ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 13, 1939 EigHTY million ration books have been printed and are ready for distribution when the National Register — a record of the people resident in every house in the kingdom — has been made. Rationing in no way indicates any shortage of food, but a determination on the part of the authorities that all shall share alike.
SEPTEMBER 13, 1968 PROTECTiON of the public from ‘Big Brother tyranny’ is the aim of a nationwide study by the British Computer Society. investigator Michael Stone, 35, West Sussex County Council computer chief, said: ‘One day someone in a government department could get instant information about a citizen from another government just by pressing a button.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JACquEliNE BiSSET, 74. The Surrey-born actress — godmother to Angelina Jolie — starred with Frank Sinatra in The Detective and Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt. She’s still probably most famous for her wet T-shirt scene in 1977’s film, The Deep, but says: ‘You could put any woman in a wet T-shirt and men would lust after her.’
DOMENiCO DOlCE, 61. The italian designer, one half of Dolce & gabbana, is worth more than $1billion. He founded the firm with Stefano gabbana, whom he met in a Milan nightclub. in 2015, Elton John called for a boycott of D&g after the designers opposed iVF and gay adoption — Dolce apologised not long after.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DANiEl DEFOE (1660-1731). The londonborn author of Moll Flanders has been described as having invented the modern novel with Robinson Crusoe. He worked as a political writer and spy for the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robert Harley. Defoe once said of our capacity for alcohol: ‘An Englishman will fairly drink as much as will maintain two families of Dutch.’
ROAlD DAHl (1916-1990). The Cardiff-born author was an RAF pilot who was lucky to survive a crash in World War ii. Before becoming a writer, he was a spy in the u.S. — where he was said to have slept with ginger Rogers, among many glamorous women. He was married to actress Patricia Neal for 30 years, but divorced her after an 11-year affair with Felicity Crosland, his second wife.
ON SEPTEMBER 13…
IN 1958, Cliff Richard made his TV debut on ‘Oh Boy!’, performing Move it (having already been ordered by the show’s producer to remove his sideburns). IN 2001, Osama bin laden was named as the prime suspect in the 9/11 terror attacks.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Absquatulate (1839) A) To hide. B) To recover from a serious illness. C) To abscond. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Give it some welly! An instruction to apply more effort, it became popular in the Seventies. ‘Welly’ is short for ‘Wellington boots’ and it alludes to the notion of using one’s foot or boot forcefully against something — often a vehicle’s accelerator or a football.