ON THIS DAY
July 12, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JULY 12, 1965
REDHEAD Lynda Baron, 25-year-old singer and dancer from London’s Talk Of The Town show, is to be BBC TV’s new ‘satire girl’. She will star in BBC1’s new late-night satirical show, which succeeds the Not So Much… series in October.
[Baron would later be known as Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, love interest of Ronnie Barker’s character in Open All Hours.]
JULY 12, 1989
LORD OLIVIER, right, colossus of the British theatre, died yesterday aged 82. The end came peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by his family at his home in the West Sussex countryside. Flags flew at half mast at Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the National Theatre in London. West End theatres darkened their lights for an hour.
JULY 12, 1991
LABOUR MP Terry Fields was jailed for 60 days yesterday for refusing to pay his poll tax. He was offered one final opportunity to pay the £373, but simply shook his head.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
GABY ROSLIN, 55. The BBC radio presenter is a former host of The Big Breakfast and says she is the ‘dinner party guest from hell’. She does not eat ‘wheat, pork, shellfish or red meat, and I only eat sustainable fish, organic fruit and vegetables and ditto chicken and turkey’, adding: ‘But I don’t want to come across as a preachy, middleclass yummy-mummy.’ MALALA YOUSAFZAI, 22, right. The activist from Pakistan was shot in the head aged 15 by the Taliban for fighting for girls’ education. The youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, at 17, she said in her acceptance speech: ‘I am Malala. I am those 66 million girls who are deprived of education. And today I am not raising my voice. It is the voice of 66 million girls.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
JOSIAH WEDGWOOD (1730-1795), who founded the Wedgwood pottery company — his grandson was evolution scientist Charles darwin. OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II (1895-1960). The U.S. musicals dirctor, librettist and theatre producer was the first person named Oscar to win an Oscar.
ON JULY 12…
IN 1543, Henry VIII married the last of his six wives, Catherine Parr. IN 1843, Joseph Smith, the leader of the Mormon Church, declared that God had told him polygamy was permissible. IN 1991, Take That released their debut single, do What U Like.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Sudsy (coined 1865) A) Bland, insipid. B) Foamy with lather. C) Crooked. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
A cat in gloves catches no mice: Meaning if you’re too careful or considerate, you won’t always achieve your aim; it’s a proverb that refers to a cat’s need when hunting to use its claws, suggesting a more aggressive approach is what’s needed.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
ALWAYS make the audience suffer as much as possible. Sir Alfred Hitchcock, English film director (1899-1980)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a police officer in bed? An undercover cop. Guess The Definition answer: B.