ON THIS DAY
August 14, 2018
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
AUGUST 14, 1945 ALL those who assisted Mr Churchill during the time of his greatest responsibilities in winning the war in Europe have been remembered by him in the Resignation Honours List. Perhaps the most interesting awards are to six low-salaried people who typed his letters, brushed his suits and went with him everywhere. His valet receives the new Defence Medal, and even three shorthand typists are remembered. AUGUST 14, 1965 though their latest single, See My Friend, is buzzing up the charts, The Kinks are suffering the same fate as most groups who made the grade last year. They have vanished into the same obscurity as The Searchers and the Dave Clark Five.
‘The whole pop business in England has gone to pot,’ said Pete Quaife, the group’s bass guitarist. ‘People have had pop shoved down their throats for three years and they are just sick of it. There are too many groups putting out too many bad records.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
STEVE MARTIN, 73. The Texas-born comedian, actor and musician starred in Father Of The Bride and the Pink Panther films (pictured). While he’s played banjo since his teens, since the 2000s he’s acted less and spends much of his professional life playing, recording and touring with bluegrass acts. He’s had tinnitus since filming a pistol-shooting scene in Three Amigos in 1986. He has said: ‘You just get used to it — or it drives you insane.’
ADRIAN LESTER, 50. The Birminghamborn actor, most widely known for his long-running stint as Mickey Stone in the BBC’s Hustle, grew up on a council estate in the city with his single mum. He took up acting in his early teens and has since played Othello and Henry v at the national Theatre. He holds a black belt in Taekwondo and has been tipped to play James Bond — but current odds on him doing so are now 100-1.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JAMES HORNER (1953-2015). The American composer produced music for more than 100 films, including Braveheart and A Beautiful Mind, but was best known for his work on Titanic, which won him two Oscars in 1998 — best original score and best song for My Heart Will Go On (sung by Celine Dion, pictured with him). The score became the best-selling orchestral film soundtrack in history, shifting 30 million copies.
ON AUGUST 14 . . .
IN 1952, former PM Anthony Eden married Clarissa Spencer-Churchill, Winston’s niece. IN 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened in the Uk.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Jackanapes A) An impertinent or cheeky person. B) Between boyhood and manhood. C) A scarecrow. answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Big cheese: An important person; the boss. From 1850s slang with its positive sense of cheese in phrases such as ‘he’s the cheese’, or ‘just the cheese’, meaning ‘first-rate’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
GREAT minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
JOKE OF THE DAY
MY WIFE and I watched three Dvds backto-back. Luckily, I was the one facing the TV. guess The Definition answer: a.