ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
OCTOBER 19, 1951 REPORTS presented to the Public Morality Council of London last night say theatrical performances, particularly variety shows and revues, are becoming more depraved and condemn American-type magazines as ‘abominably filthy’. They stated: ‘In certain plays we see sexual depravity condoned and American sailors jeering through a telescope at a woman taking a shower.’ OCTOBER 19, 1968 BEATLE John Lennon MBE and girlfriend, Yoko Ono Cox, will appear in court today, charged with possessing cannabis and obstructing police. They were arrested yesterday in a drugs raid on Lennon’s flat in Marylebone, London. Miss Ono, married to U.S. film producer Anthony Cox, has been named by Lennon’s wife, Cynthia, in a divorce petition. Both deny adultery.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
PHILIP PULLMAn, 72. The norwich-born author of the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been named as one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Pullman is an avowed atheist and the Catholic Herald said his work was ‘the stuff of nightmares’ and ‘worthy of the bonfire’. SInITTA, 55. The U.S.-born star had hits with So Macho and Toy Boy. She dated Brad Pitt and Simon Cowell and appears as an X Factor mentor — once wearing just four palm leaves. She said of Cowell: ‘I have always admitted I wanted to marry him and have children with him. not just because I love him, but because I thought it would be good for him.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR THOMAS BROWnE (1605-1682). The English physician and author, is listed by The Oxford English Dictionary as being one of the top 25 people responsible for new words, with 788, including veterinarian, medical, indigenous, ferocious, migrant, coma, anomalous, prairie, ascetic and ambidextrous. There is a vast sculpture of his brain in norwich, between Topshop and next. CASSIUS CLAY (1810-1903). The American slave owner who became an abolitionist, was the man after whom boxer Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) was named. Clay’s anti-slavery views cost him his seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives and he survived two assassination attempts. Time magazine, said the later Clay’s name change was unsurprising: ‘Cassius Clay was the name of an emancipator, and Muhammad Ali was the name of a free man.’
ON OCTOBER 19…
IN 1933, Germany announced it was withdrawing from the League of nations.
IN 2009, a lock of hair believed to have been cut from Elvis Presley’s head on entering the U.S. Army sold at auction for £9,000.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Taradiddle (1892) A) A lie, fib. B) An unnamed thing, a thingummy. C) Bit by bit. PHRASE EXPLAINED
Dead as a doornail: meaning long dead; the phrase refers to the studded nail on which the door knocker rested. Its death was suggested by both its age and the number of times it had been struck on the head.
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW is gold soup made? With 14 carrots. Guess The Definition answer: A.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A CHILD becomes an adult when he realises that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong. Thomas Szasz, Hungarian psychiatrist (1920-2012)