ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
APRIL 23, 1945 UNCONTROLLABLE panic has seized the civilian population of Berlin. Under a pall of smoke from hundreds of shell- torn buildings, Russian assault troops were last night hacking their way to the heart of the city in a great scything arc. Spearheads are only two miles from Unter den Linden — Berlin’s Piccadilly — according to the latest unofficial reports from Moscow. APRIL 23, 1983 GURGLING and smiling, ten-month-old Prince William crawled in public for the first time yesterday — and, just for a second, stood on his own. ‘He wants to stand up all the time,’ said Prince charles proudly. The Prince weighs 30lb now, has seven teeth, and looks more like his grandfather, earl Spencer, every day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ALISTAIR BROWNLEE, 31. The triathlete from West Yorkshire has won two olympic golds, while his younger brother Jonny has a silver and bronze. They are the first brothers to win olympic gold and silver at the same event since the Sixties. Alistair (above left) gave up the chance of winning a World Triathlon Series race in 2016 to push an exhausted Jonny across the line into second place. Both love shooting, so Jonny bought him a shotgun to say thank you. TESSA WYATT, 71. The actress best known for her role in ITV sitcom Robin’s Nest also had a son with co-star Richard o’Sullivan. After she ended her five-year marriage to DJ Tony Blackburn, he pleaded on air for her to return and dedicated records, such as chicago’s If You Leave Me Now, to her.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SHIRLEY TEMPLE (19282014). The curly-haired child star became a U.S. ambassador to Ghana and czechoslovakia. She began her film career aged three and, in today’s money, was earning £12,000 a week by six. She said: ‘I stopped believing in Santa claus at the age of six when my mother took me to see him in a store and he asked for my autograph.’ For her ninth birthday, she received 135,000 presents from around the world, including a kangaroo and a Jersey calf. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616). The birth date of the playwright is unknown, but is traditionally celebrated today, St George’s Day. He is responsible for coining 1,600 words in the oxford english Dictionary, including airless, watch- dog, hot-blooded and cold-hearted. Flirt-gill (a woman of loose behaviour) and chop-fallen (dejected) were less enduring.