ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 12, 1975
THE Carlton Club, male bastion of the Conservative party, was last night facing the greatest dilemma in its 140-year history — whether to allow Mrs Thatcher to join the exclusive London establishment after becoming Tory leader. [She was made an honorary member. Full membership was not extended to women until 2008.]
FEBRUARY 12, 1996
THE Princess of Wales (right) wants to keep her royal title for her sons’ sake after her divorce from Prince Charles. Her lawyers insist her royal status must be maintained owing to her role as mother to the future King William. ‘It is important for the boys,’ she told friends.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DARREN ARONOFSKY, 51. The Oscarnominated American director of Black Swan, The Wrestler and requiem For A Dream has a son with ex-girlfriend, english actress rachel Weisz. Aronofsky writes screenplays at a walnut desk containing 25 wooden puzzles and an organ. Describing his film-making style, he compared himself to the Sex Pistols’ Johnny rotten, saying: ‘I’m always going to be a divisive guy.’ SIR NICHOLAS SOAMES, 72. Winston Churchill’s grandson was a Tory MP for 36 years before standing down at the General election — after briefly losing the whip for voting against the Government over a no-deal Brexit. He is a supporter of hunting and shot his first stag aged 14. Sir nicholas said old friend Prince Charles makes the best bread and butter pudding ‘I have ever eaten’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI (1923-2019). The Italian director of The Taming Of The Shrew, starring richard Burton and elizabeth Taylor, and Tea With Mussolini died age 96. He began training as an architect but changed direction after seeing Laurence Olivier’s Henry V. He also staged 120 operas and said: ‘I’m not the greatest director of opera in the world. I’m the only one.’ Zeffirelli was the first Italian to receive, in 2004, an honorary British knighthood. SIR ANTHONY Berry (1925-1984). The MP for enfield Southgate and a whip in Margaret Thatcher’s government was one of five people killed in the Brighton hotel blast during the Conservative Party conference. His peace-activist daughter Jo, later befriended Patrick Magee, the Provisional IRA man who planted the bomb. She said that ‘the more Pat knows about me, the more he knows the kind of man he killed’.
ON FEBRUARY 12...
IN 1974, Bagpuss (right) was first broadcast by the BBC. Only 13 episodes were made.
IN 1993, James Bulger, two, was murdered by tenyear-olds robert Thompson and Jon Venables in Bootle, Merseyside.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Bubble-bow (18th century)
A) A box on the ear. B) Case for a lady’s tweezers. C) Boy and a girl (when a mother has just two children). Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
In the pink: Meaning in the best possible condition; coined by Shakespeare in his play romeo And Juliet. It may allude to the pink of healthy cheeks.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, “I’m possible!”
Audrey Hepburn, actress (1929-1993)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S the easiest way to keep the dream alive? Push the snooze button.
Guess The Definition answer: B.