ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
APRIL 7, 1917
THE United States now is at war with the Kaiser. President Wilson yesterday countersigned the resolution for war passed by overwhelming majorities in both Houses of Congress. The U.S. government has seized 96 German ships, totalling 500,000 tons, including the largest liner Vaterland and many almost as fine. Congress is to vote a first credit of £680,000,000.
APRIL 7, 1928
PRINCESS Elizabeth of York has arrived at the castle. The little daughter of the duke and duchess of York is spending a quiet but happy Eastertide at Windsor as the guest of her grandparents, the King and Queen. The little Princess is occupying the handsomely fitted nurseries in the Victoria Tower, where last year she spent her first birthday. She will be two years old on April 21.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SIR MARTYN LEWIS, 75. The Swansea-born former newsreader has presented almost every major news programme on BBC and ITV and broke the news of Princess diana’s death in the early hours of Sunday August 31, 1997. Although he is known for his polished delivery, at school he developed a stammer after being bullied about his weight. PETER FLUCK, 79. The caricaturist from Cambridge was co- creator — with Roger Law — of TV’s puppet satire Spitting Image, which is returning to our screens, via streaming service BritBox, in the autumn. On the original series, all the puppets were life- size — because, Fluck has said, ‘clothes are far cheaper from Oxfam than a wardrobe department’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
BILLIE HOLIdAY (19151959). The U.S. jazz singersongwriter had hits with Strange Fruit and God Bless The Child. Pianist Oscar Peterson said she had ‘a voice of pure velvet’ but Miles davis said: ‘Billie Holiday doesn’t need any real horns, she sounds like one anyway.’ When she died aged 44 under arrest on drugs charges — handcuffed to a hospital bed — she had been hoping to move to England. GORdEN KAYE (1941-2017). The actor played Elsie Tanner’s nephew in Coronation Street before making his name as Rene in the BBC sitcom ’Allo ’Allo!. His real name was Gordon — the misspelling resulted from an error by the acting union Equity.
ON APRIL 7…
IN 1947, American industrialist Henry Ford died, aged 83. IN 1985, Wham! performed in Beijing, becoming the first Western pop group to play a live show in China.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Bruit (15th century)
A) Unsettled weather. B) A report or rumour. C) A small cavity in a rock
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Waxing poetic — Meaning to talk in an increasingly fanciful way; the phrase was coined in the 1800s. ‘Wax’ since the 1500s has meant to grow, then in the 1800s it came to refer to ‘flowery speech’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
They say an actor is only as good as his parts. Well, my parts have done me pretty well, darling.
Barbara Windsor, English actress
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW many opticians does it take to change a lightbulb? Is it one or two? One… or two? Guess The Definition answer: B.