ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MAY 13, 1941
A YOUNG American woman stood in the midst of a heap of stone-dust, broken glass and charred timber in Westminster Abbey yesterday and gazed at a gaping hole in the roof. ‘I don’t think people on the other side of the Atlantic realise what this must mean to you in Britain,’ she said. The damage done to the Abbey in Saturday night’s raid is not irreparable.
MAY 13, 1997
The Blair revolution could sweep away more traditions of the Commons, it has emerged. Instead of spending up to 30 minutes passing through the division lobbies to register a vote, MPs may simply press a button to vote in future, under plans to create a Parliament for the 21st century. Mr Blair is already replacing the twice-a-week question time with a single 40-minute session.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DAME NATALIE MASSENET, 59. The U.S.-born British entrepreneur founded luxury online retailer Net-aPorter after picking up an ‘Are you an entrepreneur?’ leaflet in a bank. The former model sold the company for an estimated £50 million in 2010. SAMANTHA MORTON, 47. The Nottinghamborn actress and director starred in Minority Report in 2002. Four years later, she suffered a debilitating stroke after she was hit on the head by masonry while on a film set. She had to relearn how to walk and talk over an 18-month period.
BORN ON THIS DAY
TREVOR BAYLIS (1937-2018). The inventor from London came up with the wind-up radio as a method of getting information about HIV to people across Africa. he approached the Design Council, who ‘blew me away like I was a twit’ in a letter he later framed and hung in his toilet. JOE LOUIS (1914-1981). The U.S. boxer, nicknamed the ‘ Brown Bomber’, was invited to the White house by President Roosevelt, who felt his bicep and said: ‘Joe, we need muscles like these to defeat Germany.’ he defeated German Max Schmeling, whom hitler had called before the 1938 fight ordering him to win for the sake of Nazi Germany.
ON MAY 13…
IN 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded by Mehmet Ali Agca in Rome. IN 2018, Canadian-born actress Margot Kidder died, aged 69.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION Crepitation (coined 1656)
A) A knock- down blow. B) Noise made by a wood fire. C) horse’s hoof print on soft ground. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Halcyon days: meaning a time of happiness and prosperity, it alludes to halcyon, the Ancient Greek for a kingfisher; 14 days of calm weather were expected when it was nesting.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I only have ‘yes’ men around me. Who needs ‘no’ men?
Mae West, U.S. actress (1893-1980)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT’S a vampire’s favourite soup? Scream of tomato.
Guess The Definition answer: B.