ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
AUGUST 15, 1908 THE first International Beauty Show at the Victoria Pier Pavilion, Folkestone, last night was a great success. All seats were at a premium — to win a 40-guinea piano and a bicycle among other prizes — there were six competitors. The winner was Miss England, Nelly Jarman, of Surrey. AUGUST 15, 1967 RADIO London, one of the ‘big two’ pirate pop stations, said farewell to its 12 million listeners yesterday with messages of regret from Ringo Starr and Mick Jagger. It closed down at 3pm — nine hours before it became illegal for Britons to work for, supply or advertise on pirate stations. Only its great rival, Radio Caroline is left.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SIR TONY ROBINSON, 73. The Londonborn star played Baldrick, the turnip-loving servant to Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder, in the BBC sitcom and fronted archaeology show Time Team. After being knighted, he considered getting a heraldic crest of ‘a turnip severed by a trowel’. His stage debut, age 13, was in the stage version of Oliver! JENNY HANLEY, 72. The Buckinghamshire-born actress presented Magpie in the Seventies and was a Bond girl in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. She was voted the sexiest woman in the world in a 1970 poll. But she said she ‘lost a lot of work’ and ‘nearly ruined my career’ by refusing to appear nude in films.
BORN ON THIS DAY
NICOLAS ROEG (1928-2018). The Londonborn filmmaker directed Don’t Look Now starring Donald Sutherland, who named his son Roeg in tribute. Roeg also made The Man Who Fell to Earth starring David Bowie. His first job in the industry was making tea at Marylebone Studios before becoming a cinematographer, but was sacked from Doctor Zhivago after constant rows with director David Lean. He said of his films; ‘I never watch them. It’s like a trip to the past. You can’t help but remember the day each scene was shot.’ JuLIA CHILD (1912-2004). The u.S. TV cook, played by Meryl Streep in the film Julie & Julia, brought French cuisine to the u.S. public. During World War II, she was rejected by the Army because, at 6ft 2in, she was deemed too tall, but was offered a position at the forerunner to the CIA. She only became an accomplished cook in her 30s, after setting her oven on fire and living on frozen dinners. She said: ‘I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.’
ON AUGUST 15…
IN 1939, The Wizard Of Oz, starring Judy Garland, had its premiere in Hollywood.
IN 1950, Princess Elizabeth gave birth to her second child, Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Nipcheese (1788) A) Skinflint. B) Noose. C) Spur attached to a fighting cock’s heel. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
Add fuel to the fire — Meaning to make an intense situation worse: the phrase existed in Roman days.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake. Ernest Hemingway, U.S. writer (1899-1961)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY did the greenhouse go to the doctor? It had panes all over. Guess The Definition answer: A.