August 5, 2022 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUGUST 5, 1978
JEREMY THORPE’S political future was in the balance last night after leaving court on £5,000 bail accused of conspiracy to murder. Many Liberals were asking if their former leader will resign his North Devon seat to be free to fight the case. The MP, 49, appeared before Minehead magistrates with David Holmes, his one-time best man, and two businessmen. All were charged with conspiracy to murder Norman Scott.
AUGUST 5, 1996
THE Mafia planned to blow up the Leaning Tower of Pisa in revenge for the Pope’s denunciation of them, a public prosecutor revealed yesterday. Explosives for the attack were found in a village near Rome.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DAVID BALDACCI, 62. The U.S. author has sold more than 150 million copies of his novels, such as Absolute Power. He says thrillers are popular in turbulent times as ‘in novels, evil is punished, and the good guys mostly win’. Baldacci began writing as a child after his mother gave him a notebook. When later he thanked her for sparking his career, she said it was just to keep him quiet ‘because every mom needs a break’.
SOPHIE WINKLEMAN, 42. The actress from London starred in cult C4 comedy Peep Show and U.S. sitcom Two And A Half Men. Nine years younger than halfsister, Strictly’s Claudia, she is married to Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince Michael of kent. The couple are nicknamed ‘Winky and Windy’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JOAN HICKSON (1906-1998). The actress from Northampton appeared in about 100 films, but made her name as ‘television’s definitive Miss Marple’ in her 70s and 80s. Agatha Christie endorsed Hickson for Marple in 1946, after seeing her play a small part in the stage adaptation of her novel Appointment With Death, writing her a note: ‘I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple.’
NEIL ARMSTRONG (19302012). The U. S. Apollo 11 astronaut, the first person to walk on the Moon. Asked how he felt taking ‘one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’, he replied: ‘very, very small.’ Armstrong largely refused to give interviews and autographs. His family called him a ‘reluctant American hero’.
ON AUGUST 5 . . .
IN 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon released transcripts of conversations revealing his involvement in the Watergate cover-up. He resigned four days later.
IN 2012, at the London olympics, Jamaican runner Usain Bolt became only the second man, after Carl Lewis, to retain the men’s 100 metres title.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION:
Scrolloping (coined 1923)
A) Walking faster and faster. B) Rinsing of clothes. C) Possessing heavy, florid ornamentation. answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Live off the fat of the land: Meaning to have the best of everything. It is from the Book of Genesis, where Pharoah tells Joseph’s brothers: ‘ye shall eat the fat of the land.’
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The English hate the arts because they are so good at them. It’s the great paradox.
Sir Peter Hall, British theatre director (1930-2017)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY is the beach always so confident? It’s 100 per cent shore.
Guess The Definition answer: C.