ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
MaRch 26, 1958 AN eNTIre generation of ‘spoiled brats’ is the American prospect for 1980, says Dr Francis Hsu, a leading anthropologist. Parents may be forced to organise a ‘national association for the protection of parents from their own children,’ he warned. MaRch 26, 1971 urgeNT moves are being made to seal a loophole which allows ‘hipflask drivers’ to escape convictions. This was shown yesterday when the House of Lords upheld the quashing of a conviction against John Hamilton, 25, who was so shocked after a car accident that he went into the nearest pub and had three whiskies.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DIANA rOSS, 80. The former Supremes lead singer has sold more than 100 million records and in 1993 was listed in the guinness Book of records as the most successful female musician ever. Her voice has been called the ‘aural equivalent of champagne bubbles’.
MArTIN McDONAgH, 54. The London-born playwright and filmmaker won three Baftas for Three Billboards Outside ebbing, Missouri and two for The Banshees Of Inisherin. The son of a cleaner and construction worker, he has been in a relationship with Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge since 2018.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIr DAvID AMeSS (1952-2021). The Conservative was MP for Southend West for nearly 25 years, until he was murdered by an Islamist terrorist. He lobbyed for Southend to become a city and, days after his death, Queen elizabeth granted it.
ALAN ArkIN (19342023). The u.S. actor starred in Catch-22 and won an Oscar for his role as the foulmouthed grandad in Little Miss Sunshine. Director Mike Nichols called Arkin the best actor in America, who was able to ‘become any person he’s observed’.
ON MARCH 26. . .
IN 1885, Jeanette Pickersgill became the first person in Britain to be legally cremated. IN 2005, Doctor Who returned to our screens with Christopher eccleston as the ninth Doctor.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Gubbertushed (coined 1620s) A) When a husband won’t pay his wife’s debts. B) Silvery grey. C) Large projecting teeth. answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED: Morganatic marriage — where the wife does not take the husband’s rank and the children do not inherit the title of the father. Based on the gothic ‘maurjan’, meaning to curtail.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
humility is not thinking you are small. It is thinking other people have greatness within them. Lord (Jonathan) Sacks, Chief Rabbi (1948-2020)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a life without ballet? Pointeless. Guess The Definition answer: c
Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD