October 21, 2021 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE OCTOBER 21, 1963
DIANA CHurCHIll, 54-year-old eldest daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, was found dead yesterday at her home in Chester row, Belgravia. She was discovered at 7am by her housekeeper. An empty pill bottle was on the floor.
OCTOBER 21, 2011
COlONel gaddafi was executed by a frenzied mob of rebel fighters yesterday after pleading: ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!’
The final humiliation for the man who had so brutally ruled libya for 42 years came when the 69-year-old tyrant was hauled from his hiding place in a sewer.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MANfreD MANN, 81. The South African-born musician, real name Manfred lubowitz, was the keyboardist of 1960s english rock band Manfred Mann. They had hits with Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Pretty flamingo and 5-4-3-2-1, the theme tune for the ITV pop show ready, Steady, go! In the 1970s, Manfred Mann’s earth Band gave away a 1sq ft plot on a Welsh hillside to anyone who bought their album The good earth.
SIr ANDre geIM, 63. The russian-born
university of Manchester physicist won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on graphene, the thinnest and strongest material ever discovered. It can be used to allow electricity to travel a million metres a second.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIr erNeST SWINTON (1868-1951). The Indian-born British army officer and writer was appointed official war correspondent by lord Kitchener, secretary of state for war, after World War I broke out. He came up with the idea of an armoured, gunbearing caterpillar tractor to destroy barbed wire and gun emplacements. He coined the name ‘tank’ to maintain secrecy around the new fighting vehicle.
CArrIe fISHer (19562016). The u.S. actress, daughter of film star Debbie reynolds and crooner eddie fisher and wife of singer Paul Simon, made her name as Star Wars’ Princess leia. She took cocaine on set and admitted to ‘getting on whatever train I needed to take to get high’, but was proud of her character: ‘I was not a damsel in distress. I was a distressing damsel.’
ON OCTOBER 21…
IN 1960, the Queen launched HMS Dreadnought, the uK’s first nuclearpowered submarine, in Cumbria. IN 1966, a colliery spoil tip collapsed in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Postulant (c 1750s)
A) A candidate, especially for admission into a religious order. B) gesticular. C) Demanding.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Out of kilter: meaning out of order, not working well or not properly adjusted; the phrase has no known origin but dates from the early 1600s and it also had the spelling ‘kelter’ which meant a good condition.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing slowly... very slowly. Gypsy Rose Lee, U.S. burlesque entertainer (1911-1970)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT made the Dark Ages so dark? All the knights. Guess The Definition answer: A. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD