ON THIS DAY
August 20, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
AUGUST 20, 1943 LABOUR Exchange managers in many war-work areas admitted yesterday they are baffled by hitch-hiking girls of 17 to 24 who ‘go gypsy’ to dodge the Forces or the factories. For 12 months and longer, police have been searching for them in vain. unless some offence brings them to the notice of the police, many young ‘nomads’ are likely to get out of the war altogether.
AUGUST 20, 1960 A UNITED States Air Force plane made history today — by snatching a capsule in mid-air as it returned from space. The catch was made 300 miles south-west of Hawaii. The capsule had been ejected from the satellite Discoverer XIV, which was launched into orbit on Thursday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
AMY ADAMS, 45, pictured. The Italian-born u.S. actress starred in American Hustle, The Fighter and Vice. Apart from Glenn Close, Adams is the living actor with the most oscar nominations (six) without a win. She and actress friend Isla Fisher were so frequently confused, Fisher put Adams’s face on her Christmas card in place of her own. ‘no one noticed,’ she said. JAMIE CULLUM, 40. The most successful UK jazz artist in history failed his piano exam at school and can’t read music. Asked how he felt about turning 40, the 5ft4in pianist said: ‘I’ve always had an interesting relationship with age because people have always thought I was 12. I’m like the Michael J. Fox of jazz pop.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
ISAAC HAYES (1942-2008), pictured. The deep-voiced soul singer won an Academy Award for the 1971 hit Theme From Shaft — only the third African-American to win a competitive oscar. A Scientologist, Hayes was the voice of Chef in cartoon show South Park — but quit after an episode mocked his religion.
JIM BOWEN (1937-2018). The ex-binman and teacher from Cheshire hosted TV darts gameshow Bullseye, a series he thought was popular ‘mainly because nobody could be a***d to turn it off. There was nothing on the other side except Songs of Praise’. His catchphrases included ‘smashin’, which he once said 43 times in one show. Bob Monkhouse said Bowen reminded him of Charlie Chaplin as ‘Chaplin never said anything funny either’.
ON AUGUST 20…
IN 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the RAF, then fighting the Battle of Britain, saying: ‘never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’ IN 2003, a Simon Cowell waxwork was revealed at Madame Tussauds.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Nye (coined 1701) A) A hangman’s noose. B) A small cavity in a rock. C) A brood of pheasants. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Bite the hand that feeds one: To criticise or offend someone you depend on; said to have been coined by Edmund Burke in the 1700s, from the idea that horses may bite if you are careless feeding them by hand.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I USED to think all poets were Byronic. They’re mostly wicked as a ginless tonic. Wendy Cope, English poet
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT happens to a frog’s car when it breaks down? It gets toad away. Guess The definition answer: C.