ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUGUST 16, 1940
SCoTLAnD Yard officers have uncovered a plot involving West End doctors by which nearly 100 young men had hoped to evade Army service. Their attention was first drawn to the scheme by the number of men from certain districts rejected as totally unfit for service because of epilepsy.
The men were of good financial standing with business connections in the City and East End. The method involved a drug to turn someone into a temporary epileptic. The doctors were paid up to £1,000.
AUGUST 16, 1957
THE Queen will make her first personal TV broadcast in october — in Canada. It was announced that she will go on air from ottawa at 9pm on Sunday, october 13, for an address to the Canadian people. A hookup with U.S. networks is almost certain. [Later that year, the Queen would make her first televised Christmas broadcast.]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MADonnA, 59. In 2005, the entertainer (right) became the oldest artist simultaneously to top the UK singles and album charts, at the age of 47 years, 101 days. In 2006, a new species of tardigrade, a microscopic water-bear, was named after her: echiniscus
madonnae. Scientists gave no reason, but the organism is virtually indestructible, able to survive 120 years without food and withstand boiling and freezing. JoHn CRAVEn, 77. The BBC presenter from Leeds has hosted Countryfile since 1989 and fronted more than 3,000 episodes of newsround in the Seventies and Eighties, claiming to have missed only one show when his eldest daughter was born. STEVE CARELL, 55. The U.S. actor, comedian, director and writer is best known for the American version of The office, in which he played Michael Scott (based on David Brent). He made his name in The 40-Year-old Virgin, and although he’s Hollywood’s master of lunatic screwball comedy, he says his chief objective in life is to be ‘normal and nice’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
MAE CLARKE (1910-92). The Philadelphiaborn actress played the bride of Dr Henry Frankenstein who is attacked by the Monster (Boris Karloff) on her wedding day in the first sound version of Frankenstein, in 1931. She is also said to be the inspiration for Lorelei Lee, Marilyn Monroe’s character, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Early in her career, she and Joan Crawford were roommates and rumoured to be on-off lovers.
ON AUGUST 14 …
IN 1858, the first official transatlantic cable was sent, from Queen Victoria to U.S. president James Buchanan.
IN 1962, The Beatles sacked drummer Pete Best (right). Two days later he was replaced by Ringo Starr.
IN 2003, exiled former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin died in Saudi Arabia.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION Thurible (coined 1440)
A) Incense vessel for religious ceremonies. B) The socket of a precious stone or jewel. C) Destestable, loathsome. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Double Dutch:
Used to describe something unintelligible — from the notion of Dutch being a synonym for foreign, and double simply an excessive version of the same.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
One doesn’t have to get anywhere in a marriage. It is not a public conveyance. Iris Murdoch, English novelist (1919-99)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef. Guess The Definition Answer: A