ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JULY 21, 1976

IT IS LATE afternoon on the Plain of Gold and the Martian shadows are lengthening.

This desert landscape of rock and sand is the view that went into history yesterday — the view that Man gazed upon for the first time as his Viking spacecraft made landfall on Mars 213 million miles from home.

JULY 21, 1980

EVERY day some 100 ‘souvenirs’ vanish from the House of Commons cafeterias and dining rooms. Ashtrays, crockery, cutlery, cruets . . . they all bear the famous portcullis insignia. And that’s the attraction for the pilfering visitors.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

PALOMA FAITH, 40. The Brit Award-winning pop star and actress from East London first got the performing bug when she landed the role of head dinosaur in a school play: The former lifedrawing model and magician’s assistant was 27 when she released her first songs, but told her record company she was 23. She admitted it after ‘someone kept changing my Wikipedia page’ to give her real age. JOSH HARTnETT, 43. The U.S. actor turned down offers to play Superman, Batman and Spider-Man for fear of being typecast, and said that afterwards: ‘There was a lot of infighting between my manager and agents, trying to figure out who to put the blame on.’ Hartnett, who lives in Surrey with his partner actress Tamsin Egerton and their children, was named the world’s sexiest vegetarian — a year before he started eating meat again.

BORN ON THIS DAY

MOLLIE SUGDEn (1922-2009). The actress from Yorkshire played Mrs Slocombe, senior saleswoman of the Ladies Separates and Underwear department, in BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? Asked how similar she was to her character, Sugden replied: ‘Unlike me, Mrs Slocombe could never find a fella.’ She loved fast cars, and said: ‘I used to speed about in a Porsche. But seven or eight years ago I was done for doing 92mph on the motorway, so now I drive a Mercedes.’ BILL PERTWEE (1926-2013). The Bucks-born actor made his name as greengrocerturned-grumpy ARP warden William Hodges — nemesis of Capt Mainwaring, whom he called ‘napoleon’ — in Dad’s Army. Pertwee, who also appeared in two Carry On films, was introduced to showbusiness by his cousin, Doctor Who star Jon Pertwee.

ON JULY 21…

IN 1994, Tony Blair succeeded the late John Smith as Labour leader. IN 2011, the U.S’s space shuttle programme (which began in 1981 with the launch of Columbia) ended after 30 years as Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

WORD WIZARDRY

GUESS THE DEFINITION: Fustigate (coined 1650s) A) To smoke B) To be furious C) To criticise harshly Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED Make a scene — meaning to be disruptive or give way to one’s emotions in a dramatic manner. First recorded in the 1800s, the idea may have come from the theatre.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

Mother told me a couple of years ago, “Sweetheart, settle down and marry a rich man.” I said, “Mom, I am a rich man.”

Cher, U.S. singer and actress

JOKE OF THE DAY

A MAn walks into a bar with a roll of Tarmac under his arm and says: ‘Pint, please, and one for the road.’ Guess the Definition answer: C