ON THIS DAY
January 6, 2023
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 6, 1960
FILMS and television may soon join Shakespeare on the school syllabus. a report out today says they are a substantial part of art and it is ridiculous to omit them from the British academic system.
JANUARY 6, 1994
CRICKET commentator Brian Johnston died peacefully in his sleep yesterday after suffering a heart attack in December. He was 81. Johnston was the deemed the personification of the game and last night, in seven simple words, John Major summed up our loss. ‘Summers will not be the same again,’ said the Prime Minister.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NIGELLA LAWSON, 63. The london-born celebrity cook (pictured), daughter of ex- Chancellor Nigel lawson, was nominated for a Bafta for ‘Must-See Moment’ in 2021, for pronouncing microwave as ‘ mee- cro- wah- vay’. The ‘domestic goddess’ insists that ‘on those evenings i don’t cook, i am ecstatically happy with bread and cheese, or just bread and butter’. EDDIE REDMAYNE, 41. The actor from london won an Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of everything. Redmayne, who attended eton in the same year as Prince william, said he occasionally responds to letters from people hoping to go to drama school by paying their rent, because ‘it’s expensive to live in london’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JOHN SINGLETON (1968-2019). The U.S. filmmaker became — aged 24 — the youngest person and first african american to be nominated for the best director Oscar for his debut, 1991’s Boyz N The Hood starring Cuba Gooding Jr. after being sentenced to three years’ probation for attacking his ex-girlfriend, Singleton was ordered by the judge to make a short film about domestic violence. CAPUCINE (19281990). The French actress, born Germaine lefebvre, starred in what’s New Pussycat? and played inspector Clouseau’s wife in The Pink Panther (pictured). its director called her ‘part Mona lisa. That smile’ — but luchino Visconti turned her down for Death in Venice because ‘she had too many teeth’. Capucine started out as a model for Dior and Givenchy and became best friends with audrey Hepburn.
ON JANUARY 6 . . .
IN 1980, Pink Floyd were at No 1 in the UK with another Brick in The wall.
IN 2022, Sidney Poitier, the first black man to win the Best actor Oscar, died aged 94.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Volplane (1900s)
a) To glide toward the earth in an aeroplane.
B) level, flat, even, flush.
C) in the opposite direction, the wrong way. answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
At half cock: Meaning when only partly prepared. The phrase is used of a firearm with the cock lifted but not moved to the position at which the trigger will act.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness. Margaret Millar, Canadian-born novelist (1915-1994)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you get if you cross a gold dog with a telephone? a golden receiver. Guess The Definition answer: a.