ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 25, 1950
PRESIDEnT TRUMAn will soon be able to work by television with an intercommunication system being installed in the White House. If the president wants to talk to a secretary, he will dial a number and hear and see him on screen. The system is said to be a world first.
JANUARY 25, 1989
THE newly-assertive Princess Diana yesterday attacked TV’s two top soap operas for influencing people to drink — at the root of social problems she wants to help tackle. Diana now has no fear of voicing her opinions, boosted by a confidence and maturity that have surprised observers.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
VOLODyMyR ZELEn
SKy, 46. The Ukrainian president found fame in a sitcom about a teacher who is elected president. Called Servant Of The People, it was also the name he gave to his political party. In 2022, he was named Time magazine’s Person of the year. Zelensky won the first series of the Ukraine version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006. SIR PAUL nURSE, 75. The norfolk-born geneticist won the nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 for his discovery of protein molecules that control the division of cells. Sir Paul, chief executive of London’s Francis Crick Institute, only discovered in his 50s after requesting his full birth certificate for a U.S. stay that the woman he thought was his sister was his mother. She fell pregnant at 17 and nurse’s grandmother pretended to be his mother.
BORN ON THIS DAY
VIRgInIA WOOLF (1882
1941). The London-born novelist wrote Orlando and A Room Of One’s Own. She was in Hitler’s ‘Black Book’ of ‘enemies of the state, traitors and undesirables’ he wanted arrested or killed following a nazi invasion of Britain.
W. SOMERSET MAUgHAM (1874-1965). The Paris-born author wrote novels including Of Human Bondage and plays such as Lady Frederick. He is one of the most adapted writers in history, with over 100 TV or film versions of his work. novelist Christopher Isherwood said Maugham was like ‘an old gladstone bag covered with labels. god only knows what is inside’.
ON JANUARY 25 . . .
IN 1945, the Battle of the Bulge, the german Western Front offensive, ended in what Churchill said would be seen ‘as an ever famous American victory’.
IN 1978, Wings were at UK no 1 with Mull of Kintyre.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION:
Princock (coined 1540)
A) Impulsive. B) An insolent young man. C) A potato shoot. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED
Annus horribilis: Latin, meaning a particularly awful year. It became wellknown in 1992 when it was used by Queen Elizabeth II after seeing Princess Anne’s divorce and the separations of Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, plus the Windsor Castle fire.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do.
Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (1914-1953)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the bee ask for at the barber? A buzzcut.
Guess The Definition answer: B.