ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
NOVEMBER 4, 1953 SIR Winston Churchill declared in the House of Commons last night: ‘We and all the nations stand at this hour in human history before the portals of supreme catastrophe and of measureless reward. Our faith is that in God’s mercy we shall choose aright.’ The Prime Minister was speaking of the ‘ rapid and ceaseless development of atomic warfare’. NOVEMBER 4, 1965 A FERvOUR known as ‘Meg mania’ is building up in four American cities for the visit of Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon. The royal couple arrive in New York tomorrow for a 20-day tour which Americans are certain will be the social event of the year.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LORETTA SWIT, 80. The U.S. actress ( pictured) is best known as Major Margaret ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan in Seventies and Eighties hit Tv show M*A*S*H, earning $20,000 an episode. She played Christine Cagney in the pilot of Cagney And Lacey, but her M*A*S*H contract prevented her from taking the role, which went to Sharon Gless. LAURA BUSH, 71. The First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 first met husband George W. Bush at a Texas barbecue in 1977. He proposed two months later and she agreed to marry him on condition she didn’t have to give any campaign speeches. She is the only president’s wife to have given birth to twins.
BORN ON THIS DAY
RUTH HANDLER (1916-2002). The U.S. entrepreneur co-founded toymaker Mattel and in 1959 invented the Barbie doll, named after her daughter. Executives initially insisted no parent would buy a doll with breasts, but more than a billion Barbies — said to be ‘the most potent icon of American culture of the late 20th century’ — have been sold. LENA zAvARONI (1963-1999). At the age of ten, the Scottish singer and Tv show host became the youngest person to have an album in the UK Top Ten chart. Despite her early success, Lena (pictured) had anorexia and psychological problems, and died of pneumonia while recovering from surgery, aged 35.
ON NOVEMBER 4…
IN 1963, John Lennon told the Royal variety Performance audience: ‘Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And for the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery . . .’
IN 1973, the Netherlands government responded to the oil crisis by proclaiming the first ‘Car-Free Sunday’, urging drivers to swap their motor vehicles for bicycles.
IN 1979, 52 people were taken hostage after militant Islamic students stormed the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The siege lasted 444 days, making it the longest hostage crisis in recorded history. GUESS THE DEFINITION Biker (coined in Middle English 1100-1500) A) A wandering beggar posing as a priest. B) One pretending to be deaf and dumb. C) A fight. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
As easy as pie: a pleasurable, simple task; refers to eating, not making, a pie. It comes from 19th- century America, where sweet pies were a popular dish and the word pie was associated with simple pleasures.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but, unlike charity, it should end there. Clare Boothe Luce, U.S. writer and politician (1903-87)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHO murdered Snap, Crackle and Pop? A cereal killer. Guess The Definition answer: C.