ON THIS DAY
September 24, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 24, 1971
KLACKErS, the latest noisy craze for children, is not only having a serious effect on the nerves of the nation’s parents. It was condemned by medical experts yesterday as a potential hazard to health and it is being banned by schools and local authorities throughout the country. The game, played by trying to knock together two coloured balls on the end of a length of cord, reached Britain two months ago.
SEPTEMBER 24, 1981
NOT SO long ago, Jeremy Irons was just another Leicester Square busker with his guitar, harmonica and Bob Dylan songs. Though thousands passed his pitch every day, no one remembered him. Next month the crowds in the Square will hardly be able to avoid seeing his face because a film called The French Lieutenant’s Woman will transform him from anonymity to stardom.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DAME HArrIET WALTEr, 70. The London-born actress played Clementine Churchill in The Crown. The niece of Sir Christopher Lee, she had been desperate to act since the age of nine and said she thought: ‘I’ve just got to get through childhood, then I’ll do it!’ THEO PAPHITIS, 61. The Cyprus-born retail tycoon was brought up in a London council flat. He now owns hardware chain robert Dyas and stationer ryman and as a star of the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, he became known for his catchphrase: ‘Why should I spend my children’s inheritance on this?’
BORN ON THIS DAY
JOHN YOUNg (1930-2018). The American was the ninth man to walk on the moon and Nasa’s longest- serving astronaut. On his debut flight, in 1965, he operated the first computer in space — but was also given an official reprimand for smuggling a corned beef sandwich on to the spacecraft. LINDA MCCArTNEY (1941-1998). The American photographer and vegetarian pioneer was the first wife of Sir Paul McCartney. He said that all his ballads written after 1968 were about her, including LongHaired Lady. She was the first woman to have her work appear on the cover of rolling Stone.
ON SEPTEMBER 24...
IN 1991, U.S. writer and illustrator Theodor Seuss geisel, aka Dr Seuss, died, aged 87.
IN 1988, Ben Johnson smashed his world record to win 100m gold at the Olympics. He later tested positive for anabolic steroids and was stripped of his medal.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Oakum (coined before 1000AD)
A) Loose fibre for caulking ship seams. B) A tablet decorated with a sacred figure and kissed by participants in Mass. C) A wooden vat of boiling water into which the accused plunged his arm in lieu of a trial. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink:
meaning that people will do what they want to do in the way they want to do it.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
People often overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.
Bill Gates, U.S. entrepreneur and philanthropist
JOKE OF THE DAY
Why was the chicken thrown out of class?
For using fowl language.
Guess The Definition answer: A