ON THIS DAY

September 22, 2017

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE SEPTEMBER 22, 1942

THE chairman of the U.S.’s War Production Board, Donald Nelson, today warned the American public that it must stop ‘living on its fat’ and accept a ‘much lower standard of living’. He said: ‘So far, America has not felt the pinch but next year we will have to cut far more deeply into our civilian economy even than Britain — if we are to win.’

SEPTEMBER 22, 1964

SCREAMS from 3,500 teenagers greeted The Beatles last night as they arrived back at London Airport amid chaotic scenes. In New York, Derek Taylor, 32, the press officer who was with the Fab Four on their monthlong tour, resigned. He said: ‘I can’t stand being pushed around in this madhouse.’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

SUE PERKINS, 48. The former Great British Bake Off co-presenter (pictured) said she was ‘not going with the dough’ when it moved from the BBC to Channel 4. A school report said of her: ‘What Susan lacks in intelligence, she makes up for in stupidity.’ But she proved them wrong by getting into Cambridge. Perkins is in a relationship with broadcaster Anna Richardson, but says: ‘Being a lesbian is only about the 47th most interesting thing about me.’

ROSAMUNDE PILCHER, 93. The Cornishborn writer of The Shell Seekers and Coming Home has sold more than 60 million books worldwide. The former Mills & Boon author is hugely popular in Germany, thanks to TV adaptations of her books, filmed in Cornwall using German actors. Some 200,000 Germans visit the county each year, many going on Pilcher bus tours.

Dr LIAM FOX, 56. The GP-turned-International Trade Secretary stepped down as Defence Secretary in 2011, over claims he allowed a lobbyist friend to be funded by financiers who potentially stood to benefit from Government decisions. A friend of Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia, she thanked East Kilbride-born Fox on her debut album’s sleeve notes.

BORN ON THIS DAY

MARTHA SCOTT (19122003). The Oscar-nominated American actress played Charlton Heston’s wife twice on stage — and his mother twice on film, in The Ten Commandments (pictured) and Ben-Hur, even though there were only 11 years between them.

ON SEPTEMBER 22…

IN 1862, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared that all slaves in rebel states would be freed by the first day of 1863. IN 1980, tensions between Iran and Iraq became a war that would last eight years. IN 1989, Irving Berlin, songwriter of White Christmas, died at the age of 101.

WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION Cabotinage (coined 1894)

A) The act of whipping a benumbed limb with nettles to restore feeling. B) Mix of words from different languages. C) Tendency of second-rate actors to play to the gallery. Answer below

PHRASE EXPLAINED

May Day: From the custom of Roman youths spending the calends of May dancing and singing in the fields in honour of Flora, goddess of fruits and flowers.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

LET us be frank about it: most of our people have never had it so good.

Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister (1894-1986)

JOKE OF THE DAY

WHAT do you call a snake that builds aeroplanes? A Boeing constructor. Guess The Definition answer: C.

Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD