ON THIS DAY
January 21, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 21, 1936
WITH the profoundest sorrow, the Daily Mail has to announce the death at Sandringham at 11.55 last night of His Majesty The King [George V]. The Prince of Wales now becomes King Edward VIII. For 24 hours following the death there will be no entertainment broadcasts on the BBC.
JANUARY 21, 1963
ACTOR Richard Burton had three stitches inserted over his right eye yesterday after being beaten up by six teddy boys outside Paddington station. Mr Burton, 37, was returning from the England-Wales rugby match in Cardiff. Miss Elizabeth Taylor, who is making a film with Mr Burton at Elstree, commented: ‘On my Nelly, I’ve never seen a black eye like that. Poor boy.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
EMMA BuNTON, 43. The pop star and radio presenter, aka Baby Spice, was the last person to join the Spice Girls, after her predecessor left to go to university. At 5ft 1in, she says she enjoys driving her Range Rover ‘because I feel like a monster in it. Nobody messes with me’. JEFF KOONS, 64. The American artist is best known for his large metallic balloon dogs — one of which set the world record for the most expensive work by a living artist: when sold at auction it fetched £36.5million in 2013. His work has been called ‘baloney’ and imbued with ‘deadly smugness’, yet his portfolio is valued at more than £775 million.
BORN ON THIS DAY
CHRISTIAN DIOR (1905-1957). The French fashion designer, and king of haute couture, created what became known as the ‘New Look’ and said his mission was ‘to make elegant women more beautiful; to make beautiful women more elegant’. Nicknamed ‘Cri-cri’ by close friends, Dior sought inspiration while lying in his silver-lined green marble bathtub with swan’s-head taps. BENNY HILL (1924-1992). The former milkman was born Alfred Hawthorn Hill in Southampton, but changed his name in honour of his favourite comic, Jack Benny. Hill was liked by former PM David Cameron, who chose Hill’s novelty song Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West) as a Desert Island Disc.
ON JANUARY 21...
IN 1981, the 52 American hostages who had been held at the u.S. embassy in Iran for more than a year took their first steps of freedom when their flight from Tehran arrived in West Germany.
IN 1990, John McEnroe became the first tennis player in three decades to be disqualified from a Grand Slam event for misconduct when he was expelled from the Australian Open for swearing at an official.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: arenaceous (1876) A) Without desire. B) uncomfortable, bothered, uneasy. C) Sand-like. ( Answer below)
PHRASE EXPLAINED:
Beat a hasty retreat — meaning to withdraw quickly: it comes from the days when a marching army would take its orders from the drummer, who stood beside the commanding officer.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
WHAT is called the serenity of age is only perhaps a euphemism for the fading power to feel the shock of joy or sorrow Sir Arthur Bliss, English composer (1891-1975)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT is blue and square? A banana in disguise. Guess The Definition answer: C.