ON THIS DAY
February 16, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 16, 1937 AT THIS year’s British Industries Fair at White City, a crowd followed the Queen round the textile section. Her first purchase was by way of a ‘repeat order’ — three dozen pairs of silk stockings, of a kind she bought last year. ‘They are beautifully fine,’ she commented.
New fabrics for children were intensely interesting to the Monarch. ‘Oh, how very delightful!’ she exclaimed, catching sight of a material printed with a Robinson Crusoe design. ‘I must have some of that for Elizabeth [her daughter, then age ten, now Elizabeth II].’
FEBRUARY 16, 1967 HUNDREDS of young British doctors queued yesterday for the chance to go to America in a ‘brain drain’ of medical talent from these shores to the u.S. In London, an extra hall had to be hired to accommodate about 550 applicants. In Edinburgh, 161 doctors turned up. Many were hospital men — who find pay and conditions intolerable in the UK.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
AGYNESS DEYN, 34. The model-turned-actress (right) grew up in Lancashire and worked in a fish-and-chip shop before being spotted by a talent scout. When she was signed by a New york agency, she lied about her age, claiming to be 18 when she was really 24 — but was outed by former classmates when she became famous. Born Laura Hollins, she took her grandmother’s name, Agnes, for modelling, adding in the extra letters after consulting a name analyst.
JUNE BROWN, 90. The Suffolk-born actress, known for playing chain-smoking dot Cotton in EastEnders for more than 30 years, is rumoured to be the soap’s highest paid actress, earning £300,000 a year, but has said: ‘I can’t afford to retire. I never had the money to start a pension — I didn’t start to make any real money until I was 58.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
KIM JONG-IL (1942-2011). The supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 until his death. He had a fondness for expensive cognac, platform shoes and Hollywood movies (he amassed a library of 20,000, with Elizabeth Taylor believed to be his pin-up). While travelling across Russia by train, he had live lobsters air-lifted to him each day, which he ate with silver chopsticks.
ON FEBRUARY 16...
IN 1659, the first known British cheque (for £10) was written by merchant Nicholas Vanacker. IN 1923, the opulent burial chamber of King Tutankhamun’s tomb was unsealed in Egypt. IN 1937, a patent for Nylon was awarded to Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for u.S. company DuPont.
WORD WIZARDRY
NEW WORD OF THE DAY Power paunch: A large stomach on a man, worn proudly.
GUESS THE DEFINITION
Mimp (coined 1786) A) To speak in a prissy manner, usually with pursed lips. B) To poke around with one’s nose. C) To knock the feet together in walking. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
A pig in a poke: Referring to something bought without having first been assessed. A poke was a sack, from which we get the word pocket, and customers at markets were advised to check the bag first — which is where we also get the expression ‘let the cat out of the bag’.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY
BORES can be divided into two classes — those who have their own particular subject and those who do not need a subject.
A.A. Milne, English author (1882-1956)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S grey, has four legs and a trunk? A mouse going on holiday. Guess The Definition answer: A.