ON THIS DAY
OCTOBER 12, 1943
THE Luftwaffe refer to the Royal Air Force as the ‘Cruel Air Force’, a Luftwaffe radio spokesman said last night from Berlin. ‘To the threat from the East,’ he said, ‘the RAF adds destruction from the West.’
OCTOBER 12, 1957
FILM star Marlon Brando has married Miss Anna Kashfi (pictured), a 23-yearold Indian actress from Darjeeling. Brando, 33, was regarded as Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor. Marriage for Brando, who earns £60,000 a picture, means he will have to find himself a real home. Until now it has been a small apartment.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LES DENNIS, 63. The former Family Fortunes and Coronation Street star was in the wings when comedian Tommy Cooper died live on TV while performing at a London theatre. Dennis and his comedy partner Dustin Gee were told to go on stage: ‘We performed while he was lying just behind the curtain with paramedics.’ His marriage to TV star Amanda Holden ended after her affair with actor Neil Morrissey. ANGELA RIPPON, 73. The UK’s first regular female national newsreader (pictured) got to the front of the press pack to land the first interview with Margaret Thatcher as Tory leader in 1975 by ‘stepping on my male colleagues’ feet — I’m afraid a lot of them felt the full force of my stiletto heels’. She was the original host of motoring show Top Gear in 1977 and could still do the splits at the age of 71.
BORN ON THIS DAY
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (18721958). The composer was related to both Charles Darwin and the potter Josiah Wedgwood. His The Lark Ascending has been voted the UK’s most popular piece of music eight times in an annual poll of Classic FM listeners. The melody came to him on the day Britain entered World War I, as he walked along cliffs at Margate, Kent. KING EDWARD VI (1537-1553). The only legitimate son of Henry VIII was just nine years old when he became king. His mother, Jane Seymour, died 12 days after he was born, and he fell ill and died at the age of 16. His Catholic half- sister, ‘Bloody Mary’, became Queen soon afterwards.
ON OCTOBER 12…
IN 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied troops escape from occupied Belgium.
IN 2002, a violent Islamist group exploded three bombs on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, killing 202 people.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Geloscopy (coined 1730) A) Divination using fingernails. B) Determining someone’s character or future by the way they laugh. C) Looking at ice. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
As the actress said to the bishop: A joke ‘punchline’ said after someone makes an innocent remark that has an alternative vulgar sexual meaning. It probably dates from Edwardian times.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
No man is lonely eating spaghetti; it requires so much attention. Christopher Morley, American writer (1890-1957)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S the worst bit about time-travel jokes? You already know the punchline. Guess the Definition answer: B.