ON THIS DAY
June 7, 2023
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JUNE 7, 1988
LESTER PIGGOTT has been stripped of his OBE by the Queen nearly eight months after being jailed for tax evasion. The former champion jockey was given the official letter at Highpoint Prison, Suffolk, where he is serving three years. The Queen, who honoured Piggott in 1975, is a great admirer of his racing skills, and he won her The oaks Classic at epsom in 1957. JUNE 7, 2004
BARONESS THATCHER will take centre stage at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan. The former prime minister has been advised against public speaking by doctors, so she has recorded a ten-minute eulogy to be played in Washington national Cathedral on Friday. In a sign of the enduring friendship of the two former world leaders, Lady Thatcher, 78, will join Mr Reagan’s family at a private burial in California.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
HELEN BAXENDALE, 53. The actress from Yorkshire played Rachel in ITV’s Cold Feet and Ross Geller’s wife, emily, in Friends. Baxendale found out she was pregnant the week she auditioned for the U. S. sitcom. For her final scene, she was filmed ‘in bed with a duvet up to my neck, because I was about to give birth two days later’.
SIR TOM JONES, 83. The Welsh singer has topped the UK charts with It’s not Unusual and Green, Green Grass of Home and sold 150 million albums. He contracted TB when he was 12, which stopped him following his father into the mines. He said the two years he spent bedridden obeying doctors’ orders not to sing may be what gave him the powerful voice he has today.
BORN ON THIS DAY
BEAU BRUMMELL (1778-1840). Born in Downing Street as his father was private secretary to the prime minister, Lord north, Brummell was the quintessential Regency dandy. He popularised the starched cravat, reportedly spent six hours a day getting dressed and was a confidant of the Prince of Wales. However, the pair fell out after Brummell called him fat. He died in exile in an asylum in Caen, penniless and insane from syphilis aged 61. PRINCE ROGERS NELSON (1958-2016). The U. S. singer- songwriter, better known as just Prince, had five UK no 1 albums and hits including Purple Rain and Little Red Corvette. He insisted he did not age because ‘time is a mind construct . . . It’s not real’.
ON JUNE 7 . . .
IN 2013, President Putin and wife Lyudmila declared they were divorcing on state TV. IN 2015, english actor and Hammer horror star Sir Christopher Lee died aged 93.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Skerrick (1820s)
A) Burning feathers plucked from seabirds. B) The smallest bit. C) A dead tree still standing. answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED
Happy hunting ground: meaning a place where fun or success can be had. Refers to the afterlife for native Americans, where there are good ‘hunting grounds’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level. It’s cheaper that way.
Quentin Crisp, English writer (1908-1999)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a mummy wrapped in nuts and chocolate? Pharaoh Roche. Guess The Definition answer: B.