ON THIS DAY
February 5, 2018
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
FEBRUARY 5, 1946 ONE hundred GI bridegrooms are seeking divorce from their British wives and have written cancelling applications to have them shipped to the U.S., the GI Brides Transport Office in London has revealed.
An official says: ‘In England, the men dreamed rosy dreams. But when they get back, they find good jobs hard to get. They lose heart at the thought of bringing their wives out to comparative poverty and think the best way out is divorce.’ FEBRUARY 5, 1953 ALL sweets are off the ration today — and they are off for good. Official price control is also ended. The announcement was made by the Food Minister, Major Lloyd-George, in the Commons yesterday — and an hour later there was chaos in the sweet shops.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
CHARLOTTE RAMPLING, 72. The English actress’s sister Sarah took her own life in the same year Rampling (right) had her breakout role in Georgy Girl. Their father shielded their mother from the truth, saying Sarah had died from a brain haemorrhage. ‘I’ve always wondered if she was protected by our pact or poisoned by our lie,’ Rampling recalled. The Broadchurch star lives in France, where she is nicknamed La Legende.
SUSAN HILL, 76. The Scarborough-born author of The Woman In Black says the novel was so scary that the woman typing up her manuscript could only do it if she was not alone in the house. In 2013, Hill, who has two daughters (a third died), left her husband of 38 years for a woman.
BORN ON THIS DAY
PEG ENTWISTLE (1908-1932). The Broadway starlet from Port Talbot in Wales, who emigrated to New York with her father as a child, was cited as an inspiration by Bette Davis. After the death of her father and the breakdown of her marriage, Entwistle took her own life by throwing herself 45ft from the ‘H’ of the ‘Hollywoodland’ sign in LA.
SIR KEN ADAM (19212016). The double-Oscarwinning, Berlin-born production designer started out making bomb shelters for the British Army. He worked on Dr Strangelove, but was best known for his set designs for seven Bond movies, starting with Dr No in 1962. He came up with 007’s Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger (above) with revolving number plates, tyre shredders and an ejector seat.
ON FEBRUARY 5...
IN 1919, Hollywood heavyweights Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith united to create their own film studio, United Artists.
IN 1996, the first genetically modified food went on sale in Britain — tomato puree that had a ‘rotting gene’ removed.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Sniggling (1661)
A) Of a dog when it finds fresh scent.
B) Fishing for eels by lowering a baited hook into a possible hiding place.
C) Lean deer not fit to hunt. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Told sub-rosa — Anything told sub-rosa (‘under the rose’) is said in the strictest confidence. For the Romans, the white rose is an emblem of silence and when hung above a banqueting table it meant that nothing would be repeated.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough Mae West, American actress (1893-1980)
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW did the paint catapult win the competition? With flying colours. Guess The Definition answer: B.