ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE

SEPTEMBER 2, 1967 HAROLD WILSON is suing pop group The Move for alleged libel over a postcard publicising their latest record Flowers In The Rain. It shows a drawing of the Prime Minister sitting on a bed in the nude. The group’s manager said: ‘I suppose it is a bit risque. But it captures the atmosphere of the moment.’ [The band later apologised in the High Court]. SEPTEMBER 2, 1985 TEENAGERS can become severely disturbed if they let computers take over their lives, a psychiatrist has warned. Dr Prem Misra, a consultant at glasgow’s Duke Street Hospital, revealed he had treated four boys after they became computer addicts. ‘They suffered nightmares, illusions, excessive daydreaming and exhaustion.’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MARGE CHAMPION, 100. The American actress and dancer (right) starred in several MGM musicals, including Show Boat. But she is most famous for being the dance model for Snow White in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, the 1937 animated film by Walt Disney, and the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio. DAME Frances Campbell-Preston, 101, is oldest surviving lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. The sister-in-law of Joyce grenfell, she wore one of the actress’s old dresses for her first meeting with the Queen Mother, whom she served from 1965 until her death in 2002. ‘At one point I borrowed a dress out of the children’s dressing-up box,’ she said.

BORN ON THIS DAY

VICTOR SPINETTI (19292012). The half-Welsh, halfItalian actor (right) became a friend of The Beatles, appearing in three of their five films. When he invited John Lennon to a show at London’s Palace Theatre, he laid on The Beatles’ favourite, jam ‘butties’. Lennon told Spinetti: ‘You don’t need hash, do you, Vic? You’re permanently stoned on life.’

ANDY GROVE (1936-2016). The Hungarian-born computer engineer turned Intel into the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors. He was known for his ‘Andygrams’ — handwritten notes of apology to staff when he got something wrong — and for dancing on stage at industry concerts to the Bee gees’ Stayin’ Alive.

ON SEPTEMBER 2…

IN 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam’s independence from France hours after Japan’s unconditional surrender brought six years of world war to an end.

IN 1994, TV presenter Roy Castle died of lung cancer. He had never smoked but had spent years playing the trumpet in smoke-filled jazz clubs.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: Eassin (c 1661) A) Diagonally across from something. B) To desire the male (of animals). C) In the opposite direction, the wrong way. Answer below

PHRASE EXPLAINED

Cash and carry: Meaning sold, often in bulk, though not delivered. From the 1900s, it’s an arrangement for consumers to pay for their items in cash, then carry them away.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

SURELY the sex business isn’t worth all this damned fuss? T.E. Lawrence, English soldier and writer (1888-1935)

JOKE OF THE DAY

WHAT do you call a floating dog? A good buoy. Guess The Definition answer: B.