ON THIS DAY
July 16, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JULY 16, 1959
FILM stars who get £10,000 and more for one picture were blamed last night for forcing up screen costs. ‘They are overpaid,’ said Mr John Terry, managing director of the Government’s screen bank, the National Film Finance Corporation. He was commenting on the annual report, showing a £222,367 loss in 1958-9.
JULY 16, 1986
PRINCE ANDREW last night held his stag party on the lawns of the largest private garden in London. With only a week to go before his wedding to Sarah Ferguson, the Prince was celebrating one of his last nights as a bachelor with a handful of his closest friends. Among them were pop star Elton John, TV personality David Frost and comedian Billy Connolly.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LORRAINE CHASE, 69. The model and actress from south London starred in Emmerdale and was one of the BBC’s commentators for Charles and Diana’s 1981 wedding, but is best remembered for her 1970s Campari adverts. Asked: ‘Were you truly wafted here from paradise?’ she replied: ‘Nah, Luton airport.’ She said later: ‘I don’t think it was about Luton making me — I think it was the other way round. If people didn’t know it had an airport, they certainly knew after that commercial.’ SHIRLEy HUGHES, 93. The children’s author and illustrator from Merseyside is best known for her Alfie books and Dogger — which was voted the public’s all-time favourite winner of the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration. She published her first novel at 84.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DESMOND DEKKER (1941-2006). The ska and reggae singer- songwriter was born Desmond Dacres in Jamaica and died in Surrey. His hit Israelites was the first reggae song to top the British charts. He also helped launch Bob Marley’s career — they had worked together as welders. GINGER ROGERS (19111995). The Oscar-winning U.S. actress formed a duo called Ginger and Pepper with Jack Culpepper, her first of five husbands. Rogers was best known as Fred Astaire’s love interest and dancing partner in ten Hollywood musicals. Katharine Hepburn said of the pair: ‘ He gives her class, and she gives him sex.’
ON JULY 16...
IN 1951, the comedy panel show What’s My Line began on BBC TV. It was chaired by Gilbert Harding, who was soon replaced by Eamonn Andrews.
IN 2001, U.S. actors Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid divorced after a decade of marriage.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Bolus (c1600)
A) A distemper peculiar to sailors in hot climates. B) A rounded mass of a pill; chewed food. C) A down payment. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Bread and circuses: Refers to policies used to keep the masses happy and docile. It is from Latin poet Juvenal, where giving out cheap food and entertainment was the most effective way to rise to power.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
It’s always the good feel rotten. Pleasure’s for those who are bad.
Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (1895-1925)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT is the difference between a guitar
and a fish? You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.
Guess The Definition answer: B