May 31, 2022 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MAY 31, 1940
AS THE German bombing threat grows, more children are likely to be moved from Britain’s evacuation areas next week, the Ministry of Health announced last night. Children in eastern and south-eastern coastal towns will be moved on Sunday.
MAY 31, 1960
BORIS PASTERNAK, the Russian Nobel Prize winner whose greatest work, Doctor Zhivago, was banned in his own country, last night died aged 70 of cancer at his wooden dacha near Moscow. Dr Zhivago, the novel of Russian life that brought a surge of praise from the West and cold, bitter criticism from his own countrymen, earned Pasternak more than £250,000.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ROBERT RINDER, 44. The London-born barrister and host of ITV’s Judge Rinder gave up his dream of acting as a student after seeing Benedict Cumberbatch perform at an audition: ‘i thought i’d done well, then i saw him deliver exactly the same lines and... just knew that was what the writer wanted it to sound like.’ Rinder and the Hollywood star became best friends. LORD (JOHN) PRESCOTT, 84. The Prestatyn-born former deputy prime minister failed his 11-plus and left school at 15 to join the Merchant Navy. He was nicknamed ‘Two Jabs’ after punching a protester who threw an egg at him in 2001 and ‘Two Jags’ because he owned one Jaguar and used a second as his ministerial car.
BORN ON THIS DAY
WALTER SICKERT (1860-1942). The German-born British painter has been described as an ‘English Degas’. Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell accused the former actor of being Jack the Ripper and bought dozens of his paintings in an attempt to prove it. However, he was in France when several of the murders were committed in London’s East End. SHIRLEY VERRETT (1931-2010). The AfricanAmerican opera star, who sang with Luciano Pavarotti, was celebrated in italy as La Nera Callas, the Black [Maria] Callas. Verrett, who refused to perform to segregated audiences, was described as ‘one of the most glamorous and admired performers of her generation’. She left her abusive husband after finding a gun under his pillow.
ON MAY 31…
IN 1911, the 46,328-ton passenger ship Titanic was launched. IN 2005, former East 17 singer Brian Harvey was in a critical condition after falling under the wheels of his own car.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Lappet (c 1570) A) Hangman’s noose. B) Flap of a garment or headdress. C) Leather strap to bind a hawk’s wing.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
To have a cadenza: Meaning to be extremely agitated. The informal sense probably comes from Danny Kaye’s humorous 1940s recording The Little Fiddle.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.
Tom Stoppard, British dramatist
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT happens when a flower blushes? It turns rosy. Guess the Definition answer: B.