Gunfight At The Ok Corral.
ON JANUARY 20…
IN 1972, the number of unemployed people in Britain exceeded a million for the first time since the 1930s. IN 2021, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th u.S. President.
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Sextant (coined 1590s)
A) A devotion consisting of six days of prayers or services. B) An instrument for surveying and navigation. C) A sixth.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
In the catbird seat: Meaning in a superior position. It alluded to a baseball player having no strikes and so three balls still to play.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
If work was a good thing the rich would have it all and not let you do it. Elmore Leonard, U.S. novelist (1925-2013)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY are all vampires narcissists? Because they’re incapable of self-reflection. Guess The Definition answer: B.