Scottish Daily Mail

ON THIS DAY

MAY 16, 2017

- Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD

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.

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