ON THIS DAY
September 8, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 8, 1978 KEITH MOON, the wild man of pop, died yesterday of a suspected drug overdose aged 32. The drummer with The Who was found dead in bed by his fiancee, Swedish actress and model Annette Walter-Lax. Moon once drove a car into a hotel swimming pool, and said the hotel rooms he trashed had cost the band £200,000.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1997 TONY BLAIR, who lunched with the Queen at Balmoral yesterday, offered Her Majesty his help in modernising the monarchy in the aftermath of Diana’s death. Shaken by the backlash against the Royal Family’s faltering response to the tragedy, the Queen seems ready to take more direct political advice.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LOUISE MINCHIN, 52, right. The Hong Kong-born BBC Breakfast presenter, paid up to £210,000 a year, did her first triathlon in 2013, fitting training around her job and 3.40am alarm calls. She went on to represent Britain in her age group at the World Triathlon Championships in 2015. Last year, she said the studio temperature was lowered to help her with hot flushes: ‘We have the “Louise” setting on the air conditioning.’
PINK, 41. The u.S. singer-songwriter (born Alecia Beth Moore) has had hits with Get The Party Started and Trouble. She started out with pink hair, but got her nickname as a child: ‘Some kids at camp pulled my pants down and I blushed so much, and they were like, “Ha ha! Look at her! She’s pink!” And then the movie Reservoir Dogs came out — and Mr Pink was the one with the smart mouth, so it just happened all over again.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR HARRY SECOMBE (1921-2001). The Swanseaborn comic made his name in The Goon Show. The former choirboy also played Mr Bumble in 1968’s Oliver!. After being knighted in 1981, Sir Harry, who weighed 19½ st at his heaviest, quipped he had become ‘Sir Cumference’. After dramatic weight loss, he said: ‘I used to think I needed to be fat to sing opera. I can sing louder now than I ever did.’ He wrote in his own obituary: ‘He suffered fools gladly because he was one of them.’
SIEGFRIED SASSOON (1886-1967). The World War I poet from Kent was almost court-martialled after his 1917 letter to The Times was read in the House of Commons. It stated: ‘I believe that this War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.’ Instead, he was admitted to an Edinburgh hospital after fellow poet Robert Graves convinced the authorities Sassoon had shell-shock.
ON SEPTEMBER 8…
IN 1944, the first V2 rocket hit London. IN 1981, the first episode of Only Fools And Horses was broadcast on BBC1.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Nankeen (c1750)
A) Firm, durable, yellow or buff fabric. B) Tankard. C) Nothing. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Bottoms up: Said to encourage others to drink; if you lift a cup to your mouth to drink, its base can be seen, thus bringing the bottom up.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
the war between the sexes is the only one in which both sides regularly sleep with the enemy.
Quentin Crisp, English writer (1908-1999)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHEN is the best time to buy a canary?
When it’s going cheap. Guess the definition answer: A.