ON THIS DAY
October 18, 2021
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE OCTOBER 18, 1956
Couturier Christian Dior, in New York to show his spring styles, says skirts will be ‘just a bit longer’. The trend was toward a draped, slim silhouette. Hats, he says, will be less important and smaller.
OCTOBER 18, 1977
WE’RE on our way! The first Concorde will land at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport tomorrow — after a bitter, 19-month supersonic Battle of the Atlantic. The final barrier was lifted by the u.S. Supreme Court, which denied a request by airport authorities to halt the joint British and Frenchbuilt jet over noise pollution fears.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, 65. The Czech-born tennis star (pictured) won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, including a record nine at Wimbledon. The International Tennis Hall of Fame said: ‘The enormity of Martina Navratilova’s career places her atop the list when tennis historians debate which player, male or female, is the best of all time.’ JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME, 61. The Belgian actor — star of Double Impact, Kickboxer and The Expendables 2 — was nicknamed ‘The Muscles from Brussels’. The former karate champion has been married five times and dated Kylie Minogue. With typical modesty, he once said: ‘I’m not a movie star. I’m a brand name. van Damme is like Levi’s.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
LOTTE LENYA (1898-1981). The Austrian will be well known to Bond film fans as Soviet agent Rosa Klebb, in From Russia With Love, who tries to kill 007 with a blade hidden in her shoe. As a young singer and actress Lotte starred in the original Broadway production of Cabaret. A New York Times critic once said her voice ‘could sandpaper sandpaper’. PIERRE TRUDEAU (19192000). The 15th prime minister of Canada (father of Justin, who now holds the office) was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee with a reputation for irreverent behaviour; he did a cheeky pirouette behind the Queen’s back at Buckingham Palace in 1977. Trudeau (pictured) liberalised laws on divorce, abortion and homosexuality, insisting ‘the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation’. He became a father for the last time at the age of 71.
ON OCTOBER 18 . . .
IN 1867, the u.S took possession of Alaska after buying it from Russia for $7.2million. IN 1965, the BBC first aired children’s show The Magic Roundabout, reinvented from French original, Le Manège Enchanté, by Eric Thompson (father of actress Emma).
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Obfuscate (circa 1530)
A) To obstruct or stand in the way of. B) verbally to belittle. C) To muddle or bewilder. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED Forlorn hope: Refers to a hopeless or desperate enterprise and comes from the Dutch verloren hoop, meaning ‘lost troop’ — soldiers chosen to spearhead an attack, many of whom would not survive.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them, the rest of us could not succeed. Mark Twain, American author (1835-1910)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you get when you boil a funny bone? A laughing stock. Guess The Definition answer: C