ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
MARCH 7, 1942
TO MEET a threatened handkerchief shortage Board of Trade experts are expected to abolish all fancy kinds and to introduce all-white Utility handkerchiefs — 18in for men and 13in for women.
MARCH 7, 1961
GEORGE FORMBY died at tea time yesterday, aged 56, his fiancee miss Patricia Howson at his bedside. The 36-year- old teacher fought back tears and said: ‘It has been a tremendous shock.’ The Lancashire ukulele legend and comedian with the toothy grin clowned his way into the hearts of royalty as much as mill-workers.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BRYAN CRANSTON, 67. The U.s. actor starred in Trumbo and saving Private ryan on film. He played Walter White in TV’s Breaking Bad, receiving a fan letter from sir anthony Hopkins. He was only the second lead actor to win three consecutive emmy awards. He proposed to his wife robin Dearden in a bubble bath with the engagement ring on his little toe.
RUTHIE HENSHALL, 56. The award-winning Londonborn actress ( pictured) starred in West end shows including miss saigon, Les miserables and Chicago. she had a five-year on- off relationship with Prince edward. Her father, a local newspaper editor, told her: ‘ruthie, I am sitting on the hottest story of my career and there’s nothing I can do about it.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
PIET MONDRIAN (1872-1944). The Dutch artist was famous for painting black lines and blocks of red, yellow, blue and white. His Paris studio, similarly designed, was divided into working and thinking areas. Last year, an art historian realised a mondrian had been hanging upside down in several museums for 75 years.
ANTONY ARMSTRONG-JONES (1930- 2017). The 1st earl of snowdon, a photographer, was married to Princess margaret (both pictured) between 1960 and 1978. He was cox of the Cambridge university crew that won the 1950 Boat race. He helped design London Zoo’s snowdon aviary, now listed. It was Britain’s first walk-through aviary.
ON MARCH 7 . . .
IN 1876, scottish inventor alexander Graham Bell was granted a U.s. patent for the telephone.
IN 1998, madonna was enjoying her eighth UK number one, with Frozen.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Ballotade (1751)
a) To crush with criticism.
B) To elect.
C) a forward leap by a horse in which all four legs are bent under the body, the hind hooves turned outwards. answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Keep one’s nose to the grindstone:
Meaning to work hard, continuously; a ‘grindstone’ is a thick revolving stone disc for sharpening knives and tools. originating in the mid-16th century, the phrase meant an employer forcing someone to work without a break.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.
P.D. James, English crime writer (1920-2014)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the grape do when it was crushed? It let out a little whine. Guess The Definition answer: C.