May 18, 2017 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
MAY 18, 1940
THERE is still too much luxury consumption of food by well-to-do people especially in hotels and restaurants, said Robert Boothby, the new Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food. He appealed for a return to simpler food: milk, oatmeal, potatoes, vegetables and fruit, with an occasional herring when you can get it.
MAY 18, 1967
PRINCE CHARLES has started studying for his investiture at Caernarfon Castle in the summer of 1969. He will learn to speak Welsh and read the history and customs of the Principality and its people. Prince Charles was nine years old when he was created Prince of Wales by the Queen in 1958. When invested, he will be nearly 21.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MIRIAM MARGOLYES, 76. The actress ( pictured) played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films. When she came out to her parents in her late 20s, she recalls: ‘They made me swear on the Bible in the drawing room, in the most formal way, that I would never sleep with a woman again.’ RICK WAKEMAN, 68. The English rock star has been hailed as one of the world’s greatest keyboardists. He also appears to have nine lives. He had three heart attacks before the age of 25 and has survived a plane crash, a high-speed motorway collision and a nervous breakdown. But he is most proud of still having ‘a good head of blond, shoulder-length hair’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
FRANK CAPRA (1897-1991). The Italian-American filmmaker behind movies It’s A Wonderful Life (pictured) and It Happened One Night won three best director Oscars. His sentimental films became dubbed ‘Capra-corn’. DAME MARGOT FONTEYN (1919-1991). The Surrey-born ballerina partnered Soviet dancer Rudolf Nureyev when she was 42 and he 23. In 1959, she was arrested after an attempted coup in Panama, which failed when she and her husband were given up by local fishermen and Cuban support troops did not arrive.
ON MAY 18...
IN 1954, the first Wimpy Bar opened in London (the company was named after a character in Popeye, J. Wellington Wimpy).
IN 1991, Helen Sharman, a 27-year-old from Sheffield, became the first Briton in space, having answered an ad declaring: ‘Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary.’
WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY
Ghost money: Money transferred covertly by a government agency.
GUESS THE DEFINITION Coxcombical (coined 1716)
A) Foppish or conceited. B) Of someone who feasts or lives upon the industry of others. C) Bothered or uneasy. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Halcyon days: A time of happiness and prosperity. Alludes to halcyon, the Ancient Greek for kingfisher. The Scythians believed the bird incubated its eggs for a fortnight, during which the sea was always calm.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I never saw an ugly thing in my life — light, shade and perspective will always make it beautiful. John Constable, painter (1776-1837)
JOKE OF THE DAY
MY NEW girlfriend works at the zoo. I think she’s a keeper. Guess The Definition answer: A.