ON THIS DAY
MAY 3, 1939
HORSE owners met at RSPCA headquarters in Jermyn Street, London, yesterday to discuss ways of protecting Britain’s 200,000 working horses in wartime. An RSPCA Council member said nothing had been found to shield horses from gas attack, but much could be done to stop them from being frightened during bombing.
MAY 3, 1979
ON THE eve of today’s General Election, the opinion polls were unanimous: Mrs Thatcher is set to become Britain’s first woman Prime Minister. A National opinion Polls survey for the Daily Mail, completed at noon yesterday, showed the Tories ahead of Labour by 7 per cent. [Thatcher secured a majority of 43 seats.]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SANDI TOKSVIG, 61. The Danish-born host of The Great British Bake off and quiz show QI grew up in the U.S. and her accent ‘if I’m tired or I’ve had a glass of wine, is American’. Her father was a foreign correspondent — and aged 11, Toksvig ‘stood in Nasa’s mission control in Houston, Texas, holding the hand of Neil Armstrong’s secretary as he stepped out of the Eagle lunar module on to the surface of the Moon’. She wants the Hokey Cokey played at her funeral. CHRISTINA HENDRICKS, 44. The U.S. actress, famous as Joan Holloway in the Tv series Mad Men, is known for her hourglass figure and red hair. A natural blonde, she began using dye because her heroine was the fictional redhead Anne of Green Gables. on being compared to Hollywood’s greatest sex symbol, Hendricks said: ‘I don’t think any woman in the world could get tired of being compared to Marilyn Monroe.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
BING CROSBY ( 19031977). The singer and actor had his biggest hit with White Christmas. Recorded in just 18 minutes, the song gained him the Guinness World Record for bestselling single ( with 50 million copies sold). The American star holds the record for the longestrunning fan club for a solo singer — International Club Crosby was founded in 1936. SUGAR RAY ROBINSON (1921-1989). The five-time world middleweight champion boxer was dubbed ‘pound for pound, the best’ in the world and Muhammad Ali told him: ‘You are the king, the master, my idol.’ Born Walker Smith in Ailey, Georgia, he gained his nickname after a sports reporter described his style as ‘sweet as sugar’.
ON MAY 3…
In 1997, Katrina And The Waves won the Eurovision Song Contest with Love Shine A Light, the last time the UK triumphed. In 2007, three-year-old Madeleine McCann, from Leicestershire, vanished in Portugal.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Sprezzy (2016) A) Chic and elegant. B) Wet or feeble. C) Expensive. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Tub-thumping: Expressing opinions in a loud or aggressive way. First recorded in the 1650s, it was often used to describe nonconformist priests, who banged on the pulpit to give emphasis.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery. Joyce Brothers, U.S. psychologist (1927-2013)
JOKE OF THE DAY
If I had £1 for every maths test I’ve failed, I’d have £3.27 by now! guess the Definition answer: A.