ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
March 11, 1914 THE priceless nude painting by Velazquez, known as the Rokeby Venus, was hacked with a meat chopper by the notorious Suffragette Miss Mary Richardson at the National Gallery yesterday. Damage estimated at £10,000 was done to the market value of the picture, acquired in 1906 for £45,000 [£5.4 million in today’s money]. The gallery is closed until further notice. March 11, 1959 MR EDWARD HEMINGWAy, chairman of the League Against Cruel Sports, said yesterday: ‘We know where the Queen stands over hunting. She subscribes 100 guineas a year to the West Norfolk Foxhounds. She has taken the royal children to see meets. So she can no longer say that she does not take sides.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ALEx KINGSTON, 56. The actress from Surrey (right) shot to fame in U.S. TV series ER, earning $150,000 an episode. The ex-wife of Ralph Fiennes is halfGerman and said one of her earliest memories is of being called ‘a Nazi’ in the school playground. ‘I didn’t really know what a Nazi was, and I’m sure they didn’t either.’ ALAN yENTOB, 72. The BBC arts host and former creative director was estimated to earn a £180,000 salary as an executive, on top of £150,000 in presenting fees. Known for his lavish expense claims and holidays, a colleague recalled yentob being informed on the phone about Princess Diana’s death. ‘The only thing they heard down the phone was: “Get me off this f***ing gondola.”’
BORN ON THIS DAY
HAROLD WILSON ( 1916- 1995). The Labour prime minister from yorkshire was hit in the eye with a stink bomb hurled by a schoolboy in 1969. He quipped: ‘ With an arm like that he ought to be in the English cricket xI.’ His government supported backbench MPs in liberalising laws on divorce, abortion and homosexuality. DOUGLAS ADAMS ( 1952- 2001). The Cambridge-born author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy spent 20 years unsuccessfully assisting on a film version, and compared the experience to ‘trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it’. The sci-fi comedy adventure eventually came to the screen four years after his death.
ON MARCH 11...
IN 1869, the first Westerner to learn of the existence of giant pandas, French missionary Armand David, recorded the find in his journal: ‘I saw the panda’s skin. It’s big and beautiful, coloured black and white.’
IN 1955, Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, died aged 73.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Titubation (1983) A) An abnormal way of walking. B) Persistent winking. C) In drinking, the stage where one is merry. answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Stick one’s oar in: Meaning to interfere or meddle in some matter that doesn’t concern one; it comes from the 16th century phrase ‘to have an oar in every man’s boat’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
What a pity, when christopher columbus discovered america, that he ever mentioned it. Margot Asquith, author and socialite (1864-1945)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I TOLD my boss I was tired of being a human cannonball. So he fired me. Guess the Definition answer: a.