ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
DECEMBER 14, 1959 MOTORISTS may face a tougher system of fines for parking offences in the New Year. Mr Ernest Marples, Minister of Transport, is considering a scheme to fine motorists directly instead of taking them to court. A policeman would slip a ticket under a windscreen wiper notifying the owner he had broken the law and stating the fine. DECEMBER 14, 1961 SANTA Claus has been debunked by a Vatican weekly newspaper as a ‘monstrous substitute’ for the Christ child. In an editorial, the L’osservatore Della Domenica says Santa Claus ‘offends the faith’ and ‘must not be accepted or tolerated by Christians’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MIRANDA HART, 46. The 6ft 1in Devon-born comedian and Call The Midwife actress (right) says she is a terrible dancer: ‘There’s too much of me to look neat, which is most disappointing.’ At Downe House boarding school, she was too shy even to audition for school plays, but played lacrosse for her county and was popular for being sporty. ‘In my old age, I’m a sportswoman trapped in a fat body,’ she says. NATASCHA MCELHONE, 49. The actress from Surrey, star of The Truman Show and Solaris, was regarded as ‘blighted’ by her Irish grandmother because she’d not been baptised: ‘Whenever we visited, she would flick holy water over me and my brother — from the font she kept by the door — in the hope it would save us from damnation.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
LEE REMICK (1935-1991). The American actress, star of Anatomy of A Murder and The omen, was dubbed ‘America’s answer to Brigitte Bardot’ by Hollywood publicists, but she resisted the image, saying later: ‘I had no plans to become a sex kitten.’ GEORGE VI (1895-1952). The Queen’s father was the last Emperor of India and first Head of the Commonwealth. As Duke of York, in 1926 he competed in the men’s doubles at Wimbledon (right) and remains the only royal to have entered the Championships. He was born on the anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert. Queen Victoria was upset by the coincidence, but said later his birth ‘had broken the spell of this most unlucky date’.
ON DECEMBER 14…
IN 1542, Princess Mary became Queen Mary I of Scotland (Mary, Queen of Scots), aged six days old, after the death of her father, James V. IN 1918, British women voted in a general election for the first time (8.5million were eligible to do so).
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Stashing (2018) A) Not telling anyone about the person with whom you are in a romantic relationship. B) Living in a small apartment. C) Insulting someone to attract them sexually. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED: Hit the panic button TAKING emergency measures. The source seems to have been the U.S. bell system used in World War II bombers for bailing out and ditching.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A LITTLE thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money. John Ruskin, art patron and philanthropist (1819-1900)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the pirate get in his GCSEs? Seven Cs. Guess the Definition answer: A