ON THIS DAY

HOUSEWIVES queued outside butchers’ shops on Saturday — not because there was a meat shortage, but because they had saved their coupons to make sure of a weekend joint. There had been supply problems in the week, which were solved by coupon-less boiled ham and offal.

MARCH 18, 1968 Mrs Jeff Banks, better known as pop star Sandie Shaw, 21 (pictured) is parting, albeit temporarily, from her husband — whom she wed secretly 11 days ago. The pair said farewell at Heathrow yesterday before Sandie flew to a two-day festival in Spain. Fashion designer Mr Banks, 25, stayed behind.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

PETER JONES, 55. The telecoms tycoon from Berkshire is the sole original star on BBC’s Dragons’ Den and, with a fortune of about £450 million, the richest. On the show he has invested over £4million in ventures such as Levi roots reggae reggae Sauce. Jones’s coat of arms has five dragons and a tennis ball (he set up a tennis academy while still at school). He has said he won’t pass on his wealth to his children, adding: ‘I want them to do it for themselves.’

IRENE CARA, 62. The American singer and actress co-wrote and sang Flashdance . . . What A Feeling from the 1983 film, for which she won an Oscar. She also played Coco Hernandez in 1980’s Fame and sang the movie’s title song. Director Sir Alan Parker said: ‘It’s fair to say that the character Coco’s unbridled ambition in our story, closely mirrored Irene’s in real life.’

BORN ON THIS DAY

WILSON PICKETT (19412006). The u.S. musician (pictured) — ‘one of the greatest soul singers of all time’, according to Aretha Franklin — had hits with In the Midnight Hour and Mustang Sally. nicknamed ‘Wicked’ Pickett, he would flirt with women in the audience. ‘If God made anything finer than you,’ he would say, ‘he kept it for himself.’

GROVER CLEVELAND (1837-1908). The 22nd and 24th u.S. president is the only one to have served non-consecutive terms. Diagnosed with mouth cancer, Cleveland worried the news would panic the markets, so had a tumour, five teeth and part of his jaw secretly removed on a yacht but insisted his trademark moustache stayed.

ON MARCH 18…

IN 978, edward the Martyr, english king and later a saint, was murdered at Corfe Castle, Dorset. His feast day is today. IN 1834, the Tolpuddle Martyrs — six farm workers from Tolpuddle, Dorset — were sentenced to transportation to Australia for forming a trade union.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE CORRECT DEFINITION: Pattens (c. late 14th century)

A) Small, low clouds. B) Overshoes. C) Wind-blown clouds.

Answer below.

PHRASE EXPLAINED

Packed like sardines: Meaning people squashed together. It comes from the fact the oil in which sardines are packed costs more than the fish and so more fish, and less oil, are packed into a tin.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

There is no love sincerer than the love of food. George Bernard Shaw, Irish dramatist (1856-1950)

JOKE OF THE DAY

WHAT do you call a game where Germans throw bread at each other? Gluten tag. Guess The Definition answer: B.