ON THIS DAY
October 9, 2019
OCTOBER 9, 1939
MEN disabled between 1914 and 1918 and widows and mothers who lost sons in the last war, anxious to help in the present emergency, are offering to surrender their pensions. The Treasury was this weekend busy dealing with correspondence and money sent by patriots all over the country. One officer has given up his disability retired pay of £126 a year; a widow drawing £2 11s a week has asked that it be reduced by half.
OCTOBER 9, 1964
WITH robot-like relentlessness, the age of automation marches on. Anything man can do, machines can do — well, quicker anyway. Princess Marina, after opening the British Exhibition in Sydney, Australia, leaned forward to get a closer, incredulous look at the robot make-up man in action. Why a woman should want to be made up by machinery is not clear. But that, in the new face of progress, is quibbling.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SHARON OSBOURNE, 67. The wife of rock star Ozzy, since 1982, was a judge on The X Factor for seven series but pulled out last year after she ranted that Simon Cowell would do anything to get his ‘fat face on TV’. They have since made up. her father was music manager Don Arden, nicknamed the ‘Al Capone of pop’ for his behaviour. CHRIS O’DOWD, 40. The Irish actor, star of Channel 4’s The IT Crowd and the film Bridesmaids, is currently appearing in the BBC’s comedy State Of The Union. O’Dowd, who once dreamed of being a political speechwriter, was 6ft tall by the age of 11. When he married TV presenter Dawn Porter in 2012, she changed her name to O’Porter.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR DONALD SINDEN (1923-2014). The fruity-voiced star from Devon appeared in sitcoms Two’s Company and Never The Twain and films including The Cruel Sea. In 1979, he was one of the last white actors to play a ‘blacked-up’ Othello at the RSC. The former apprentice joiner said: ‘I stayed an actor because actresses were better looking than joiners.’ TONY BOOTH (1931-2017). The actor from Liverpool played Alf Garnett’s ‘Scouse git’ son-in-law in Till Death Us Do Part. he had eight daughters by five women, including Cherie, wife of Tony Blair. his second of four wives was Coronation Street actress Pat Phoenix. he nearly burned to death after falling on to a drum of paraffin, which then exploded, as he tried to break into his flat while drunk.
ON OCTOBER 9…
IN 1940, during the Blitz, a bomb pierced the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.
IN 1974, Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist and Nazi Party member who saved the lives of 1,200 Jews and inspired the film Schindler’s List, died aged 66.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Galantine (c. late 14th century) A) A priest’s mistress. B) A dish of white meat or fish. C) A decisive blow that settles a dispute. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
The cards are stacked against you: Meaning luck isn’t on your side, it comes from the gambling term ‘stack the cards’, so arranging them to enhance the chance of winning.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Life is too short for a long story. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (1689-1762)
JOKE OF THE DAY
hOW do you eat crumbly cheese? Caerphilly. Guess The Definition answer: B.