ON THIS DAY
January 1, 2021
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 1, 1945
ONE of the most profitable Christmas weeks in the history of the London stage closed on Saturday. Pantomime, musical comedy, drama and farce are all drawing record houses. Impresario Mr W. MacQueen Pope said people would flock to any sort of show, provided it was reasonably good.
JANUARY 1, 2000
THE Queen launched Britain into the next 1,000 years just as millions of others, with a glass of champagne, a song and a kiss. The toast was for the nation and the kiss for her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. Then in an extraordinary gesture, the monarch turned to Prime Minister Tony Blair and linked hands for Auld Lang Syne.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DAME MARY BEARD, 66. The Shropshire-born BBC presenter and Cambridge professor of classics beat then London Mayor Boris Johnson in a live debate titled Greece vs rome. She is friends with shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, after they met at a party, and her favourite footwear is ‘my little red Manolos’.
FIONA PHILLIPS, 60. The Kent-born TV presenter hosted morning show GMTV for 12 years. Her ‘on- screen husband’ was Eamonn Holmes, but she said that in terms of pay, she was ‘a relative pauper in relation to my on-screen king’. She said she had to battle for maternity pay after bosses told her that viewers did not like seeing pregnant women on TV ‘especially early in the morning’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
J.D. Salinger (1919-2010). The U.S. author shot to fame with The Catcher In The rye in 1951 but then became a recluse. Having dreamed of stardom as a young man, he later ordered his agent to burn fan mail. In a rare interview, he said: ‘Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I love to write. But I write just for my own pleasure.’ When Salinger died, Catcher was still selling 250,000 copies a year.
KIM PHILBY (1912-1988). The MI6 officer fled to Moscow in 1963 when told his involvement in a Soviet spy ring was to be exposed — 12 years after he had tipped off Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to do the same. Philby was known as the ‘Third Man’. Philby was awarded the red Banner of Honour for services to the KGB. Asked if he would do it again, he said: ‘Absolutely.’
ON JANUARY 1. . .
IN 1951, The Archers began on the BBC Light Programme. It is now the longest running daily serial in the world. IN 1973, the UK officially joined the European Economic Community.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Manganese (c1670s) A) Having a pearly lustre. B) A black mineral in glassmaking. C) Golden yellow hue.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Cat’s whiskers: meaning the very best, the pinnacle of excellence; it originated in the roaring Twenties and is said to have come from the name of the adjustable wire of the early radio crystal sets.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.
Karen Kaiser Clark, U.S. author
JOKE OF THE DAY
MY NEW YEAR’S resolution i s to procrastinate. I’ll start tomorrow. Guess The Definition answer: B.