ON THIS DAY
MAY 16, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MAY 16, 1945
GERmaN prisoners are to assist in preparing sites for pre-fab houses in London, a ministry of Works official said yesterday. They will work in large open areas where they can be easily guarded. Employing prisoners in clearing mines on beaches is also being considered.
MAY 16, 1957
FLIGHT Lieutenant alan Washbrook, 36year-old navigator in a four-engined Valiant jet, pressed a button eight miles above the Pacific yesterday and turned Britain into an H-bomb power. Prime minister Harold macmillan speeded the tests so Britain could make sure the weapons work before talks with Russia and america about banning nuclear weapons.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ROy HUDD, 81. The Croydonborn comedian, actor and radio host (right) was seen most recently on TV in Broadchurch, playing DS Ellie miller’s father. He celebrated his wedding anniversary last year by phoning ahead to ask a restaurant to ignore his wife Debbie’s order and instead serve her a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pudding and angel Delight — the meal he made when courting her in the mid-Eighties. JUDy FINNIGaN, 69. The long-serving TV presenter — alongside husband Richard madeley — of ITV’s This morning (19882001) and Richard and Judy (2001-2008) is now a novelist. She says she does not miss TV ‘at all’, describing having to interview soap stars about issues they knew nothing about as ‘increasingly idiotic’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DaVID HUGHES (1831-1900). The Welsh-born scientist and professor of music invented the microphone, using a piece of pine board to pick up sound. He was a virtuoso harpist from the age of six. When he died, he left £400,000 (£25million in today’s money) to five hospitals. HENRy FONDa (1905-1982). The star of 12 angry men appeared in more than 90 films. His actress daughter Jane, by the second of his five wives, was sent to boarding school after her mother killed herself. Suffering nightmares, Jane wrote to her father, who returned the letters with her grammatical errors highlighted in red ink, refusing ever to discuss the suicide.
ON MAY 16 . . .
IN 1975, Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to conquer mount Everest.
IN 1990, agriculture minister John Gummer sought to reassure the public over the BSE crisis by feeding his daughter a beefburger.
IN 2001, deputy Pm John Prescott punched a protestor who threw an egg at him.
WORD WIZARDRY
NEW WORD OF THE DAY
SMIDSY (acronym): Sorry, mate, I didn’t see you (referring to a driver’s failure to notice a cyclist). GUESS THE DEFINITION Farouche (coined 1765) a) Distemper peculiar to sailors, who see the sea as fields and throw themselves in. B) Belonging to the kitchen garden. C) Sullen, shy and repellent. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
To wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve: To expose your secret intentions. Refers to the custom of tying a lady’s ‘favour’ (her ribbon) to your arm, revealing your feelings for her.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
LIfe is too short to stuff a mushroom. Shirley Conran, writer (born 1932)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I’m maRRyING a pencil. I can’t wait to introduce my parents to my bride 2B. Guess The Definition answer: C.