ON THIS DAY
March 22, 2021
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MARCH 22, 1974
ALARMING security lapses were shown up last night by police investigations into the attempt [by gunman Ian Ball] to kidnap Princess Anne. The most worrying concerns a man in a car parked near her new home at Sandhurst. He was there for two and a half hours before police intervened.
MARCH 22, 1999
ERNIE WISE died peacefully in his sleep yesterday. He was 73. The entertainer — voted the funniest British comedian of all time alongside his late partner Eric Morecambe in a recent poll — had been ill since suffering two heart attacks in December.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
VICTORIA ATKINS, 45. The Minister for Safeguarding has been talked of as a future prime minister. As a criminal barrister, she prosecuted international drug trafficking rings and gunrunners. When she first fought her Louth and Horncastle seat, Sir John Major came to help her campaign, telling voters that he had known their candidate since she was in nappies.
STEPHEN SONDHEIM, 91. The oscarwinning lyricist and composer behind West Side Story, Into The Woods, Follies and Sweeney Todd was described by Cameron Mackintosh as ‘possibly the greatest lyricist ever’. He has won eight Tony Awards, more than any other composer. He once said of his audiences: ‘If they like it, great. If they don’t like it, fine. But if they don’t like it because they don’t understand it, that’s bad. That is the writer’s fault.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
WILFRID BRAMBELL (1912-1985). The Dublin-born actor, a former child star, played Albert Steptoe in BBC sitcom Steptoe and Son, and the grandfather of Paul McCartney in The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night. Brambell, who struggled with alcoholism, asked for whisky and lager as his luxury on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
DAME FANNY WATERMAN (1920-2020). The pianist and teacher, who died in December aged 100, was the founder of the Leeds International Piano Competition, of which she was in charge until 95. Having earned the nickname Field Marshal Fanny for her exacting approach, she later complained she had been forced out, insisting: ‘I had many, many more years to give of my own passion, my own knowledge, and everything.’
ON MARCH 22…
IN 1963, Secretary of State for War John Profumo denied any impropriety with model Christine Keeler. IN 1984, Queen began filming their video to I Want To Break Free, featuring Freddie Mercury vacuuming while dressed in drag.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Torus (c1560) A) A large, convex moulding. B) A union of opposites. C) The socket of a precious stone or ornament. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Rise like a phoenix from the ashes: Refers to a force that has been destroyed but reemerges to triumph over its opponents. The phoenix was a legendary bird which set itself on fire only to rise again from its ashes, and hence was associated with immortality.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things. Samuel Johnson, English writer (1709-1784)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you get if you cross a cow with a duck? Cream quackers.
Guess the Definition answer: A.