ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUGUST 13, 1945
FROM 9 o’clock until midnight on VJ-Day [August 15], 850 floodlights will light up the Tower of London for the first time since 1939. Thirty Ministry of Works electricians spent the weekend testing the cables and fitting lamps into the holders. The lights will be on every night for a week.
AUGUST 13, 1965
A WOMAN was appointed a High Court judge for the first time in Britain yesterday. But she will be addressed in the same style as her brother judges. Elizabeth Kathleen Lane, QC, will be called ‘My Lord’. Her title will be Mr Justice Lane.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MARIE HELVIN, 66. The U.S. model, based in the UK, was still doing lingerie shoots into her 60s. She has said: ‘I like naughty boys. I was married to [photographer] David Bailey, who was one of the naughtiest. I like real men and I like masculinity.’ War reporter Marie Colvin said she would get powerful men to return her calls by telling their PAs she was Helvin (pictured). She would be put through and they would be too embarrassed to say anything. MADHUR JAFFREy, 85. The Indian-born actress trained at Rada alongside Diana Rigg before becoming ‘queen of the curry’ and author of more than 15 cookbooks. She taught herself to cook because she was so disappointed by British cuisine, including the ‘grey roast beef, cabbage that had been cooked for days, watery potatoes’ served up at the Rada canteen.
BORN ON THIS DAY
FIDEL CASTRO (1926-2016). The Cuban dictator was prime minister and then president for 49 years. One of his security guards calculated that the CIA attempted to assassinate him at least 634 times, including with exploding cigars and poisoned cold cream. When he came to power, Castro decreed that every set of the board game Monopoly must be destroyed because of its capitalist ideals. HOWARD MARKS (1945-2016). Described as ‘Britain’s best-known and most charming drug smuggler’, he turned his experiences into a best-selling book, Mr Nice. Born in Wales, he graduated with a physics degree from Oxford before becoming one of the biggest cannabis traffickers in Europe.
ON AUGUST 13 . . .
IN 1910: Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale died, aged 90. In line with her wishes, her family turned down a state funeral and burial in Westminster Abbey, laying her to rest near the family home, Embley Park in Hampshire.
IN 1942: The Disney film Bambi (pictured) had its premiere in New york.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Yealm (1825)
A) The second swarm of bees in one season. B) A single ear of corn. C) A straw tile laid on a roof. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Beyond the pale: An action considered beyond the limits of acceptable behaviour; first used in 1612. Pale, from the Latin ‘palus’ is a stake or a palisade; hence those outside such a pale do not share our values.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
MArk my words, when a society has to resort to the lavatory for its humour, the writing is on the wall. Alan Bennett, playwright
JOKE OF THE DAY
I WAS put in a cell because of my insomnia. The police said I was resisting a rest. Guess The Definition answer: C. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD