ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
DECEMBER 30, 1940
DUSK had scarcely fallen last night when German bombers returned to the attack on London with a ferocity they had not shown for many weeks. The Tubes were as full as — if not fuller than — on any night since the assault on the capital began.
DECEMBER 30, 1997
THE Chinese authorities ordered the slaughter of almost 1.5 million birds including chickens, ducks, pigeons and quail in Hong Kong in an attempt to wipe out the lethal H5N1 virus bird flu which has killed four humans and, officials fear, could be passed to others.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
KEVIN SYSTROM, 38, the U.S. entrepreneur who co-founded photo-sharing app Instagram, which had a million users within a month of launching, and is worth £1.7 billion, according to Forbes. In 2016, he flew to the vatican to personally help Pope Francis set up his Instagram account.
ELLIE GOULDING, 35. The Herefordshire-born singer-songwriter has had three singles and three albums go to UK number one. She admitted to working on her cover of Your Song while drunk. Goulding was introduced to her now husband Caspar Jopling at a dinner arranged by their mutual friend Princess eugenie.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DeL SHANNON (1934-1990). The U.S. singer-songwriter is best remembered for his 1961 UK number one Runaway, and on a Royal Albert Hall concert in 1963, he topped the bill — above The Beatles, who would soon usher in a style of music that made Shannon’s seem out of date. Shannon, born Charles Westover, took his stage name from a friend.
MICHAEL NESMITH (1942-2021). The woolly hat-wearing U.S. guitarist and singer-songwriter found fame with The Monkees after answering an ad for ‘four insane boys, aged 17-21’. His first job — for $1 an hour — was bottling the Liquid Paper correction fluid invented by his mother. The company was bought out by Gillette in 1979 for $47.5 million.
ON DECEMBER 30…
IN 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, was formed. IN 1986, Cheltenham plasterer eddie ‘the eagle’ edwards became the first Briton to compete in the World Cup Ski-jumping Championships.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Hepatic (14th cent)
A) Tawny, yellow tinged with red. B) Of or relating to the liver. C) Smelling like burnt flesh.
Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Fly a kite — meaning to propose an idea to test public reaction; the kite gives an indication of the direction and strength of the wind, which is a metaphor for public appeal or otherwise.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
MEN at 40 learn to close softly the doors to rooms they will not be coming back to Donald Justice, U.S. poet (1925-2004)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a charity managed by atheists? A non-prophet organisation. Guess The Definition answer: B.