ON THIS DAY
March 9, 2021
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MARCH 9, 1939
MR JOHN POTTOW, who was for 52 years in the royal service, died at Windsor yesterday, aged 77. He served Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, and King George V. In the closing months of Queen Victoria’s reign, he was appointed personal attendant to carry Her Majesty about when she became too infirm to walk. MARCH 9, 1976 AT 2.32 yesterday afternoon the curtain rose at the new national Theatre to reveal a woman up to her waist in sand with a parasol and a handbag strewn around her. It was the first production in the new £15million building on London’s South Bank — Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, starring Dame Peggy Ashcroft.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JULIETTE BINOCHE, 57. The French actress — known simply as La Binoche in her home country — starred in Chocolat and won an Oscar for The English Patient. She says she is not a feminist, has two children and has never married. When asked why, she said: ‘nobody asked.’ OSCAR ISAAC, 42. The actor starred in X-Men: Apocalypse and three Star Wars films, and jokes he might do another ‘if I need another house or something’. When asked in his drama school application about previous jobs, the former hospital porter put that down, ‘because you see the extremes of humanity there: life and death’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
BOBBY FISCHER (1943-2008). The chess grandmaster became u.S. champion at 14 and made his name beating Cold War Soviet rival Boris Spassky in 1972. But many compatriots turned against him after he made anti-Semitic broadcasts and described 9/11 as ‘wonderful news’. He was granted Icelandic citizenship in 2005 to avoid deportation to the U.S. ANDRÉ COURRÈGES (1923-2016). The French fashion designer was known for his space-age creations. yves Saint Laurent said his clothes hit the world ‘like an earthquake’ but Coco Chanel was less than enamoured. ‘This man destroys women,’ she said. ‘He turns them into little girls!’ Of his mini skirts, Chanel added: ‘There is nothing uglier than a knee.’
ON MARCH 9…
IN 1950, Timothy Evans was hanged for the murder of his wife at 10 Rillington Place, in one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British history. Three years later, John Christie admitted to killing her. IN 1985, Dead Or Alive, whose frontman was Pete Burns (pictured), notched up their only no 1, with you Spin Me Round.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Camlet (coined late 14th century)
A) A small comb for curling the whiskers. B) A thatched cottage. C) A tough, waterproof cloth. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED Like a Colossus: Refers to someone with great power or genius. The Colossus of Rhodes was a giant statue of the sun god Helios and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can’t smile, grin. If you can’t grin, keep out of the way till you can.
Sir Winston Churchill, wartime PM
JOKE OF THE DAY
My FLATMATE says our home’s haunted . . . But I’ve lived here for 250 years and haven’t heard anything odd.
Guess The Definition answer: C.