September 8, 2021 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE SEPTEMBER 8, 1975
CZECH tennis star Martina Navratilova has defected to the West — stating her fondness for the U.S. had triggered the move. The fiery 18-year-old said in Manhattan yesterday: ‘I have come to love the people and the country very dearly’, before denying that the prospect of earning a small fortune had also been a factor.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1997
TONY Blair yesterday offered the Queen his help in modernising the monarchy following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Shaken by the backlash against the Royal Family’s faltering response to it, Her Majesty is thought ready to take more direct political advice than in the past.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MARTIN FREEMAN, 50. The actor from Hampshire played Dr Watson in TV’s Sherlock, Tim in BBC sitcom The Office and Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit films. He said his most embarrassing moment was meeting his hero Michael Caine: ‘I stuck my hand out and said, “Hi, I’m Michael.” And he said, “No, I’m Michael, you’re Martin.” ’ LINDA KRISTIN BENNETT, 59. The founder of fashion brand LK Bennett made her name as ‘queen of the kitten heel’ and purveyor of ‘affordable glamour’, whose fans include the Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge. But Bennett admits: ‘I sometimes wear flip-flops to work.’ The third word her daughter said — after ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’ — was ‘shoes’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
PATSY CLINE (1932-1963). The U.S. country star has been called ‘the quintessential torch singer’. At 13, she had rheumatic fever and said: ‘The fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice.’ Her hits included Crazy and Walkin’ After Midnight. RICHARD I (1157-1199). The son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, known as Richard the Lionheart, spent just six months of his ten-year reign in England and may not have even spoken English. He shared a bed with King Philip II of France, but a historian said this was a symbol of unity and trust — ‘an accepted political act, nothing sexual’.
ON SEPTEMBER 8…
IN 1888, the Football League held its first season. The original 12 members were: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers. In 1966, the Queen officially opened the Severn suspension bridge, connecting Gloucestershire in England with South East Wales.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Pylorus (c1610) A) Greek work for pillar or pylon. B) The highest heaven. C) The opening between the stomach and duodenum. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED One’s long suit:
Meaning something one is good at. It comes from 18th-century card playing when holding a ‘long suit’ meant more than the average number of cards in a suit.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. Janis Joplin, U.S. singer-songwriter (1943-1970)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a sheep dipped in chocolate? A candy baa. Guess the Definition answer: C.