ON THIS DAY
MARCH 12, 2018
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
MARCH 12, 1942 FROM March 16, the Daily Mail and other newspapers must further reduce their consumption of paper. The Daily Mail’s size has been gradually reduced from 24 pages before the war to four today. The number of copies printed must also be decreased, so we urge you to share your paper. When you have finished, pass it on to a friend. MARCH 12, 1969 BEATLE Paul McCartney will marry Linda Eastman (right), 27, a divorced mother-of-one, at London’s Marylebone register office today. Yesterday when he returned home after buying a wedding ring, 14 teenage girls outside burst into tears. A baffled policeman said: ‘My God, what’s going on?’ One girl said they were crying as they ‘didn’t want Paul to go and get married’. Graffiti nearby read ‘We love Paul’ but under this was ‘Not any more’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SIR ANISH KAPOOR, 64. The Indian-born British sculptor designed the red steel ArcelorMittal Orbit in London’s Olympic Park and this year’s Brit Awards trophies. In 2016, the Turner Prize-winner gained exclusive rights to Vantablack, a pigment thought to be the blackest black ever as it absorbs 99.96 per cent of light — infuriating other artists who are unable to use it. LIZA MINNELLI, 72. The Oscar-winning Cabaret star (right) has divorced four times. Her first film appearance came, aged three, with her mother Judy Garland in 1949’s In The Good Old Summertime. She was largely raised in hotels and said that she ‘would have starved’ had phoning room service not been one of the first skills she learned.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JACK KEROUAC (1922-1969). The American author typed seminal Fifties book On The Road in just three weeks on a 120ftlong roll of paper but it took seven years to publish. He coined the phrase Beat Generation and said its meaning was closer to ‘beatific’. At 21, he joined the U. S. Navy but hated it and was discharged after ten days for having ‘a schizoid personality’. AGATHE VON TRAPP (1913-2010). The eldest daughter of the Austrian family who inspired The Sound Of Music. In the 1965 film, her character was called Liesl and sang Sixteen Going On Seventeen. When Agathe saw the film, she cried as it made her father seem too strict. She was 43 before the Trapp Family Singers ceased performing, and until then she had little independence and had never even used a phone.
ON MARCH 12…
IN 1938, Nazi forces invaded Austria, annexing it in the Anschluss or ‘union’. IN 2015, comic fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett died, aged 66, of Alzheimer’s.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Gnomon (coined 1546) A) Small but powerful man. B) Garden ornament. C)Arm of a sundial which casts a shadow indicating the time of day. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED:
Feeling groggy: To feel shaky. Once referred to drunkenness and came from a rum ration, or ‘grog’, then issued to Royal Navy sailors.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I love living. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they’ve come up with so far. Neil Simon, U.S. playwright
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHICH cheese should you use to coax a bear down from a tree? Camembert. Guess The Definition answer: C