ON THIS DAY
WhAt do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince Lucian Freud, British painter (1922-2011)
JULY 25, 1952 SIR Alexander Cadogan, 67, chairman of the new board of BBC Governors, announced yesterday by Mr Churchill, has never seen a BBC television programme. He said last night: ‘I have been waiting for technical improvements and programmes to get better before buying a set.’ JULY 25, 1969 THEY’RE home! Moon men Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins parachuted into the Pacific only 30 seconds late at the end of their incredible 195-hour half-million-mile journey. Armstrong’s wife Jan, at home in Houston, said: ‘I know he is looking forward to apple dumplings.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LOuISE BROWN, 40. The world’s first test-tube baby was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester. The Daily Mail reported she had ‘chubby cheeks, tiny fists, a mop of unruly blonde hair, a voracious appetite and powerful lungs that bellow down the hospital corridor’. Her middle name, Joy, was suggested by the two pioneers of the treatment. MATT LeBLANC, 51. The American actor had just 11 dollars to his name when he successfully auditioned for the u.S. sitcom Friends. In its heyday, he was earning $1million an episode. He says he now enjoys watching old episodes with his daughter. The outgoing Top Gear host owns 100 motorbikes and a collection of supercars.
BORN ON THIS DAY
HENRY KNOx (1750-1806). The American Revolutionary War general was a key figure in winning political independence from Britain. u.S. Army post Fort Knox, home to a large part of the country’s gold reserves, is named after him. The father of 13 died after swallowing a chicken bone at a picnic. LYNNE FREDERICK (1954-1994). The English actress, who made her film debut at 15, became the fourth wife of comic actor Peter Sellers when she was 22. He died three years later and she inherited a £4 m fortune, while his three children received £800 each. She married and divorced two men after his death, including TV presenter David Frost, but struggled with alcoholism and depression and died of a seizure at age 39.
ON JULY 25…
IN 2000, Concorde crashes minutes after take-off from Paris, killing 113 people. IN 2009, Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier to have served in the trenches of World War I, died aged 111.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: To lay in lavender (Tudor-Stuart) A) To be wealthy. B) To pawn cloth. C) To ambush someone. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Cat got your tongue? A question asked of someone who remains inexplicably silent. Refers to the multi-tailed whip, the cat-o’nine-tails, used by the Navy in the 18th century to maintain discipline; the pain was so severe that it caused the victim to stay quiet for a long time after.
QUOTE FOR TODAY JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call Clark Kent on his way to dinner? Supperman Guess the Definition answer: B