ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE FEBRUARY 26, 1943

THANKS to Hitler and Mussolini, nerve specialists’ consulting rooms in Britain have been emptied, says Dr H.A. Clegg, appointed by the Health Ministry to write their pamphlet, How To Keep Well in Wartime, published today. Before the war there was an increase in the number of ‘worriers’. Now there is less personal anxiety. This may be because the real danger we all face is bigger than the imaginary dangers that make people nervy.

FEBRUARY 26, 1944

THE ban on the appointment of women civil servants to executive posts overseas in the three Service Ministries has been withdrawn by the War Office. They have just nominated 25 women who are to leave immediately for Cairo, Egypt. it is anticipated that the other two Services will follow suit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

JOSEPHINE TEWSON, 90. The Rada-trained actress from London (pictured) played Elizabeth, the longsuffering neighbour of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances, and Miss Davenport in Last Of The Summer Wine. Tewson was married to Reginald perrin star Leonard Rossiter for four years, but said: ‘We greatly admired each other in our work, but we mistook that for love.’

SANDIE SHAW, 74 (pictured). The singer from Dagenham, Essex, had hits with (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me and puppet On A String — with which she became the first Brit to win the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1967. Known for singing without shoes, she once said: ‘My feet are lovely — i just sit and look at them.’

BORN ON THIS DAY

JOHN HARVEY KELLOGG (1852-1943). The American doctor and health campaigner invented corn flakes and granola. He and his wife never consummated their marriage, had separate bedrooms and adopted children. But though he was antisex, he wrote that masturbation was ‘a crime doubly abominable’. VICTOR HUGO (1802-1885). The French author of Les Misérables was conceived while his parents were 3,000 ft above sea level on Mount Donon in France.

ON FEBRUARY 26 . . .

IN 1839, the first grand National was held at Aintree in Liverpool. IN 1914, the Britannic, the sister ship of the Titanic, was launched in Belfast. it sank in 1916 after reportedly striking a mine.

WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Beeswing (coined 1850s)

A) A second swarm of bees in the season. B) Unsettled weather. C) Crust that forms on old port.

answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED

Paper tiger: meaning a sham and loud rival who will not offer any real resistance; it comes from Chairman Mao in reference to capitalist countries whom he perceived as too cowardly to defend their own interests despite their threats.