ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 5, 1945
Berliners last night heard the sands running out. Moscow radio concluded a dramatic broadcast by amplifying the sound of sand running through an hourglass. ‘every grain of sand brings nearer destruction to Berlin,’ said the announcer.
FEBRUARY 5, 1987
LIBERACE, showbusiness’s outrageous King of Glitz, died yesterday at his home in california. The star, whose piano flourishes, flashy costumes, jewellery and candelabra delighted his fans for four decades, was 67. His agent had vehemently denied that liberace had aids.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LAURA LINNEY, 60. The u. s. actress starred in love actually and Ozark and won an emmy for TV’s Frasier. she has been nominated for three Oscars, but insists: ‘i’m a theatre actress; my father was a playwright. everything else that has happened has been very exciting and very unexpected.’
MICHAEL SHEEN, 55. The rada-trained actor from Port Talbot, south Wales, played Tony Blair in The Queen, David Frost in Frost/nixon and Brian clough in The Damned united. sheen has a daughter with actress Kate Beckinsale and dated canadian actress rachel Mcadams.
BORN ON THIS DAY
WILLIAM s. BURROUGHS (1914-1997). The ‘Beat’ author of naked lunch and The Ticket That exploded was described as ‘the only american writer who may conceivably be possessed by genius’. He said his stream- of- consciousness style had a mission ‘to make people aware of the true criminality of our times’.
TOM WILKINSON (19482023). The leeds- born actor, ‘the rolls-royce of British screen character players’, won a Bafta for The Full Monty. He was Oscar-nominated for in The Bedroom and Michael clayton.
ON FEBRUARY 5 . . .
IN 1924, BBC radio used six electronically generated ‘pips’. The Greenwich Time signal has marked the start of the hour for the past century.
IN 1972, T. rex had a UK no 1 hit with Telegram sam.
IN 2020, actor Kirk Douglas died at 103.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Novercant (coined 1472)
A) To belittle someone verbally.
B) an adult with juvenile characteristics.
C) acting like a stepmother.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Let the cat out of the bag: meaning to disclose a secret, it was once a trick among country types to substitute a cat for a suckling pig and bring it in a bag to market; if someone chose to buy a ‘pig in a poke’ without examination, all well and good. But if he opened the sack and let it ‘out of the bag’, then the trick was disclosed.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.
Kurt Vonnegut, U.S. writer (1922-2007)
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW many mystery writers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
One to insert it and another to give it a surprise twist at the end.
Guess The Definition answer: C.