ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
NOVEMBER 1, 1946 ADMIrAL Lord Mountbatten, speaking to wireless specialists, announced that man now had at his disposal an electronic brain and machines which could memorise. They would, he said, cut down work now being done by scientists from years to hours. For the housewife, too, there were cookers which, in minutes, would turn out a dinner that at present takes hours to prepare. NOVEMBER 1, 1966 A rECOrD company has dropped plans to issue a disc, We Love Nobby Stiles, after the footballer called in his solicitors. In the song, written by Bill Oddie, Mr Stiles (right), who plays for Manchester United and was in England’s winning World Cup team, is described as rough and toothless.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
GErALD rATNEr, 68. The ‘Sultan of bling’ is best known for almost sinking his hugely popular High Street company. Addressing the Institute of Directors, he joked that a £4.95 sherry decanter and glasses were ‘total c**p’ and that a pair of his firm’s gold earrings were ‘cheaper than a prawn sandwich from M&S — but the sandwich will probably last longer’. He said afterwards that he thought his speech ‘went well’ — but the share price plunged and 18 months later Gerald was fired. MArk AUSTIN, 59. The former newsreader left ITV last year after three decades to take a job at Sky. He had presented more than 2,500 programmes and been on our TV screens for more than two million minutes. He was once slapped by Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines, for what she called ‘impertinent questioning’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
L.S. LOWry (1887-1976): English artist (right) famous for his ‘matchstick men’ scenes of life in the industrial North-West. He worked as a rent collector for 40 years, painting at night, and holds the record for the most rejected honours — five, including a knighthood in 1968. SPENCEr PErCEVAL (1762-1812): The only British prime minister to have been assassinated. He was shot in the heart in the parliamentary lobby by merchant John Bellingham, protesting against the Government’s refusal to help when he was wrongly imprisoned in russia for six months in a rat-infested cell. The Tory MP Henry Bellingham is a descendant of the killer, who was found guilty of murder and hanged.
ON NOVEMBER 1…
IN 1512: The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, with paintings by Michelangelo, was shown to the public for the first time. IN 1986: Toxic chemicals released after a factory fire turned the river rhine red. GUESS THE DEFINITION Pink (coined 1598) A) To spend money before it’s been earned. B) To decorate with perforations. C) rich, wealthy. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED
To sit above the salt: Meaning to sit in a position of distinction. It was the custom to place the salt in its silver container in the middle of the long dinner table. Guests of honour were seated between the container and the head of the table, while those of less importance were seated ‘below the salt’. QUOTE FOR TODAY Nice guys, when we turn nasty, can make a terrible mess of it, usually because we’ve had so little practice and have bottled it up for too long. Matthew Parris, political writer JOKE OF THE DAY WHAT did the canary say when the cage from the pound shop broke? Cheap cheap! Guess The Definition answer: C.