ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 5, 1948
BECAUSE sweet oranges will be plentiful until the end of April, retailers will not be required to sell them as part of the rationing allowance, Mr Strachey [Minister of Food] announced yesterday. Nor will there be any limit to the quantity sold to any customer.
FEBRUARY 5, 1983
POP star Karen Carpenter, who had a string of romantic hits with her brother Richard, died yesterday at the age of 32. Hospital officials in Los Angeles said she had had a heart attack. She had been receiving treatment for the slimmers’ disease anorexia nervosa for the last 18 months.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
CHARLOTTE RAMPLING, 74. The actress from essex (right), star of Georgy Girl and ITV’s Broadchurch, was the daughter of an olympic gold-medal-winning relay runner. Rampling, who lives in France, was once married to French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre. Rampling is the new star of French fashion house Givenchy’s advertising campaign, taking over from u.S. singer Ariana Grande, 48 years her junior. TOM WILKINSON, 72. The Yorkshire-born actor, star of Michael Clayton and The Full Monty, changed his name from Geoffrey (which he disliked) when he joined acting union equity. He rarely gives interviews because he says: ‘Actors always come out sounding stupid,’ and hates thespians who refer to their ‘art’: ‘What Lucian Freud does is art.’ When not acting, he enjoys watching repeats of Friends and Midsomer Murders.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR KEN ADAM (1921-2016). The Berlinborn British production designer made his name with his work on seven James Bond films, starting with the original, dr No, in 1962. The double oscar-winner came up with the amphibious Lotus esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me, and the three-storey space station in Moonraker, as well as the magical car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. SIR HIRAM MAXIM (1840-1916). The U.S.- born British inventor obtained 271 patents, his first aged 26. At the Paris exhibition in 1881, a man told him that if he wanted to make his fortune, he should invent a machine to help europeans kill each other. Maxim did just that, creating the first portable, automatic machine gun.
ON FEBRUARY 5...
IN 1953, sweet rationing in Britain ended after 11 years.
IN 1973, The Wombles ( right), narrated by Bernard Cribbins, first aired on the BBC.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Trill (c 1635)
A) The rapid jump made by the eye as it shifts from one object to another. B) To make flattering speeches. C) The sound of a capuchin, a wren or a raccoon. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
In a timely fashion — meaning in a fast manner; coined in the mid 1900s, ‘timely’ came from the 1200s meaning ‘early’ or ‘ at the right time’, while ‘ fashion’ is synonymous with ‘manner’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
It’s my belief we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain
The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe by Jane Wagner
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did one ocean say to the other ocean? Nothing, they just waved.
Guess the Definition answer: c.