ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE NOVEMBER 6, 1939
If mARGARINE continues to be standardised, the ministry of food has promised a special brand for vegetarians — who claim the wartime marge contains whale oil, which renders it unsuitable for them.
NOVEMBER 6, 1957
OPINION in moscow tonight is that Laika, the Space Dog, may soon die, but that her journey through the solar system puts the USSR years ahead in the race to the moon. moscow Radio commentator Boris Belitsky said: ‘In Britain, this anxiety is no doubt particularly strong.’ [Laika, pictured, died just a few hours after take-off and burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere five months after launch.]
BORN ON THIS DAY
ADOLPhE SAx (1814-94). The Belgianborn maker of musical instruments invented the saxophone. he was an accident-prone child, who was hit on the head by a brick, swallowed a needle, fell on to a stove and once drank sulphuric acid. he went bankrupt three times fighting lawsuits from rivals and lived his later years in poverty. mIKE NIChOLS (1931-2014). The Oscarwinning Berlin-born director of The Graduate and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? moved to the U.S. aged seven to escape the Nazis and arrived in New York with just two phrases, ‘I do not speak English’ and ‘Please do not kiss me’. Nichols had lost his hair aged four, and wore wigs and false eyebrows for the rest of his life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
CATh KIDSTON, 59. The designer and entrepreneur is known for her vintage, nostalgic floral products, ranging from ironing board covers and wallpaper to tents and radios. Kidston is dyslexic, but her mother didn’t tell her until she was 24, saying: ‘I didn’t want you to think you were odd.’ EThAN hAWKE, 47. U.S. star of Dead Poets Society and Training Day, almost died several times. hawke (pictured) recalls: ‘A stabbing when I was young; terrible loss of blood due to poor surgery; several almost car crashes and one almost plane crash.’
ON NOVEMBER 6 . . .
IN 1999, 54.87 per cent of Australians who voted in a referendum said ‘No’ to replacing the Queen with a president.
IN 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele ended after three months of fighting and 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Orlop (coined 1467) A) a ship’s lowest deck B) a scarecrow C) a hangman’s noose PHRASE EXPLAINED
At the 11th hour — meaning at the last moment, it alludes to the parable in the gospel of matthew in which labourers hired for the vineyard started work late in the afternoon ‘at the 11th hour’ and were paid the same as those who had ‘borne the burden and heat of the day’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
If MEN had to have babies, they would only ever have one each. Princess Diana (1961-97), while pregnant with Prince Harry
JOKE OF THE DAY
A GhOST walked into a bar and ordered a whisky. The barman said: ‘Sorry, we don’t serve spirits here.’ GuESS THE DEfINITION answer: A Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD