ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
NOVEMBER 15, 1922 THe first British wireless telephone broadcasting service was inaugurated yesterday evening. Messages will be broadcast twice every night at 6 and 9. The call signal is 2 L.O. and the wavelength 360 metres. PrINCeSS elizabeth and Princess Margaret are spending their spare time making Christmas puddings. Both Princesses are enthusiastic cooks, and in their evacuation quarters in the country they have regular cooking lessons. Boiling day is fixed for early next week, and one of the puddings will be sent to the King and Queen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JIMMy CHOO, 70. According to his former business partner Tamara Mellon, the Malaysian-born designer did not actually design any of the firm’s shoes. ‘He’s a cobbler,’ she said. Choo, who sold his share of his eponymous company in 2001, always packs three pairs when travelling anywhere: ‘An evening shoe, day shoe — either lace-up or slip-on — and a pair of sandals.’ DANIeL BAreNBOIM, 76. The conductor and pianist was half of classical music’s golden couple with British cellist Jacqueline du Pre, right, until she had to stop performing due to multiple sclerosis in 1973 (she died aged 42 in 1987). Barenboim, who remarried in 1988, was born in Buenos Aires and is fluent in Spanish, Hebrew, english, French, Italian, and German.
BORN ON THIS DAY
GeOrGIA O’KeeFFe (1887-1986). The American painter is best known for her enormous pictures of flowers, many of which are thought to be ‘sexually suggestive’, though they only made up about a tenth of her output. After going blind, O’Keeffe continued to create art, taking up sculpture, and still used watercolours until she was 95. WILLIAM PITT ‘The elder’ (1708-1778). The London-born Whig politician served as PM for just two years, though he is credited with the birth of the British empire. He was given the nickname the ‘Great Commoner’ but, according to one historian, ‘his populist instincts meant that he was able to turn the originally sarcastic title into one of endearment’.
ON NOVEMBER 15…
IN 1492, the first recorded reference to tobacco was made in Christopher Columbus’s journal.
IN 1969, 500,000 protesters marched in Washington DC against the Vietnam War, then the largest political rally in American history. President richard Nixon was said to have spent the day watching football inside the White House.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Cynosure (1596) A) Any focus of attraction, interest, or admiration. B) A replacement C) relating to dogs. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
Ace up his sleeve: Meaning a surprise or secret advantage; it’s a Twenties’ British phrase from the popular card game stud poker, where a face-down ace is a huge advantage to a gambler.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
If All else fails, immortality can always be assured by a spectacular error. J. K. Galbraith, U.S. economist (1908-2006)
JOKE OF THE DAY
My GP’s surgery made a mistake with my blood. They said it was type-A... ...but then they said it was a type-O. Guess The Definition answer: A