ON THIS DAY
November 3, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE NOVEMBER 3, 1936
BRITAIN’S first TV programme was broadcast yesterday from Alexandra Palace, and was seen throughout Greater London. BBC chairman Mr R. C. Norman said: ‘At this moment the British television service is undoubtedly ahead of the rest of the world.’
NOVEMBER 3, 1965
A HOLIDAY beach where 1,000 mines were laid at the beginning of the last war is to be reopened to the public — although only half of the mines have been recovered. It has not been decided if signs will be put up — at Mundesley, Norfolk — warning the public about the danger.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LULU, 72. The Glaswegian singer, born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, shot to fame at 15 with Shout in 1964 but had to wait until 1993 to secure her only No.1, Relight My Fire with Take That. In 1969, she won Eurovision with Boom Bang-A-Bang — a four-way tie. The evergreen singer (above) once said: ‘I don’t want to be left in the past. When I stand next to Kylie, Beyonce or Rihanna, I don’t want to be a decrepit old lady.’ JACQUI SMITH, 58. The former Labour politician was Britain’s first female Home Secretary and the second youngest (at 44) since Churchill. She resigned in the 2009 expenses scandal after claiming £116,000 in second-home allowances and for adult films watched by her husband. Following the end of her 33-year marriage this year, the former teacher joined Strictly but was booted off on Sunday. She said: ‘I’d be gutted if I was the first out. I’ve lost votes before.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
SIR LUDOVIC KENNEDY (1919-2009). The Edinburghborn journalist (right) was one of ITN’s first newscasters before presenting Panorama. He campaigned against the wrongful convictions of Derek Bentley and Timothy Evans, both hanged for murder and granted posthumous pardons. He married dancer Moira Shearer after seeing her in The Red Shoes. He said: ‘I felt a tremor run through me when I caught sight of her. She looked even lovelier than in the film.’ JEREMY BRETT (1933-1995). The actor, from Warwickshire, was in Laurence Olivier’s first National Theatre company in the late 1960s before making his name in ITV’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He meticulously studied a 77-page Baker Street File on the detective’s behaviour. ITV’s head of drama said: ‘A finer Sherlock Holmes has never, and will never, exist.’
ON NOVEMBER 3…
IN 1534, Parliament passed the first Act of Supremacy, making Henry VIII and subsequent monarchs head of the Church of England. IN 1954, French artist Henri Matisse died, aged 84.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Flagitious (14th c) A) Impatient. B) Shamefully wicked. C) Violent. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
To put on the back burner: Meaning to postpone or make something a low priority; from the rings of a cooker which are used for simmering rather than the front burners.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
ANYONE who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. James Baldwin, U.S. novelist (1924-1987)
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW do you catch a squirrel? Climb up a tree and act like a nut. Guess The Definition answer: B.