ON THIS DAY
September 15, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 15, 1927 ISADORA DUNCAN, the dancer, was killed in a motoring accident in Nice at 10 o’clock last night. She was about to get into a car when a long shawl she was wearing was caught by one of the front wheels. She was thrown down, and one of the rear wheels went over her, breaking her back.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1982 PRINCESS Grace of Monaco, 52, died last night from injuries in a car crash on Monday. The former actress Grace Kelly, who gave up Hollywood stardom to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, sustained a broken thighbone, broken ribs, a broken collarbone and other injuries when her car went out of control on a mountain road near Monaco, plunged down a 120ft embankment and burst into flames.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BRENDAN O’CARROLL, 65. The Dublin-born actor is the creator, writer and star of BBC sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys (which features his son, daughter, sister, daughter-in-law, and grandson). Former bankrupt, O’Carroll (right) turned down $100million to do 72 u.S. episodes of his series, saying: ‘I’d hardly see my grandkids.’
PRINCE HARRY, 36. The Duke of Sussex was the inspiration behind the 2014 reality series I Wanna Marry Harry, in which 12 young American women were duped into thinking they were competing for the affections of a prince — who turned out to be a Harry lookalike. He had a photo of actress Halle Berry on his bedroom wall at Eton.
BORN ON THIS DAY
MARY SOAMES (19222014). The youngest and last surviving of Winston Churchill’s five children (right) was described in one obituary as ‘short and stocky, like her father’. She married Tory minister Christopher Soames and was the mother of ex-Tory MP Nicholas. In World War II she served in the ATS, manning anti-aircraft batteries in London, Belgium and Germany.
JACKIE COOPER (1922-2011). The American child star was, aged nine, the youngest person to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, for his part in 1931’s Skippy (a record he still holds). When Cooper was required to cry for a scene, director Norman Taurog (his uncle) claimed to have had Cooper’s dog shot off-set. He went on to play Daily Planet editor Perry White in the four Christopher Reeve Superman movies.
ON SEPTEMBER 15…
IN 1997, Google.com was registered as a domain name.
IN 2000, the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics took place. It included a performance by Olivia Newton-John.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINTION: Thersitical (mid-17th century)
A) Playful. B) Inquisitive. C) Scurrilous.
Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
To the victor go the spoils: Meaning the winner gets the rewards. Coined in 1832 in America by William Marcy, making a statement against the Democratic Party.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
EVERY man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.
Henry Miller, American novelist (1891-1980)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I BOUGHT my friend an elephant for his room. He said: ‘Thanks.’ I said: ‘Don’t mention it . . . ’
Guess The Definition answer: C.