ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
DECEMBER 30, 1975 YESTERDAY was the day it all came true for women — equality with men at last. The Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay Acts should mean the end of ‘Women’s Work’. Just to keep things totally equal, mailman Charles Laurence answered an advertisement for ‘attractive young female assistants’ for a man’s shop in London’s Regent Street. He was promptly offered the job.
DECEMBER 30, 1986 THE Earl of Stockton, former Tory prime minister Harold Macmillan, died last night aged 92 after a short illness. Mrs Thatcher said that ‘Supermac’ — in power from January 1957 to October 1963, during which time he coined his famous ‘never had it so good’ and ‘winds of change’ phrases — was ‘an idealist’ and a shrewd politician.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ELLIE GOULDING, 33. The Brit award-winning singersongwriter from Herefordshire got perhaps her biggest break in 2010 when her version of Elton John’s Your Song featured on John Lewis’s Christmas advert. The singer’s less-than-diva-ish tour requests include a scented candle and a kettle. Noel Gallagher is a fan — she says he told her: ‘I really f***in’ love your music, but don’t f***in’ tell anyone.’
JAY KAY, 50. The frontman of funk band Jamiroquai, dubbed ‘the prince of flamboyant funk’, was born Jason Cheetham in Lancashire (his identical twin brother died at six weeks old). Known for his wacky headgear, the one-time boyfriend of TV’s Denise van Outen says: ‘I’ve been wearing hats since I was around 17. My first one was an upturned bag that I got from Oxfam.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR CAROL REED (1906-1976). The Oscarwinning filmmaker from London directed Odd Man Out, Oliver! and The Third Man, whose writer, Graham Greene, said the director had ‘that warmth of human sympathy, the extraordinary feeling for the right face for the right part’. Hoping to head off his hopes of being an actor, Reed’s mother sent him to work on a chicken farm in the U.S., but he left after six months and, aged 18, made his acting debut in a London show.
RUDYARD KIPLING (18651936). The Indian-born British author of The Jungle Book and the poem If is named after the place his parents met — Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. He turned down a knighthood, Order of Merit and poet laureateship, but accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907, becoming the first British author to receive the honour.
ON DECEMBER 30...
IN 1968, Frank Sinatra recorded My Way in a Hollywood studio in just one take.
IN 1970, former world heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston died, according to his death certificate, though his body was not found until January 5, 1971.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Refractory (1600)
A) Broken. B) Furious. C) Stubborn.
Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Fair and square — Meaning acting by the rulebook. The words ‘fair’ and ‘square’ are tautological and the phrase is used to describe winning games without cheating.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age.
Victor Hugo, French author (1802-1885)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?
They always drop their needles.
Guess the Definition answer: C.