ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 4, 1957 ELIzABETH TAYLOR almost called off her wedding to Mike Todd. The ceremony, at the beach resort of Acapulco, Mexico, was delayed for more than an hour before Todd convinced the highly strung actress to go through with it. Singer Eddie Fisher was best man and his wife Debbie Reynolds was maid of honour. [Fisher went on to marry Taylor after an affair following Todd’s death in a plane crash.] FEBRUARY 4, 1967 SEVENTEEN Emma Peels took over London’s Oxford Street yesterday — models wearing the clothes which have been designed by Alun Hughes for ABC’s new Avengers series. It will be filmed in colour, so the brief was to produce clothes that were colourful and, to an extent, timeless. About 15 of the outfits can now be bought in Miss Selfridge, as well as distinctive Emma Peel accessories like special Avenger bootees and enormous Old England watches, to be strapped to the thigh. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARA Ó BRIAIN, 45. The Irish comedian and presenter of Mock The Week and Stargazing Live has a degree in maths and theoretical physics and is writing his first children’s book, Beyond The Sky, about astronomy. He says he embraces embarrassment: ‘To a huge extent I go, “Fantastic! Here I am naked in the hotel corridor: this will keep my family fed for another year.”’ JOHN STEEL, 76. The drummer is the only original band member still playing with The Animals, the group from Newcastle famous for hits including The House Of The Rising Sun. He had an eight-year legal battle with former bandmate Eric Burdon over who had the right to perform under the band’s name — four decades after they split. Burdon, 75, tours as Eric Burdon And The Animals. BORN ON THIS DAY BETTY FRIEDAN (19212006). The American writer and feminist pioneer wrote 1963 bestseller The Feminine Mystique. A psychologist turned freelance journalist, she campaigned to broaden women’s career prospects and for the legalisation of abortion. She wrote of ‘a nameless, aching dissatisfaction’ in housewives’ lives she famously called ‘the problem that has no name’. SIR HARTLEY SHAWCROSS (1902-2003). The Labour MP, barrister and later life peer was Clement Attlee’s Attorney General and Britain’s chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials, where he told the Nazi defendants: ‘There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience.’ ON FEBRUARY 4 ... IN 1789, George Washington was elected the first president of the United States. IN 1948, Ceylon — now Sri Lanka — became an independent country. IN 1971, Rolls-Royce declared itself bankrupt — one of Britain’s largest corporate failures. WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY FOGO (acronym): fear of going out. GUESS THE DEFINITION Lysis (coined 1877 from Ancient Greek) A) The affected use of archaic language. B) The lifting of a disease’s symptoms. C) A newborn child’s cry. (Answer below). PHRASE EXPLAINED BAKER’S DOZEN: When a heavy penalty was inflicted for short weight, bakers used to give a surplus number of loaves to avoid incurring the fine. The 13th loaf was called the vantage loaf (as in the loaf allowed for profit). QUOTE FOR TODAY SOCIALISM is a government of the duds, by the duds and for the duds.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) JOKE OF THE DAY HOW do you start a jelly race? Get set! Guess The Definition answer: B