ON THIS DAY

November 17, 2020

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE

NOVEMBER 17, 1952

THE United States tonight admitted that the world’s first hydrogen bomb has been successfully exploded. The so- called ‘Hell-bomb’ is at least 1,000 times as devastating as the atom bomb and one dropped over London could be expected to destroy everything within a radius of some 20 miles.

NOVEMBER 17, 1995

THE Queen Mother’s indomitable spirit shone through yesterday as she became one of the oldest people in the world to undergo a total hip replacement. Aged 95, she braved surgery so she could continue living life to the full. Smiling broadly, and steadying herself with two sticks, she brushed aside help as she walked down the steps of the Ritz hotel after a lunch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

RACHEL MCADAMS, 42. The Canadian competed in figure skating as a child before taking up acting and starring in Mean Girls and t wo of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films (as I r ene Adler). She was Oscar-nominated for her role in Spotlight. She is scared of horses ‘because they seem to have such a soul. It’s almost like they can read your thoughts’. JONATHAN ROSS, 60. The London-born TV chat show host is the son of a lorry driver. As a child, he starred in adverts for Persil and Rice Krispies, and retook his O-levels because ‘they coincided with punk’. At the BBC, he reportedly earned £18 million over three years, and when he appeared on the BBC’s TV show Room 101, he asked to banish his own dress sense.

BORN ON THIS DAY

PETER COOK (1937-1995). The comedian and writer from Torquay found fame with Beyond The Fringe, with Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and dudley Moore. His first of three wives, Wendy, blamed his alcohol abuse and adultery on his emotional vulnerability: ‘Nobody as sensitive as he was could help but suffer. Genius is also torture.’

FENELLA FIELDING ( 1927- 2018). The huskyvoiced actress from London is best known for her part in Carry On Screaming. She left Rada after a year as her parents wanted her to ‘get a proper job’. Known as the first lady of the double entendre, she said she had two lovers (one married) for 20 years without either finding out about the other.

ON NOVEMBER 17…

IN 1950, the 15-year-old dalai Lama took on full political duties after China invaded Tibet. He still lives in exile in India. IN 1970, U.S. engineer douglas Engelbart received a patent for the computer mouse.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: Appurtenance (c late 14th century)

A) Effrontery. B) An appearance, an impression. C) Something subordinate to another, an adjunct or an accessory. Answer below

PHRASE EXPLAINED The land of nod: A place mentioned in the Book of Genesis, located ‘on the east of Eden’, where Cain was exiled by God after having murdered his brother Abel. It also refers to where we go when we are asleep and was coined with this sense by Jonathan Swift in the 1730s.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

Destiny is something we’ve invented. Because we can’t stand the fact that everything that happens is accidental Nora Ephron, U.S. writer (1941-2012)

JOKE OF THE DAY

MY FRIEND was sacked as a stage designer. He left without making a scene.

Guess The Definition answer: C.