ON THIS DAY

February 16, 2022

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 16, 1989

AS THEIR last soldier left Afghanistan

yesterday, the Soviets owned up to a hideous atrocity in which a carload of civilians, including two children, were wiped out. The bloody revelation in a Moscow newspaper sent shock waves across the country.

FEBRUARY 16, 2002

ALL the elements of Princess Margaret’s life came together at her funeral yesterday. Her family, her friends and her lovers. As the Queen wiped away a tear, the Queen Mother hid her feelings to the last behind the palm of her hand. Her face, which has witnessed so many triumphs, was composed in sadness.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MAHERSHALA ALI, 48. The U.S. actor and rapper won two Oscars within two years, for Moonlight and Green Book, and was the first Muslim actor to triumph at the awards. His full first name is Mahershalalhashbaz, which he shortened after being told it wouldn’t fit on the poster for his film The Place Beyond The Pines. ANDY TAYLOR, 61. The Duran Duran singer and guitarist from Tyne and Wear joined the band after answering an advert in Melody Maker magazine. Taylor, who learned to play guitar at eight, said he and his bandmates once trashed a U.S. hotel, pouring shampoo into the fountain and hurling cream cakes at other guests from the roof.

BORN ON THIS DAY

MARGAUX HEMINGWAY (1954-1996). The 6ft-tall U.S. supermodel and actress was hailed as ‘the face of a generation’, appeared on the covers of Time magazine and Vogue and was the $1 million spokeswoman for Faberge fragrance Babe. Granddaughter of novelist Ernest Hemingway, she was born Margot, but reportedly changed the spelling when she discovered her parents had been drinking Chateau Margaux wine on the night of her conception. VERA MENCHIK (1906-1944). The Russianborn chess master competed for Russia, Czechoslovakia and England — after moving

to the Uk as a teenager. The world’s first women’s champion successfully defended her title six times over 17 years. Menchik, her sister and their mother were killed when a German V-1 flying bomb struck their London home.

ON FEBRUARY 16…

IN 1953, the ‘Potter’s Wheel’ interlude film was shown on the BBC for the first time. IN 1982, The Jam were enjoying a threeweek run at No.1 with Town Called Malice.

WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Raillery (c 1650)

A) Anger.

B) Good-humoured ridicule, banter.

C) An insult. Answer below

PHRASE EXPLAINED To cook one’s goose —

Meaning to spoil someone’s plans or to cause their downfall; a goose was fattened up for a special occasion, and so to cook it prematurely was to ruin the feast.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

THE safest road to hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

C.S. Lewis, British novelist (1898-1963)

JOKE OF THE DAY

WHAT’S the difference between a cranky two-year-old and a duckling? One is a whiny toddler and the other is a tiny waddler. Guess The Definition answer: B.

Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD