ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE APRIL 13, 1942
REPORTS from Italy state that a specialist who has examined Mussolini found him in a state of complete prostration. Il Duce sobbed bitterly then burst into hysterical laughter. The specialist said Mussolini lost all control of himself and was no longer able to manage his affairs as Dictator of Italy.
APRIL 13, 1965
RUSSIAN scientists claimed tonight they may have discovered a civilisation millions of miles away in space. Their clue is signals from a mysterious ‘space station’. They believe that a distant source of radio waves, known as CTA- 102, is controlled by intelligent beings. One scientist said: ‘A super civilisation has been discovered.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
EDWARD FOX, 81. The London-born star of The Day Of The Jackal and father of actors Emilia Fox and Freddie Fox admits his family think he is ‘a longburied fossil’. He has been with actress Joanna David since 1971, but married her only in 2004. Fox (right) has homes in the capital and Dorset, but says: ‘London’s a deeply uncivilised city. It’s the Russian mafia round there now.’ STEPHEN BYERS ,65, the Wolverhampton born former Labour M Ponce tipped as a future prime minister. He was transport secretary when it was revealed that his adviser, Jo Moore, had sent an email on September 11, 2001, suggesting that the day’s terrorist attacks in the U.S. made it ‘a very good day to get out anything we want to bury’. Byers survived the initial outcry, but resigned in May 2002.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SAMUEL BECKETT (19061989). The Irish playwright (right), famous for Waiting For Godot, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. In 1938, he was stabbed by a pimp on a Paris street and went on to marry the woman friend who visited him in hospital. ALFRED M. BUTTS (1899-1993). The American architect invented Scrabble when he was out of work during the Great Depression. The game would go on to sell 100 million sets in his lifetime. Butts admitted that his wife, who once scored 234 points for ‘quixotic’ across two triple-word squares, was a much better player than he was, saying: ‘She beat me at my own game, literally.’
ON APRIL 13…
IN 1829, Catholics in Britain got the right to vote and sit in Parliament for the first time. IN 1992, Nelson Mandela announced his separation from wife Winnie after 34 years of marriage. She died earlier this month.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Calf (coined 1833) A) An unlicensed public house. B) A small island near to a larger one. C) To beat up batter for pudding. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED: Gone for a Burton:
Meaning to be missing or to die, it originated with the RAF to mitigate bad news. Burton-on-Trent was famous for its beer, so the expression had the sense of gone for a drink, or ‘bought it’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
SucceSS is liking ourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. Maya Angelou, American civil rights activist (1928-2014)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT is the world’s leading cause of dry skin? Towels. Guess The Definition answer: B