ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 9, 1941
YOUR meat ration for this week is only 1s 2d, instead of the recently fixed 1s 6d, announced the Ministry of Food last night. And, because ships have been diverted to the Middle East for war purposes, the meat ration will vary at short notice during the next few months between 1s and 1s 6d.
JANUARY 9, 1952
MISS Edith Piaf — ‘The Sparrow’, as Paris calls her — is to sing in London for the first time. In Miss Edith Piaf, the capital will see an unglamorous, waif-like chanteuse of 36 who graduated from a Marseilles slum to become the rage of Paris night-life after the liberation.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JOELY RICHARDSON, 58. The actress daughter of Vanessa Redgrave, (pictured) who starred in 101 Dalmatians, took the title role in 1993 BBC series Lady Chatterley and now plays Mrs Bolton in the new Netflix version. Of being in a famous acting dynasty, she said: ‘ We all have family baggage. In my case, I’ve got three or four generations’ worth.’ SARAH BEENY, 51. The Reading-born presenter of Property Ladder was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2022 and said she had been expecting the news for 40 years, since the death of her mother from the disease when Sarah was just ten. Of her TV career, she said the producers were concerned the featured homeowners were not paying any attention to her advice, but ‘in the end, they decided to make the ignoring thing a selling point’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
WILBUR SMITH (1933-2021). The author, born in what is now Zambia, sold more than 140 million copies of bestsellers including When The Lion Feeds and Shout At The Devil, which was made into a film with Roger Moore. Smith, who was named after aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright, was a pilot and scuba diver who had his own game reserve and a tropical island in the Seychelles. SUSANNAH YORK (1939
2011). The Rada- trained actress won a Bafta (and was nominated for an Oscar) for They Shoot Horses,
Don’t They?. She also played Superman’s mother in three films between 1978 and 1987.
A sex scene in The Killing Of
Sister George featuring York and Coral Browne was cut from showings in Connecticut in the U.S. by the police. Describing her abilities, York (pictured) said: ‘Hard-working character actress who longs to play drunks and nasties.’
ON JANUARY 9…
IN 1963, drummer Charlie Watts joined the Rolling Stones.
IN 1995, actor and comedian Peter Cook died, aged 57.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Hopepunk (c 2019) A) An art form such as books, movies etc. whose plots and themes are optimistic. B) A rebellious urchin. C) A youth between boyhood and manhood. answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED
Kick against the pricks — meaning to hurt yourself by continually acting in pointless defiance; from The Bible and the image of a beast of burden uselessly kicking out when pricked by a spur.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
anybody seen in a bus over the age of 30 has been a failure in life Loelia, Duchess of Westminster (1902-1993)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a dental practice on a boat? The tooth ferry.
Guess The Definition answer: a. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD