ON THIS DAY
August 7, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
AUGUST 7, 1944 GROUSE will be more than ever a luxury on dinner tables this year — as there are few people and little ammunition to shoot them. Highland estate owners, anxious to keep Scottish moors from becoming overrun with birds, are inviting servicemen, on leave or in nearby camps, to join in occasional shoots.
AUGUST 7, 1971 SOLO sailor Chay Blyth was ashore again yesterday (right) after his record East-West voyage round the world in a 59ft ketch. Scotsman Blyth, who completed the 30,000-mile trip in 292 days, said: ‘The worse the situation, the funnier I find it.’ [Blyth was the first person to sail the world non-stop in the ‘wrong’ direction — against prevailing winds and currents.]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BRIAN CONLEY, 58. The comedian and actor from London (currently starring in Dolly Parton’s 9 To 5 musical in the West End) is best known for the catchphrase, ‘It’s a puppet!’ The father of two was even quoted it back by a midwife following the birth of his youngest daughter when he anxiously asked, ‘Is she all right?’ A former Pontin’s Bluecoat, Conley proposed to wife Anne-Marie in a suit of armour, and their wedding car was from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in which he later starred on stage.
CHARLIZE THERON, 44, (right). The South African actress was 15 when she saw her mother shoot her alcoholic father dead in selfdefence. The Oscar-winner was criticised after saying pretty actresses struggle in Hollywood: ‘When meaty roles come through, I’ve been in the room and pretty people get turned away first.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
JACK GOOD (1931-2017). The London-born TV and music producer created the BBC’s Six-Five Special and ITV’s Oh Boy! Good, who read philology (the study of language) at Oxford university, said when asked about the style of television he pioneered, ‘I prefer vulgarity to the excessive refinement that has long stifled British society.’
MATA HARI (1876-1917). The Dutch courtesan-turned-spy, real name Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, is a synonym for female seduction and betrayal. She was executed by firing squad in 1917, aged 41, having been accused by the French of spying for Germany in World War I and, as a result, sending 20,000 Allied soldiers to their deaths.
ON AUGUST 7…
IN 1957, The Quarrymen made their debut at Liverpool’s Cavern Club. After performing Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog and Blue Suede Shoes, the club owner gave John Lennon a note that read: ‘Cut out the bloody rock!’
IN 1990, the u.S. launched Operation Desert Shield, deploying troops to Saudi Arabia to protect the kingdom from Iraq, which had occupied kuwait only days earlier.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Magiric (coined 1853) A) Cooking. B) Rickety and unsafe. C) Impulsive. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Alpha and omega: Meaning the beginning and the end or the core idea of something. The words ‘alpha’ and ‘omega’ are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A man in the house is worth two in the street. Mae West, American actress (1893-1980)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a woman in the middle of a tennis court? Annette. Guess The Definition answer: A.