ON THIS DAY
April 11, 2018
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
APRIL 11, 1951 ninety per cent of radar equipment sent to Normandy for the D-Day landings was unserviceable, according to John Freeman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Supply Ministry, who revealed the secret yesterday. Bad packing spoiled 40 per cent of boots and radio sets and 25 per cent of parachutes sent to the European war theatre, he said. APRIL 11, 1968 Eighteen-year-olds are to be given full legal freedom to marry and to buy a house as a result of a giant stride taken yesterday towards the emancipation of almost 2½ million teenagers. Parliament was told the laws are to be changed to cut the age of majority from 21 to 18 on almost everything but the right to vote. Eighteenyear-olds will also be able to take out loans, give blood, make a will and act as a trustee.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JILL GASCOINE, 81. The actress from London starred as Detective Inspector Maggie Forbes (pictured) in The Gentle Touch, the first crime series based around a female lead character. The star of spin-off C.A.T.S. Eyes married actor Alfred Molina, 16 years her junior, in 1986. She has Alzheimer’s disease, which is thought to have been why she pulled out of a role in EASTENDERS in 2009. JOEL GREY, 86. The U.S. actor — and father of Dirty Dancing’s Jennifer Grey — came out publicly as gay in 2015, aged 82, having been married for 24 years. He is best known for his role as master of ceremonies in Cabaret, for which he won an Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe. It made him one of only ten people to have won a Tony award and an Oscar for the same role.
BORN ON THIS DAY
PETER O’DONNELL (19202010). The English cartoonist is best known for creating Modesty Blaise (pictured), a female adventurer and ex- con who appeared in more than 10,000 newspaper comic strips ( which O’Donnell produced into his 80s). He based the look of Blaise’s sidekick Willie Garvin on a photo of then unknown actor Michael Caine. DAN MASKELL (1908-1992). The Londonborn tennis player-turned-Wimbled-on-commentator started as a ball-boy at Queen’s Club, and worked as such for the future King George VI. Maskell covered Wimbledon for BBC radio and TV until 1991, and didn’t miss a day’s play in 62 years.
ON APRIL 11...
IN 1814, Napoleon abdicated and was banished to the island of Elba in the Med.
IN 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama sat down with Cuban President raul Castro — the first time the countries’ leaders had met for talks for more than half a century.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Amphoric (1839) A) Difficulty in finding the right word. B) A hollow sound similar to that produced by blowing across the mouth of a bottle. C) Unhappy. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED A piece of cake:
requiring little effort for reward. Said to have originated in the U.S. when slaves paraded in a graceful manner for a contest judged by plantation owners — the best won a cake. Little did the judges know the dances mocked their airs and graces — and winning was ‘a piece of cake’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A WOMAN who doesn’t wear perfume has no future. Paul Valery, French poet (1871-1945)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S the difference between a poor man and a pillow? one is hard up, the other is soft down. Guess The Definition answer: B.