ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JUNE 7, 1944 THE first day of Europe’s liberation has gone completely in favour of the Allies [D-Day took place on June 6]. ‘We have got the first wave of men through the beach and set for the land battle,’ said Admiral Ramsay, Naval Commander-in-Chief, last night. The sea is rough but reinforcements are pouring in.
JUNE 7, 1968 THE body of Robert Kennedy was flown into New York tonight. He died in hospital from an assassin’s bullets. Behind the coffin came the widows who travelled with the Senator, a testimony to the violence of American politics. First came Robert’s widow, Ethel, expecting her 11th child. Behind came Jackie, widow of John F. Kennedy. With them was Coretta King, widow of the Rev Martin Luther King.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
VIRGINIA McKENNA, 86. The Bafta-winning English actress (right) co-starred with her husband Bill Travers in the 1966 film Born Free, about a game warden and his wife in Kenya who care for three orphaned lion cubs. It inspired her to set up her animal charity of the same name. When she visits Africa, she still wears the same safari boots she wore for the film.
DAMIEN HIRST, 52. The English artist, best known for his animals in tanks of formaldehyde. ‘It’s amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw,’ he said when he collected his Turner Prize in 1995. In 2008, Hirst made £111 million in two days at Sotheby’s in London — the most money made at auction by any single artist.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JESSICA TANDY (19091994). The London-born star was the oldest woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress (right) when she triumphed for Driving Miss Daisy in 1990, aged 80 years and 295 days. Tandy said she was ‘a graceless lump’ when young and that letters of recommendation to producers and directors said: ‘Don’t be put off by how she looks.’
CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (18681928). Glasgow-born architect, designer and artist. It has been said that modern architecture began when Mackintosh built the Glasgow School of Art — though he was only moderately successful in his lifetime. In 1915, he was briefly arrested on suspicion of being a German spy because his home contained German art brochures.
ON JUNE 7...
IN 1965, Sony became the first company to unveil a home video recorder. IN 1977, one million people lined the streets of London for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
WORD WIZARDRY
NEW PHRASE OF THE DAY Eye broccoli: Someone unappealing to look at (the opposite of eye candy).
GUESS THE DEFINITION Macrology (coined 1586) A) Mixing words from different languages. B) Much talk with little to say. C) Excessive studying. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Dyed in the wool: Said of someone fixed in their opinions. Dates from 1579 and refers to woollen cloth that is dyed after weaving and will retain its colour.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves Queen Victoria (1819-1901)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the spider do on the computer? It made a website. Guess The Definition Answer: B.