ON THIS DAY
JULY 23, 1940 LOFTS and attics of houses in urban areas must at once be cleared of all movable articles as a precaution against fires caused by incendiary bombs, it was announced last night. Authorities will have power to inspect premises to see the order is obeyed. JULY 23, 1969 AS APOLLO 11 ripped out of Moon orbit today, Neil Armstrong radioed Earth: ‘Open up the Lunar Receiving Laboratory doors, Charlie.’ He was referring to the quarantine laboratory where the astronauts will be treated like men with bubonic plague after splashdown. The chance they might bring home some deadly Moonpox is a billion to one, but no risks are being taken.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ALISON KRAUSS, 48. The American singer and violinist, who secured her first recording deal aged 14, has won 27 Grammys, making her the most decorated female artist in the history of the awards. She once sang at the Oscars in $2 million diamond-encrusted slippers. LORd (RICHARd) ROGERS, 86. The architect, whose works include the Millennium dome and Paris’s Pompidou Centre, was born in Florence, but grew up in Leatherhead, Surrey. He suffered from severe dyslexia and couldn’t read until he was 11. An end-of-year report from his tutor at the Architectural Association said he ‘sorely lacks the intellectual equipment to translate [his] feelings into sound building’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
LORd (ALAN) BROOKE (1883-1963). As Chief of the Imperial General Staff, he was head of the British Army during World War II and Churchill’s closest military adviser. Promoted to Field Marshall in 1944 and ennobled as the 1st Viscount Alanbrooke in 1946, his diaries sparked controversy when he wrote of Churchill: ‘My God! How little the world at large knows what his failings and defects are!’ MICHAEL FOOT (19132010). The Plymouth-born politician was the son of a Liberal MP. When he tried to join the Army in World War II he was rejected due to his bad asthma. Labour leader from 1980 until the 1983 election, when the party won its lowest share of the vote since 1918. Criticised for wearing what was described as a ‘donkey jacket’ at the Cenotaph in 1981, above, he insisted he was perfectly smart and the Queen Mother had complimented him on his appearance.
ON JULY 23…
IN 2010, boy band One direction was formed when Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson teamed up on The X Factor.
IN 2012, Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, died, aged 61.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Froward (coined 14th century) A) diagonally across from something else. B) More on one side than on the other. C) Leading away from. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED: Be there or be square — meaning turn up to a particular event or else be uncool; ‘square’ came from the 1950s to mean ‘boring’ or ‘out of touch’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY JOKE OF THE DAY
I JUST spotted an albino dalmatian... It was the least I could do. Guess the Definition answer: C.
Often, when I pray, I wonder if I am not posting letters to a non-existent address. C.S. Lewis, British novelist (1898-1963)