ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
NOVeMBeR 26, 1940 THERE will be no public holiday on Christmas Day in Scotland or on Boxing Day in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Banks will remain open. War workers are asked to take one day off only — either on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. The Ministry of Labour last night said this was not the moment for any slackening off. NOVeMBeR 26, 1969 BEATLE John Lennon (pictured) sent his MBE medal back to the Queen yesterday. It was taken to the tradesmen’s entrance at Buckingham Palace in his Mercedes with a letter to the Queen. It read: ‘I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.’ Cold Turkey is currently at No 17 in the charts.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
IVAN BASSo, 41. The Italian former professional cyclist nicknamed ‘Ivan The Terrible’ and ‘The Smiling Assassin’ was a fearsome mountain rider. He won the Giro d’Italia in 2006 and again in 2010 after being suspended in 2007 for admitting he planned to use doping. He was diagnosed — then successfully treated — with testicular cancer during examinations after a crash in the 2015 Tour de France. Basso plans to spend retirement farming blueberries. RITA oRA, 28. The Kosovan-born pop star is the 11th wealthiest musician under 30, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, with a fortune of £16 million. The former X Factor and The Voice judge revealed last year that she froze her eggs in her early 20s because she ‘always wanted a big family’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
CHARLES M. SCHULz (19222000). For 50 years, the American cartoonist penned the Peanuts comic strip — starring Charlie Brown (pictured) and friends — which was read by 335million people around the world. His final cartoon was published just hours after he died, aged 77. He has an airport named after him in Sonoma, California. PAT PHoENIX (1923-1986). The actress from Manchester drew huge audiences playing Coronation Street’s Elsie Tanner. She was called ‘The First Lady of Soap’ and ‘The Working Man’s Raquel Welch’. Corrie creator Tony Warren said listening to her reading his lines for the first time was like sex.
ON NOVEMBER 26...
IN 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, in Luxor, Egypt.
IN 1924, Charlie Chaplin, 35, married 16-year-old Lita Grey (who had starred in his film, The Kid) in Mexico.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Concinnity (1530s) A) Laughter. B) An excess. C) A harmonious arrangement or fitting together. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Mind your Ps and Qs: A warning to be polite and well behaved. Schoolchildren were told to distinguish between the back-to-front forms of p and q.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
OpeRA is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings. Ed Gardner, U.S. comedian (1901-1963)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I WENT to a fancy dress party as harp, but was told my costume was too small... I said, are you calling me a lyre? Guess the definition answer: C. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD