ON THIS DAY
February 20, 2019
FEBRUARY 20, 1943 GANDHI is so weak from his fast, with 11 of the 21 days still to go, that he must be lifted in and out of one of the enormous baths in the Aga Khan’s palace where he is detained. [He was protesting at his detention without charges by the British.] Doctors are keeping a constant vigil.
FEBRUARY 20, 1969
PoP singer Tom Jones (pictured) is to lose the four mini- skirted dolly girls from his £1.5 million Independent Television series This Is Tom Jones. Their job is to look attractive and chat up guests. His manager, Gordon Mills, said: ‘Tom is a sex symbol and we realise now that it does not have to be proved.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
RIHANNA, 31. The singer-songwriter from Barbados was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty and says she rarely responds to her stage name. ‘I get kind of numb to hearing Rihanna, Rihanna. When I hear Robyn, I pay attention.’ She was the first female artist to have UK No. 1 singles in five consecutive years (2007–11) and is estimated to be worth £199 million.
BORN ON THIS DAY
RoBERT ALTMAN (1925-2006). The U.S. film director once ran a business tattooing dogs, including President Truman’s, so they could be identified if lost. As a director, he was almost as well known for his flops as his hits, and even they didn’t always go to plan. While making M*A*S*H, its stars Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould tried to get Altman fired. He was nominated for a best director oscar five times but never won. DAME GILLIAN LyNNE (1926-2018). The Kent-born choreographer and theatre director began her career as a classical ballerina, aged 16, and was still able to do the splits at 88 (pictured). Most famous for choreographing the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows Cats, The Phantom of The opera and Aspects of Love, the week before her death, aged 92, she was carried onto the stage on a golden throne when the New London Theatre was renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre in her honour.
ON FEBRUARY 20…
IN 1472, orkney and Shetland were handed to Scotland in place of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark, who married King James III.
IN 1993, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were charged with the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Leporine (mid 17th century) A) Relating to a hare. B)Relating to a mole. C) Relating to a hedgehog. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Shiver my timbers — an oath, expressing surprise. The phrase comes from nautical slang. In heavy seas, ships would be lifted up and pounded down so hard as to ‘shiver’ the timbers, startling the sailors.