ON THIS DAY

February 19, 2019

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE

FEBRUARY 19, 1938 ‘I HOPE that the unhappily married women of England who want freedom without stigma will take heart from what has happened to me.’ Thus speaks middle-aged Mrs Hilda Chapman, of Northdown Road, Romford, Essex, the first woman in this country to be granted a divorce on the ground of desertion.

FEBRUARY 19, 1957 THE Duke of Windsor disclosed yesterday that six days before World War II began he sent telegrams ‘entirely on his own initiative’ to Hitler and the King of Italy. He ‘implored them for the sake of humanity to use their influence to prevent the outbreak of war’.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

DAVID GANDY, 39. The ‘world’s most in-demand male model’ became a father last year when his barrister girlfriend gave birth to a daughter. Essex-born, 6ft 3in Gandy, (right) — the face of M&S men’s underwear — is thought to earn £4million a year. He was discovered on a model-search competition on ITV’s This Morning, but says: ‘I don’t want to just be known as the man in the pants.’ He hates selfies, saying: ‘There are enough pictures of me, the world does not need any more.’

PRINCE ANDREW, 59. While visiting the Leeds Building Society HQ in 2008, The Duke of York was presented with a Monopoly board game but said: ‘We’re not allowed to play Monopoly at home. It gets too vicious.’ According to his website, the Prince still holds a helicopter licence and ‘neither smokes nor drinks alcohol’.

BORN ON THIS DAY

MERLE OBERON (19111979). The Oscar-nominated actress (right) found fame playing Cathy in Wuthering Heights. Before leaving Britain for Hollywood to pursue her career, she said: ‘I’m afraid that any “glamour girl” would soon wilt away beneath the stern reality of a typical London fog.’ Born in Mumbai, she kept her Anglo-Indian background a secret for fear of Hollywood prejudice.

SOCRATES (1954-2011). The chain-smoking Brazilian footballer and qualified doctor played in two World Cup finals and was an outspoken political activist. He once listed his heroes as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and John Lennon. Socrates fathered six children and, after a brief spell playing in Italy, he said: ‘Sometimes I didn’t want to train, but to hang out with friends, party or have a smoke. There’s more to life than football.’

ON FEBRUARY 19…

IN 1878, Thomas Edison was granted a patent for his phonograph. IN 1913, Pedro Lascurain became President of Mexico, but resigned after 45 minutes. IN 2008, Fidel Castro resigned as Cuban president after nearly a half-century in power.