ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
MARCH 11, 1969 JAMES EArL rAy, killer of American Civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King, was jailed for 99 years today — his 41st birthday. The jury agreed to the sentence for murder without leaving the box. ray pleaded guilty at a special court after a compromise deal with the prosecution, instead of facing a long trial with the electric chair the likely outcome. MARCH 11, 1971 WHAT causes strife in marriages? Money, not mowing the lawn, or a blonde at the office? All at times. But, one regular troublemaker said a judge yesterday, is the TV. Mr Justice Baker called it ‘that object of modern life which is almost without exception the cause of trouble in matrimonial cases’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JoDIE CoMEr, 27. The actress from Liverpool, right, the star of Doctor Foster, plays psychopathic assassin Villanelle in Killing Eve, for which she won a Bafta. Her family ‘were so proud’ that they took the award ‘on a pub crawl’ across her home city. Her best friend is world champion heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, whom she met at her Catholic secondary school.
BENJAMIN FErENCz, 100. The Transylvania-born U.S. lawyer is the last surviving prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crime trials and helped establish the International Criminal Court. A former U.S. Army sergeant, he landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Ferencz says: ‘My slogan, “Law not war”, points the way to a more humane and peaceful world.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
JESSIE MATTHEWS (1907-1981). The English actress, one of 11 children of a Soho costermonger, rose from poverty to become Britain’s most popular musical film star in the Thirties. Dubbed the ‘Diva of Debauchery’, the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, described Matthews’ allure as ‘devastating’. In the 1960s, she was a household name once again, playing the lead role in radio soap Mrs Dale’s Diary. rAoUL WALSH (1887-1980). The U.S. director made more than 100 films, including The Big Trail, starring John Wayne, and High Sierra, with Humphrey Bogart. Hollywood legend says that after being injured in a car accident, he chose to wear his distinctive eye patch rather than a glass eye as he would only have to keep removing it every time he got into a fight.
ON MARCH 11…
IN 1978, Kate Bush, right, had her first No 1, with Wuthering Heights — becoming the first woman to top the chart with a selfwritten song.
IN 1991, BBC World Service TV News began. It is now available 24/7 in more than 200 countries.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Musette (14th century)
A) Half turn by a horse. B) Small leather or canvas bag. C) Noose. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Snake eyes: When two dice each show the one dot facing up, for a lowest possible score of two points. Coined in the 1930s by gamblers, it’s possible that the snake was chosen due to its negative associations.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake.
Margot Asquith, author and socialite (1864-1945)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I’VE packed in my deep-sea diving training.
I’m no good under pressure. Guess The Definition answer: B.