ON THIS DAY
January 20, 2023
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE January 20, 1956
Half-a-million children are to be inoculated with a new British vaccine, giving a considerable protection against poliomyelitis [polio]. The lucky ones, aged from two to nine, will be selected by the Ministry of Health in a national ballot.
January 20, 1994
Labour MP George Galloway was yesterday accused of grovelling before cruel tyrant Saddam Hussein on Iraqi television during a visit to Baghdad. The member for Glasgow Hillhead told Saddam: ‘Sir, allow me to salute your courage, power and indefatigability. I would like you to know that we are with you until victory.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
KIRSTY GALLACHER, 47. The Edinburgh-born ex-Sky Sports presenter quit her job on GB News in 2021 after being diagnosed with a small, benign tumour in her ear, which caused tinnitus. She is the daughter of former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher.
Buzz ALDRIN, 93. The u.S. Apollo 11 astronaut — first name Edwin — is the only surviving member of the mission’s threeman crew. He is frustrated at being introduced at talks as the second man on the Moon: ‘Is it really necessary to point out to the crowd that somebody else was first when we all went through the same training, we all landed at the same time and all contributed?’ The space jacket he wore made £2.3 million at auction last year.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DOROTHY PROVINE (1935-2010). The u.S. actress played singer Pinky Pinkham in TV drama
The Roaring 20s. She told its writer she ‘wanted to play the flapper in this show so badly that I’d go home and pray’. It worked — Time magazine later declared: ‘It is Dorothy’s oooohing and shimmying that have kept the series afloat.’ Provine, who dated Roger Moore and frank Sinatra, also appeared in the film, It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World. CHRISTOPHER MARTIN- JENKINS (1945-2013). The Peterborough-born BBC Test Match Special stalwart was described by its producer Adam Mountford as ‘one of the voices of the English summer’. As a teenager he wrote Cricket, Lovely Cricket, with a made-up foreword by Brigitte Bardot. friends fondly recall his curses, which included ‘fishcakes and buttercup pie!’ and ‘fotheringay Thomas!’
ON JANUARY 20 . . .
IN 1971, comic Eric Morecambe was crowned Pipeman of the year.
IN 2002, ex-Beatle George Harrison was at No 1 for the second time, posthumously, with My Sweet Lord.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Tenebrific (1640s)
A) fussy.
B) Obstinate, perverse.
C) Producing darkness. answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
From left field: Meaning coming from an unexpected angle. It alludes to baseball in which the ‘left field’ is part of the outfield that doesn’t often come into play to a right-handed batter.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.
Lillian Hellman, U.S. dramatist (1905-1984)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the scientist say when oxygen and magnesium coupled up? OMG. Guess The Definition answer: C.