ON THIS DAY
July 15, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JULY 15, 1910
THE mystery of the body found in a cellar at 39, Hilldrop Crescent, Camden Town, on Wednesday, resulted in a notice being issued by Scotland Yard yesterday that Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen and Miss le Neve are ‘wanted for murder and mutilation of a woman’.
[Crippen became the first person apprehended with the aid of radio messaging after a telegram was sent from the ship on which he was travelling to Scotland Yard.]
JULY 15, 1978
ONE pound coins for everyday use were struck yesterday for the first time since August 1914. For the moment, they are for circulation only in the Isle of Man. But currency experts believe similar coins will be replacing pound notes in the rest of Britain within two years.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
CELIA IMRIE, 68. The Surreyborn actress (pictured) starred in Acorn Antiques and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and stripped off in Calendar Girls. She says she decided aged six she would never marry because it ‘traps you’. In her early 40s, she struck a deal with an actor friend to get her pregnant on condition she would take full responsibility for the child, Angus, who today plays Josh Archer in The Archers. ForeST WHITAker, 59. The u.S. actor, learned how to speak Swahili and play the accordion to portray ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The last king of Scotland, and says: ‘My problem is I’m obsessive. I can’t take on these big roles very often. They change me too much … When I finished playing Amin, I had a long shower to try to get rid of him. I’m not sure it worked.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
LEOPOLDO GALTIERI (1926-2003). The Argentine dictator — once referred to by ronald reagan’s national security adviser as an ‘impressive general’ — triggered the ten-week Falklands War with Britain in April 1982 after ordering the invasion of the islands. In June, following British victory, he was forced to resign and was later jailed for three years for military incompetence. IAN CurTIS (1956-1980). The musician from Manchester (pictured) was lead singer of Joy Division. He took his own life aged 23, and the band’s biggest hit, love Will Tear us Apart, was released just a month after his death. He was one of the cultural icons who appeared in Peter Blake’s 2012 redesign of his Sgt. Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.
ON JULY 15…
IN 1958, John lennon’s mother, Julia, was killed while crossing the road after being run over by a car. lennon was 17. IN 2006, social network Twitter was launched.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: deipnosophist (c1600s)
A) An adept conversationalist at a meal B) An interpreter of dreams C) one who haunts good tables, a greedy sponger Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED: not a cat in hell’s
chance: meaning almost impossible, to be defenceless or to have no chance. It’s a shortened version of ‘no more chance than a cat in hell without claws’.