ON THIS DAY
NOVEMBER 15, 1974
THE Countess of Lucan will return to the High Court today to discuss the future of her three children.
‘She is still very weak,’ said a friend last night, ‘but the children are everything to her.’
Lady Lucan is recovering from a murder attempt on her life. A massive police search in Sussex for the body of her husband, who is wanted for the murder of his children’s nanny, was called off until today. It will resume at dawn.
NOVEMBER 15, 1996
TV quiz show Mastermind is to end after 25 years, the BBC announced yesterday. Questionmaster Magnus Magnusson, who will host the last nail-biting final next year, described the programme’s passing in typical no-nonsense style ‘I have started, and now it is time to finish.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
PETuLA CLARk, 91. The Grammywinning singer from Surrey, ‘the First Lady of the British Invasion’, had hits with Downtown and This Is My Song. As a child, she sang for the troops during World War II, including shows with Julie Andrews at Army camps and was on stage in Trafalgar Square on VE night. She has been on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs three times: in 1951, 1982 and 1995. DoM JoLy, 56. The English comedian was born in Lebanon and went to the same school as osama bin Laden. ‘I was six and he was 16, so we were there together for a year. A school photo with us both in would have been good but there isn’t one.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
WILLIAM PITT ‘the Elder’ (1708-78). The Whig politician was prime minister from 1766-8. His father and grandfather were both MPs and his son, William Pitt ‘the younger’, became PM aged just 24. He was nicknamed ‘the Great Commoner’ because of his refusal to accept a title, but became Earl of Chatham in 1766. He famously said: ‘unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.’ PETER DICkInSon (1934-2023). The Lancashire-born pianist was an experimental composer, who wrote concertos for organ, piano and violin. He was also an academic who created the first British centre dedicated to American music, at keele university. one critic said of his eclectic output: ‘not many composers are equally at home on Radios 2, 3 and 4.’
ON NOVEMBER 15 . . .
IN 1980, Blondie, with lead singer Debbie Harry (pictured), were at no. 1 in the uk with their version of The Tide Is High.
IN 2001, Microsoft released its Xbox gaming console.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Dol (coined 1950)
A) A coin.
B) To empty, to make void.
C) A unit for measuring the intensity of pain. answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Apples and pears:
Cockney rhyme for stairs; to the Cockney, the phrase ‘steps and stairs’ describes creating an appealing display of fruit on a market stall.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
May you live to be 100, and may the last voice you hear be mine.
Frank Sinatra, U.S. singer (1915-98)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I’VE given up my job as an origami maker… There was too much paperwork. Guess The Definition answer: C.