ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
DECEMBER 4, 1967 THE heart of a 25-year-old girl was beating inside a 55-year-old man tonight after South African surgeons carried out the world’s first successful transplant of a human heart. Mr Louis Washkansky, who was dying from heart disease, is the man given new life. It was said tonight: ‘He is doing very well.’
DECEMBER 4, 1989 THE storm-tossed Malta summit ended yesterday with a historic handshake and a pledge by the Superpowers to be partners in peace. President Bush said he saw the chance to achieve lasting peace and declared: ‘We stand at the threshold of a new era of U.S.-Soviet relations.’
President Gorbachev added: ‘We are right at the very beginning of a long road to a long-lasting peaceful period.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DINA ASHER-SMITH, 24, right. The sprinter from London — the fastest British woman in history — is surprised she still gets asked about whether she wears make-up while competing: ‘I’m like yes! I’m on TV in front of millions of people, if you do well your picture goes on every front page, every website, Google images for ever. I’m putting on my sparkly eye shadow.’ JEFF BRIDGES, 70. The U.S Oscar-winner said his actor father Lloyd Bridges encouraged all his children to enter showbusiness, but he resisted: ‘You don’t want to be a product of nepotism, which I surely am.’ Bridges, a keen smoker, says he has ‘a relationship with the cigar’ and has appeared on the cover of Cigar Aficionado magazine.
BORN ON THIS DAY
FRANCISCO FRANCO (1892-1975). The Spanish military dictator was known as El Caudillo, meaning leader. In the 1920s, he became the youngest general in Spain. In 2007, a law was passed to remove public symbols of his rule. In October, 44 years after his grand funeral, his remains were moved from a large mausoleum to a modest grave on the orders of the socialist government, against his family’s wishes.
DEANNA DURBIN (1921-2013). The Canadian actress and singer was a child star, making her film debut alongside Judy Garland. In her late 20s — just a year after being named the highest-paid star in the U.S. — she retired. Anne frank had a picture of Durbin on the wall of the Amsterdam attic in which she hid from the nazis.
ON DECEMBER 4…
In 1956, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash (right) had an impromptu jam session in Memphis, recording what became known as the Million Dollar Quartet.
In 2014, former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe — who was acquitted of conspiracy and incitement to murder — died, aged 85.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Moss-back (late 19th century) A) A sycophant B) A right-winger C) A coward Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED: Dutch courage: Refers to false bravery from having drunk alcohol; coming from the 17th century it alludes to the boozy reputation of the Dutch.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my right hand.
Ronnie Corbett, comedian (1930-2016)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I JUST rushed to my hospital to find out it had been turned into a library.
I had to suffer in silence.
Guess the Definition answer: B