ON THIS DAY
August 13, 2019
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUGUST 13, 1964
THE gang with £2.6 million in its kitty spent £100,000 yesterday springing Great Train Robber Charles Wilson from Winson Green prison, Birmingham. Police believe Wilson’s escape is the first in an underworld plan to release the gang’s key men. [Wilson was recaptured in 1968 and jailed until 1978].
AUGUST 13, 1966
THE Beatles admitted they had been worried by the outbreak of record burning in the U.S. following John Lennon’s remarks on the comparative popularity of The Beatles and Christianity. On their arrival in Chicago last night, Lennon gave a semi-apology. ‘I wasn’t saying whatever they are saying I was saying,’ he declared. ‘I was sort of deploring the attitude towards Christianity.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ALAN SHEARER, 49. The striker-turned-TV pundit from Newcastle, who captained England 34 times, remains the Premier League’s top goalscorer, with 260 goals, and won the title with Blackburn Rovers ( right) in 1995. Forty-six of those goals came from headers, and he used to do 150 a day in practice, leading Shearer to say he is concerned he may have been left with an increased risk of dementia. PAUL GREENGRASS, 64. The Surrey-born director worked on ITV’s World In Action and co-authored the book Spycatcher with Peter Wright, the former assistant director of MI5, before helming big-budget Hollywood films, including three Jason Bourne movies and Flight 93, about one of the planes hijacked by the 9/11 terrorists. He said he was thrown out of Gravesend Grammar School for ‘being a huge pain in the a**e’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
ANNIE OAKLEY ( 18601926). The 5ft-tall American sharpshooter made her name in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and performed for Queen Victoria. The king of Senegal even invited her to come to his country to help control the tiger population. Oakley inspired the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun, turned into a 1950 film starring Betty Hutton and Howard Keel. SIR ALFRED HITCHCOCK (1899-1980). Born in Leytonstone, the director of Psycho and The Birds had his own fears despite making scary films. ‘I’m frightened of eggs,’ he admitted. ‘ They revolt me. That white round thing without any holes . . . Have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I’ve never tasted it.’
ON AUGUST 13…
IN 1964, The Supremes recorded Baby Love, which would become their first UK No 1. IN 2016, 3ft 8in actor Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in Star Wars, died aged 81.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Grimoire (c 1850s) A) A dancer’s belt. B) A book of magic. c) A song sung at a banquet. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Balling the jack — Meaning dancing wildly, doing something at top speed, or risking all on a single attempt such as gambling. From a popular song of the early 1900s.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
BLESSED is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact. George Eliot, English novelist (1819-1880)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY did the quarry go out of business? It hit rock bottom. Guess The definition answer: B.