ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE APRIL 19, 1956 MARSHAL Bulganin [Premier of the Soviet Union] and Mr Khrushchev [First Secretary of the Communist Party] are to offer two horses to the Queen. An official said: ‘We hope that Prince Charles and Princess Anne or other members of the Royal Family will ride them, and accept them as a symbol of our friendship for your country.’ APRIL 19, 1967 ITV’S longest-running series, Emergency — Ward 10, is to be scrapped in July after ten years and 987 episodes. The cast was told before rehearsals at ATV’s studios at Elstree yesterday. The story of the makebelieve Oxbridge Hospital, its staff and patients was devised by doctor’s daughter Tessa Diamond. It started in February 1957 with a scheduled run of only six weeks. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUBy WAx, 64. The U.S.born comedian, writer and mental health campaigner (right) did a masters in cognitive therapy at Oxford to help defuse her depression. She said she decided to turn her back on TV while appearing on ITV’s Celebrity Shark Bait in 2005: ‘We’re in the cage and suddenly something about 20ft long glided at us, looked at us with dead eyes and swam away, disappointed, looking for A-list celebrities. It was at this point I set sail from show business.’ TREVOR FRANCIS, 63. The striker was Britain’s first £1 million footballer. Birmingham City sold him to Nottingham Forest in 1979 for £1.18 million. He said he felt pressure ‘as supporters sang “What a waste of money”.’ That same year, he scored a winning goal in the European Cup final. BORN ON THIS DAY JAyNE MANSFIELD (1933-1967). The U.S. film star (right) was well-known for being a self-publicist. In 1957, she stole Sophia Loren’s thunder at a party thrown to welcome the Italian to Hollywood. A famous photo captures Loren looking sideways at Mansfield’s very low-cut dress. She has said since: ‘I’m staring at her nipples because I am afraid everything in her dress is going to blow — boom! — and spill all over the table.’ Mansfield died aged 34 in a car crash. ON APRIL 19 . . .
IN 1770, Marie Antoinette married the future Louis xVI of France in a proxy wedding (a brother of the 14-year-old bride took the 15-year-old groom’s place).
IN 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 and injured 500. WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY Brass ceiling: The difficulty women face in rising to high ranks in the Armed Forces. GUESS THE DEFINITION Fiddlers’ green (coined 1825) A)Illness where sailors in hot areas throw themselves in the sea, thinking it is a field. B) Where sailors hope to go when they die, with music, dancing, rum and tobacco. C) Where the grass is high enough to hide young men and maids. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
Give and take: Rhyming slang for cake. No cake can be eaten that is not given (by a shopkeeper) and taken.