October XXXXXX, 14, 2017 2021 ON THIS DAY
OCTOBER 14, 1961
THE Government is planning to break down the barriers between private and primary schools. Under the scheme nearly all children from five to 11 would be brought together to learn and play, Sir David Eccles, Minister of Education, disclosed last night.
OCTOBER 14, 1985
THE Royal Opera House was plunged into crisis last night because Placido Domingo is planning to pull out of six major performances. The world’s leading opera singer, grief-stricken after losing four relatives in the Mexico City earthquake, says he is abandoning his original plans in order to devote 12 months to raising relief funds.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ALEx SCOTT, 37. The sports pundit (pictured) started to play football for Arsenal when she was just eight and went on to become only the seventh player to win more than 100 caps for England. ‘I want boys and girls to be sat at home, watching me alongside the likes of Rio Ferdinand or Frank Lampard, thinking that it’s normal,’ she said. RALPH LAUREn, 82. While studying at the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, the future global fashion designer became known for selling neckties to fellow pupils. He named his clothing line Polo in 1968 and worked out of a ‘drawer’ from a showroom in the Empire State Building, making deliveries himself. In 2019, Forbes estimated his worth at $6.3billion, making him the 102nd richest person in America.
BORN ON THIS DAY
THE avant-garde U.S. poet e.e. cummings (1894-1962), born Edward Estlin Cummings, is known for his idiosyncratic syntax and use of lower-case letters. Between the ages of eight and 22, he wrote a poem a day. Recommending him for the Guggenheim Fellowhsip, a fellow poet summed up the hit-and-miss brilliance of his work by saying: ‘I propose...you give Mr Cummings enough rope. He may hang himself; or he may lasso a unicorn.’ GEORGE FLOYD (19732020). The unemployed bouncer (pictured) was murdered in Minneapolis by police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes after getting a call that Floyd was suspected of using a fake $20 bill at a store. His death sparked worldwide Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and racially motivated violence.
ON OCTOBER 14…
IN 1947, U.S. Air Force Officer Chuck Yeager became the first to fly faster than the speed of sound, at an altitude of 45,000 ft. IN 1991, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the nobel Peace Prize while still under house arrest.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Sesquipedalian (circa 1650s)
A) Following in correct sequence. B) Having many syllables. C) A court official.
Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Lump in one’s throat: This mid-1800s expression compares the physical sense of a swelling in the throat with the tight sensation caused by strong feelings.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
T. S. Eliot, English poet (1888-1965)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a pig that does karate? A pork chop. Guess The Definition answer: B. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD