December 15, 2020
ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE DECEMBER 15, 1971
THE bitterest attack made on the Royal Family in Parliament rocked the Commons last night. Mr Willie Hamilton, Fife Labour MP and arch-enemy of the monarchy, poured out his scorn for everything connected with the Palace and singled out Princess Margaret as ‘this expensive, kept woman’.
DECEMBER 15, 1990
JOHN MAJOR opened a fresh chapter in Britain’s relations with Europe yesterday. The Prime Minister, in Rome, embarked on his first European Community summit by pleading for an end to the squabbles which marked the Thatcher years.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DoN JoHNSoN, 71. The American actor made his name as Sonny Crockett in TV hit Miami Vice and has been in the films Django Unchained and Knives out. The father of five has married five times, including twice to actress Melanie Griffith and described himself in his Eighties heyday, when he was the highest-paid man on television, as ‘the sex idol of the universe’.
HELEN SLATER, 57. The actress from New York played the lead in films The Legend of Billie Jean and Supergirl ( right). The l atter, also starring Faye Dunaway, Peter o’Toole and Mia Farrow was dubbed a ‘ star- studded disaster’. In one scene a cardboard cutout of Slater was used to save cash. Yet she has no regrets about the movie: ‘It was definitely the biggest moment of my life for sure.’ She went on to appear in City Slickers and Lassie.
BORN ON THIS DAY
HARoLD ABRAHAMS (1899-1978). The English athlete was played by Ben Cross, who died this year, in multi-oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire. At the 1924 Games in Paris, Abrahams won 100m gold, set three olympic record- equalling performances and became the first European to win an olympic sprint title. He later broke his leg trying to beat his own long jump record — which ended his career. He then took up law again, practising as a barrister.
IDA HAENDEL (1924-2020). The Polishborn violinist, who died in July, was a child prodigy. She picked up her sister’s violin, aged three, and at 12, played at the Proms, where she would continue appearing for 57 years. After composer Jean Sibelius heard Ida on the radio, he wrote to congratulate her on her interpretation of his concerto.
ON DECEMBER 15…
IN 1939, Gone With The Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh (right), had its world premiere, attracting an estimated 300,000 fans to Atlanta, Georgia. IN 1984, Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? started five weeks at No.1 in the UK charts.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Ambages (coined early 15th century) A) Distemper peculiar to sailors in hot climes. B) Winding, roundabout paths or ways. C) A wild animal’s tracks. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED To be in a cleft stick — meaning to be in a dilemma or a tight place; from the verb ‘to cleave’ with the suggestion either of sticking to or of splitting; hence you have no room for manoeuvre.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
All I ask is for the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy Spike Milligan, Irish comedian (1918-2002)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT happened when two silk worms raced each other? They ended up in a tie.
GUESS The Definition answer: B