ON THIS DAY
January 26, 2022
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 26, 1960
A REVOLUTIONARY new H-bomb weapon system will ensure Britain’s place in the league of nuclear powers in the late 1960s. It will be an air-launched ballistic missile — a long-range nuclear-tipped rocket carried by a ‘flying platform’ plane.
JANUARY 26, 1981
MICHAEL FOOT was fighting to stop Labour from disintegrating last night as roy Jenkins and the ‘Gang of Three’ (Shirley Williams, David owen and William rodgers) issued a declaration that they were forming the Council for Social Democracy.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ELLEN DEGENERES, 64. The u.S. actress and comedian (right) was last year named by Forbes as one of America’s top Self-Made Women, with a fortune of more than $370 million (£275million). She was the voice of Dory, the forgetful regal blue tang in Pixar’s hit 2016 film Finding Nemo. Ellen’s eponymous u.S. talk show has run since 2003 but will end this year after 2,400 interviews.
HEATHER STANNING, 37. The rower from Somerset won gold in the women’s coxless pair at London 2012 (Team GB’s first gold of the Games) and rio 2016, alongside Helen Glover. The duo went unbeaten for two years, holding the records at European, world and olympic levels. After winning her 2012 medal, she returned to life in the Army with a tour of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, later being promoted to Major.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JACQUELINE DU PRE (1945-1987). The oxford-born cellist’s career path was set after she heard the instrument on the radio when she was four. Du Pre, who made her name with her 1965 recording of the Elgar’s Cello Concerto, has been described as ‘one of the greatest performing musicians Britain has ever produced’. She died aged 42, having had multiple sclerosis for 14 years.
JIMMY VAN HEUSEN (1913-1990). The u.S. songwriter was expelled from school for singing a ‘mildly salacious’ ditty in assembly, but it didn’t stop him from going on to win four oscars. Van Heusen (right), whose songs helped make stars of Frank Sinatra (with Polka Dots And Moonbeams) and Bing Crosby, said: ‘I dig chicks, booze, music and Sinatra — in that order.’
ON JANUARY 26 …
IN 1784, u.S. founding father Benjamin Franklin wrote that he regretted the eagle had been chosen as the national symbol because it was ‘a bird of bad moral character’. The turkey, he said, was ‘a much more respectable bird’. IN 1991, queen went to No1 in the UK Singles Chart with Innuendo.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Skein (circa early 15th century) A) Wool taken from a dead sheep. B) The socket of a precious stone. C) A length of yarn. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED By a canvas: Meaning by a small margin. In boat racing, the tapered end used to be covered with canvas to stop water being taken; hence, to win ‘by a canvas’ meant by the length between the tip of the bow and the first oarsman.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
PREDICTION is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future. Niels Bohr, Danish physicist (1885-1962)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do cows tell each other at bedtime? dairy tales Guess the definition answer: c