ON THIS DAY
April 21, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE APRIL 21, 1903
THE London County Council has entered upon a determined campaign against the habit of spitting. On April 28 there will come into force a regulation which will make it an offence for any person to spit in or upon any of the London County Council tramwaycars. A fine of up to the amount of 40s [£2] is the penalty fixed for the offence.
APRIL 21, 1960
GIRLS should not be groomed in school for marriage and motherhood, women teachers decided yesterday. All the talking on the topic, at the conference of the National Union of Women Teachers, at Buxton, was done by Misses. One teacher spoke in favour of grooming girls for marriage. ‘We have a duty to help girls who are going to have to run homes,’ said Miss V. Rowe.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
THE QUEEN, 91. Friends say she has a biting sense of humour. If a mobile phone goes off, she has been known to quip: ‘You’d better answer that. It might be somebody important.’ And a TV documentary showed a cushion at Balmoral with the slogan: ‘It’s good to be Queen.’ TOBY STEPHENS, 48. The actor played a Bond villain in 2002’s Die Another Day. The son of acting giants Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens once fell asleep drunk while co-star Diana Rigg was waiting for him on stage. ‘She did forgive me, begrudgingly,’ he said.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR JOHN MORTIMER (1923-2009). The London-born novelist, playwright and barrister created Rumpole Of The Bailey. He said a typical day involved: ‘Breakfast with a fraudster, down to the cells to see a murderer, and off to rehearsals.’ NORMAN PARKINSON ( 1913- 1990). The fashion photographer (right), was described by Twiggy as ‘one of the great eccentrics of the photographic world’. One critic cruelly said his photograph for the Queen Mother’s 80th birthday, with her and her two daughters in matching blue tops, resembled a Diana Ross and the Supremes publicity shot.
ON APRIL 21 . . .
IN 1816, Jane Eyre author Charlotte Bronte was born in West Yorkshire. IN 1960, Brasilia became the new capital of Brasil (replacing Rio de Janeiro). IN 1983, £1 coins were introduced. The new 12-sided £1 coin was released this month.
WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY
Impression management: Controlling the method by which other people see you.
GUESS THE DEFINITION
Onychomancy (coined 1652)
A) Divination using fingernails
B) Divination by tossed pebbles
C) Divination by picking a passage of poetry at random
Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Funny bone: Comes from a pun on the word humerus, the bone ending at the elbow which tingles when knocked.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
WE ARE all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it’s a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift. Marilyn Monroe, actress (1926-1962)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a Spaniard who has been discharged from hospital? Manuel. Guess The Definition answer: A