ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JUNE 17, 1963
VALYA and Valery yesterday kept the world’s first date in space. Valentina Tereshkova, 26 — Mr Khrushchev called her Valya — and Valery Bykovsky, 28, are circling the earth seconds apart in two spacecraft. Millions of Russians watching TV saw Valya, the world’s first space-woman, smile and chat as she sped towards the strangest-yet boy-meets-girl encounter.
JUNE 17, 1981
THE controversial plan to paint Britain’s 77,000 phone boxes yellow has been defeated — thanks to the Daily Mail. British Telecom admitted that our campaign to keep the kiosks red had succeeded. ‘You really socked us in the eye before we had a chance to see if the public liked yellow phone boxes,’ a spokesman conceded. ‘We were forced to abandon the idea following the hue and cry caused by your paper.’ BT had just split from the Post Office.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JODIE WHITTAKER, 38. The actress from West Yorkshire became the first woman to play the lead in Doctor Who in its 54-year history (Theresa May said it was ‘a great move forward for girl-power’). Whittaker (right) says she believes in aliens ‘100 per cent’. EDDY MERCKX, 75. The Belgian is regarded by many as the greatest cyclist of all time with five Tour de France wins between 1969 to 1974, 11 Grand Tours and three world titles. In 1975, he wore the yellow jersey for the final time and lost the Tour de France after being punched by a spectator. He has been honoured in his home country with statues and a cameo in the comic book Asterix in Belgium.
BORN ON THIS DAY
CHARLES EAMES (1907-1978). The American designer, photographer and architect created several iconic chairs with his wife Ray. In the words of the Washington Post, he ‘changed the way the 20th century sat down’, and by the time of his death, more than six million of his chairs had been produced. RUTH GRAVES WAKEFIELD (1903-1977). The American home economics teacher in 1938 invented the chocolate chip cookie, according to local legend because she was in too much of a rush to melt her chocolate, so used an ice pick to chop it into pea-sized pieces. She sold the rights to her recipe to Nestle for just $1. Some $18 billion worth are now sold in the u.S. each year.
ON JUNE 17…
IN 1940, more than 3,000 troops and refugees were killed when German aircraft sank the Cunard liner Lancastria near the French port of Saint-Nazaire. It remains the largest loss of life in British maritime history.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Pemphigus (c1770)
A) Rigidity of the internal organs B) Disease characterised by large blisters C) Persistent winking Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Posh: the cabins most in demand by the wealthy on the Far east run were the coolest ones which were on the ship’s port outward, starboard home; the shipping lines abbreviated this procedure to POSH.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The best way to get the better of temptation is just to yield to it.
Clementina Stirling Graham, Scottish writer (1782-1877)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the mouse say when it broke its front teeth? Hard cheese. Guess The Definition answer: B.