ON THIS DAY
July 8, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JULY 8, 1930 Sir Arthur ConAn Doyle, novelist, sportsman and spiritualist, died yesterday at Crowborough, Sussex, where he had lived for the last 22 years. it will doubtless be as the creator of Sherlock holmes that his name as an author will go down to posterity. his last words, addressed to his wife, were: ‘you are wonderful.’ JULY 8, 1986 Sir Geoffrey howe has given South Africa three weeks to make up its mind on freeing jailed black leader nelson Mandela. the foreign Secretary has set a guaranteed release date for Mandela and other political detainees as the minimum requirement for the Commonwealth summit in london next month.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
PAuline Quirke, 61. the actress from london played Sharon theodopolopodous in sitcom Birds of A feather. She said she was ‘physically sick’ with nerves before every recording, while linda robson ‘goes all red and blotchy’ and lesley Joseph ‘keeps rubbing her hands’: ‘So between the three of us, it’s not a pretty sight’. Monty Don, 65. the German-born, hampshireraised Gardeners’ world presenter (pictured) said it took ten years of practice before he stopped hating horticulture, but now says earth heals me better than any medicine.’ he says women make better gardeners than men, who ‘either have to work with women or open out to the feminine side of themselves — be a bit gentler, a bit softer, less competitive’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
CrAiG StevenS (1918-2000). the American actor, who was born Gail Shikles Jnr, played suave detective Peter Gunn in the fifties tv series. he studied dentistry before moving to hollywood and appearing in Dive Bomber, as one of errol flynn’s co-pilots. he married the movie’s female star, Alexis Smith, three years later and they were together until her death just before their golden anniversary. eliSABeth küBler-roSS (1926-2004). the Swiss-born psychiatrist came up with the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — after interviewing people with terminal illnesses. while her book on Death And Dying detailed up to 13 stages, the five have become so well-known they have been featured in Sesame Street and Star trek and are widely used in management training.
ON JULY 8...
IN 1972, Donny osmond (pictured) achieved his first uk no. 1 with Puppy love.
IN 1965, Great train robber ronnie Biggs escaped from wandsworth Prison after scaling a 30ft wall.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Flews (c1575)
A) the pendulous, lower jaws of a dog. B) Small low clouds in a clear sky. C) A state of depression of spirits.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Jack of all trades, master of none — meaning someone good at a wide variety of things but not great at any one; ‘jack of all trades’ came from the 1600s while the full phrase came a century later.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Poetry is the achievement of the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.
Carl Sandburg, U.S. poet (1878-1967)
JOKE OF THE DAY
why were two flies playing football in a saucer?
They were practising for the cup.
Guess The Definition answer: A