July 11, 2022 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JULY 11, 1958
tHe parking meters came to london yesterday and brought with them the Mystery of the Missing Cars [the first meters were in Mayfair]. the usually jam-packed, two-cars-a-breast kerbsides were almost empty. Nearly half the 647 white-outlined parking spaces were boycotted.
JULY 11, 1991
BORiS yeltSiN was sworn in yesterday as the first elected President of Russia in a glittering Kremlin ceremony. Standing beneath a Russian flag, he pledged to uphold the republic’s constitution and the freedoms of its people, before a choir sang the Russian national anthem.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SuzaNNe VeGa, 63. the u.S. singer-songwriter has had hits with luka and tom’s Diner, which was inspired by a visit to tom’s Restaurant in New york. She said: ‘they’re always pleased to see me but i still have to pay for coffee.’ the trained dancer was rejected for a role in Sister act and lost out to Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan.
CRaiG CHaRleS, 58. the actor, from liverpool, starred in Red Dwarf and Coronation Street and presents a funk and soul show on Radio 6 Music. Charles, who was married to Band Of Gold star Cathy tyson, said: ‘When my daughters were born, they were both driven home in the back of a Roller. it’s all been downhill from there.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
yul BRyNNeR (19201985). the Russian-born actor starred in the Magnificent Seven and Westworld, and gave more than 4,500 performances as the King of Siam in the King and i. He had an affair with actress Gertrude lawrence, whose daughter recalled catching them in flagrante: ‘When they noticed i was there, and he emerged, his head was as bald as his backside, and i realised it was yul Brynner.’ tHOMaS BOWDleR (1754-1825). the Somerset-born physician and writer gave us the word ‘bowdlerise’, meaning to edit offensive text. this was thanks to his Family Shakespeare, where he excised about a tenth of the words, removing the prostitute in Henry iV, Part 2 and changing Ophelia’s suicide in Hamlet to accidental drowning.
ON JULY 11…
IN 1533, Pope Clement Vii declared King Henry Viii must reconcile with Catherine of aragon by September, and abandon anne Boleyn, or face excommunication. IN 1962, the first live pictures were broadcast across the atlantic by the telstar satellite.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Omurice (2018)
a) Jealousy among wives. B) Someone who haunts good tables, a greedy sponger. C) a Japanese omelette made with fried rice and ketchup. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Speak of the devil:
when someone appears just after being talked about; it comes from the superstition that the devil will manifest himself if his name is spoken.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do.
P. J. O’Rourke, U.S. satirist (1947-2022)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHat’S in Charles Dickens’s spice rack? The best of thymes, the worst of thymes. Guess The Definition answer: C.
Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD