ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
APRIL 25, 1964 THE Beatles performed badly at the international festival of TV light entertainment at Montreux [in Switzerland] today. Said one delegate: ‘Some of us found these longhaired, shaking young men rather boring. It did not make good television in my view.’ APRIL 25, 1967 A TANGlED parachute hurled Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov to death yesterday as his spaceship plunged four miles to Earth. In Houston, Texas, all America’s 47 astronauts signed a telegram of condolence as the tragedy created a bond of sympathy between the spacemen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TONY CHRISTIE, 75. The singer from yorkshire (real name Anthony Fitzgerald) is best known for his 1971 hit Is This The Way To Amarillo?, which reached 18 then — and No 1 when it was re-released with a video by comedian Peter Kay in 2005 (pictured). The ex-trainee accountant hasn’t always handled his finances well — he had to sell his Rolls-Royce at a knock-down price after an unexpected tax demand. BJORN ULVAEUS, 73. The Swedish songwriter, formerly a quarter of Abba and exhusband of fellow member Agnetha Faltskog, has co-composed two hit musicals, Mamma Mia! and Chess. In 2008, he revealed that owing to memory loss he had no recollection of winning Eurovision with Waterloo in 1974. He can still fit into his old jumpsuits and says he tried to balance his lack of selfconfidence by wearing ridiculous outfits.
BORN ON THIS DAY
ERIC BRISTOW (1957-2018). The londonborn, five-times world darts champion was nicknamed the Crafty Cockney. After his third world title in 1984, commentator Sid Waddell famously said: ‘When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer. Bristow’s only 27.’ Bristow died of a heart attack this month after collapsing at a Premier league Darts event. ELLA FITZGERALD (191796), right. The American ‘ first lady of song’ sold 25 million records, but grew up in poverty, singing and dancing for tips on the streets of Harlem. Songwriter Ira Gershwin once said: ‘I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them.’
ON APRIL 25…
IN 1507, ‘America’ was first used on a world map — by German cartographer Martin Waldseemuller, in honour of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.
IN 1953, james Watson and Francis Crick described the double-helix structure of DNA in an article in Nature magazine.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Felicificability (coined 1865) A) Indifference. B) Over-confidence. C) A capacity for happiness. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
Wouldn’t touch with a barge pole: Used of something or a person so unappealing that one wouldn’t want to go anywhere near them; it replaced the 17th-century ‘pair of tongs’, with which Dickens and others chose not to make contact with people.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Vote for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing. Bernard Baruch, U.S. financier and presidential adviser (1870-1965)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call an exploding monkey? A baboom. Guess the Definition answer: C.