ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
NOVEMBER 23, 1940 FESTIVE radio programmes are planned by the BBC again this year. Christmas Under Fire will include children, men of the Forces in Britain, our Allies and our soldiers in the Middle East, who will come to the microphone on Christmas Day. The day will end with a trip to a pantomime, fire station, war factory and an air raid shelter. NOVEMBER 23, 1960 BORSTAl teacher Mr Charles Gash said last night he had been suspended for writing a letter to the Daily Mail about his private inquiry among borstal boys about corporal punishment. The ex-Royal Army Education Corps warrant officer asked 53 boys: ‘Do you favour the re-introduction of corporal punishment?’ Fifty-one said yes.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ZOE BAll, 48. The new BBC Radio 2 breakfast show host — who was reported in 2017 to have a salary of up to £299,999 — was a controversial appointment with many fans tipping her pal Sara Cox for the gig. Former ‘ladette’ Ball (right) has battled booze, overcome the collapse of her 18-year marriage to Norman Cook (DJ Fatboy Slim) and grieved the suicide of boyfriend Billy Yates. Her dad, TV presenter Johnny Ball, may not listen to her show. He has said: ‘When I listen to the radio, it’s Radio 4.’ SUE NICHOllS, 75. The actress has played hairdresser Audrey Roberts in Coronation Street for nearly 40 years. In 2011, viewer and nurse Anna Bianconi-Moore noticed a suspicious-looking mole on Sue’s shoulder and emailed the show. Sue later had a malignant melanoma removed and invited her saviour to the studios as a thank you. Now working with younger actors on the show, Sue says: ‘I seem to know people at my local Sainsbury’s more than I know half the new Coronation Street cast!’
BORN ON THIS DAY
HARpO MARx (1888-1964). The Marx Brother, real name Adolph (right), was the only member of the comedy fivesome who did not speak. His pal surrealist artist Salvador Dali sent him a harp with barbed-wire strings in Christmas, 1936. Harpo sent back a photo of himself with bandaged fingers. JOHN COlE (1927-2013). The BBC’s Baftawinning political editor from 1981 to 1992 was described as ‘the most respected broadcast political journalist since World War II’. Instantly recognisable thanks to his Belfast accent and big glasses, he was immortalised as a Spitting Image puppet.
ON NOVEMBER 23...
IN 1869, Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, was launched at Dunbarton. It stayed in service until the Thirties. IN 1963, BBC’s Doctor Who was first aired. William Hartnell played the Time lord.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Bokwa (2018) A) Misshapen vegetables. B) Attractive. C) Type of exercise class including dance moves and step aerobics. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Mad as a hatter: Immortalised in Alice In Wonderland and meaning daft, from the days when hatmaking was linked to mercury poisoning, which caused madness.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
IT’S a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S a shoe’s favourite music? Soul. Guess The Definition answer: C.