ON THIS DAY
September 26, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 26, 1968 MINI-SKIRTS are going up — in price. The taxman feels he has stood and watched for long enough. From November 1, there will be a 2s 6d in the pound tax on minis, once classed as purchase tax-free children’s clothing. SEPTEMBER 26, 1975 Two men put a top-of-the-world spring back in Britain’s step yesterday. Doug Scott and Dougal Haston are not only the first Britons to climb Everest, they are also the first men from anywhere to scale the 29,028ft summit the hard way — up the South-West face.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SERENA WILLIAMS, 38. The U.S. tennis star, (pictured) who has been Wimbledon champion seven times, managed to win the Australian open while pregnant — without dropping a set. She has also won four olympic golds and holds the record for the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles combined. Serena has talked about being ‘bodyshamed’ because of her muscular build but described her arms as ‘my weapon and machine’. RICKY TOMLINSON, 80. The star of The royle Family and Brookside started out playing the banjo on the pub circuit as ‘Hobo rick’. A former plasterer, he says his most embarrassing moment was meeting robert De Niro at a party and asking ‘if he was in showbusiness’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
WINNIE MANDELA (1936-2018). Nelson Mandela’s second wife was married to him for 38 years, including his 27 years in prison. During their relationship Winnie’s radical political influence grew. In 1991, she was accused of involvement in the killing of a 14-year-old boy by one of her bodyguards and she allegedly endorsed the use of ‘necklaces’ — rubber tyres filled with petrol — to kill suspected police informants.
SIR BARNES WALLIS (1887-1979). The Derbyshire-born aviation engineer invented the ‘bouncing bombs’ used in the Dambusters raid of 1943. Sir Barnes also designed an aircraft that could fly at five times the speed of sound with a runway only 300 yards — though it was never built — and some of his ideas were incorporated into supersonic airliner Concorde.
ON SEPTEMBER 26…
IN 1968, oliver!, directed by Carol reed, had its premiere in London. It would win the Best Picture oscar the following year.
IN 2008, Paul Newman, star of The Sting and Butch Cassidy And The Sundance kid (pictured), died, aged 83.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION — tribadism (c 1810) A) The act of giving or contributing. B) A gathering of three people. C) Lesbianism. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
Bigwig: A VIP in high authority. From the 1700s when European noblemen wore big wigs to showcase their wealth or significance in society, a trend started by France’s Louis XIII who went prematurely bald and then took to wearing big wigs.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
You’RE not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on. Dean Martin, U.S. singer and actor (1917-1995)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a ghost’s true love? His ghoul-friend. Guess The Definition answer: C.