ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE OCTOBER 29, 1947
MOST of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gifts — on view at St James’s Palace yesterday — were not of fine gold and silver from the rich and famous but items such as hand-made kettleholders and pin cushions. An official said: ‘The Princess broke with tradition and decided that no presents, however small, should be rejected.’
OCTOBER 29, 1986
MRS Thatcher will today open an eightmile ‘missing link’ stretch of road at South Mimms, Herts, to complete the world’s longest city bypass — the 117-mile-long M25 orbital route circling London.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
YASMIn LE BOn (pictured), 56, born in Oxford, was one of the highest-paid models of the 1980s. She returned to the catwalk last year, but had initial reservations: ‘I didn’t want to look like someone’s grandma on the runway. But actually, I am someone’s grandma, and I am on the runway, so there you go.’ Married to Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon, she says she wears more miniskirts now than in her 20s.
LEE CHILD, 66. The thriller writer from Warwickshire (real name, James Grant) has made an estimated £40million and is best known for his Jack Reacher novels. The 25th, out this week, is Child’s last as sole author, as he is handing over the reins to his brother, fellow writer Andrew Grant. His wife Jane came up with the lead character’s name as 6ft 4in Child is often asked by shorter customers to take items off high shelves in shops. She said: ‘If this writing thing doesn’t pan out, you could always be a reacher in a supermarket.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
BOB ROSS (1942-1995), the melodic-voiced U.S. artist, made The Joy of Painting in the 1980s and 1990s. He helped soothe a new generation of budding painters through this year’s lockdown (often advising his audience to paint ‘happy little trees’) when the BBC re-showed the series recently. His trademark fuzzy hair was naturally straight. Bob first got a perm thinking it would save cash on haircuts, but fame dictated he kept it.
ROBERT HARDY (1925-2017) played vet Siegfried Farnon in 1980s TV series All Creatures Great And Small and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge in four Harry Potter films. At Oxford University, he studied under authors J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Hardy said the ego he needed to act meant ‘my family complained loudly about my behaviour’ when playing Winston Churchill six times.
ON OCTOBER 29 . . .
IN 1969, the concept that became the internet was first demonstrated when the letters ‘L O’ were sent from one computer to another. It was supposed to read ‘LOGIn’, but the computer crashed.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Canzonet (coined c. 1590) A) Gondolier’s song. B) Early polyphonic song. C) Spontaneous barber-shop singing. answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED One sandwich short of a picnic — meaning a slightly dim person. First used in 1987 by Lenny Henry in his sketch show.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out. Thomas Babington Macaulay, English politician and historian (1800-1859)
JOKE OF THE DAY
DOn’T download the colander app to your phone. It drains the battery. Guess The Definition answer: B