ON THIS DAY
December 17, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
DECEMBER 17, 1943 THE Daily Mail is to produce a Transatlantic Edition in New York — a digest of a week’s newspapers assembled into magazine form and giving Americans an account of some of the things we in Britain have just been reading.
DECEMBER 17, 1966 SPACE-AGE puppet series Thunderbirds is being dropped from TV, said the show’s creators, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson yesterday. Mr Anderson, in Manchester to launch the couple’s first feature film, Thunderbirds Are Go, said: ‘On January 2, we are going into production on a new series, with a new hero, Captain Scarlet.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
POPE FRANCIS, 83. The Argentinian, born Jorge Bergoglio, is the first pontiff from the Americas and the first to appear on the cover of rolling Stone magazine. he used to work as a nightclub bouncer and swept floors, and as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, took the bus to work.
KAY BURLEY, 59. The Sky News breakfast anchor has been on our screens since joining TV-am in 1985 and says: ‘I’ve probably done more live TV than anyone else in the world.’ She hasn’t voted in recent elections or in the Eu referendum, so she can stay as neutral as possible. She said: ‘Sometimes people say to me: “Who do you think you are, Jeremy Paxman?” And I always say: “No, I’m Kay Burley and I can ask as many questions as I like.”’
BORN ON THIS DAY
ANDREW SIMPSON (1976-2013). The yachtsman from Surrey — nicknamed Bart by his fellow sailors — won gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and silver at London 2012. Simpson, who took up sailing at six, died aged 36 after becoming trapped under his catamaran when it capsized during a training exercise in San Francisco Bay.
KERRY PACKER (19372005). The Australian media tycoon, the richest person in the country, built a magazine and TV empire before turning his attention to his favourite sport, establishing World Series Cricket. After suffering a near-fatal heart attack in 1990 he bought portable defibrillators for every ambulance in New South Wales. They became known as Packerwhackers.
ON DECEMBER 17…
IN 1982, Karen Carpenter made her last public appearance. She died less than two months later after suffering from anorexia.
IN 1989, the first episode of The Simpsons — called Simpsons roasting On An Open Fire — was broadcast.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: wassail (c 12th century)
A) a mass desertion. B) a festive drinking bout. C) a servant (answer below).
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Close but no cigar — meaning almost but not quite successful (of an attempt); thought to have come from the common practice at fairs of testing one’s strength or throwing accuracy and for which the winner received a cigar as a prize.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Now don’t say you can’t swear off drinking; it’s easy. I’ve done it a thousand times
W.C. Fields, U.S. comedian (1880-1946)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY was the orchestra not allowed to perform in front of children? Because of all the sax and violins. Guess The Definition answer: B