ON THIS DAY
August 30, 2021
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUgUsT 30, 1961
THE modern housewife with her laboursaving devices — fridge, spin-dryer, washing machine — may find them so complex she cannot sleep, says psychiatrist Dr M. N. Pai, who calls this Housewife’s Insomnia. He says: ‘The gadgets...are accompanied by printed directions, failure of which to observe may result in disastrous consequences. Not many can easily familiarise themselves with these instructions without staying up late.’
AUgUsT 30, 1977
THrEE men have been arrested over a ghoulish bid to steal the body of Elvis from a mausoleum in Memphis, Tennessee. Detectives, who kept watch there after a tip-off, believe the men intended to ransom the body and demand a fortune.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
WArrEN BUffETT, 91. The U.S. magnate, with a net worth of about £104 billion, is one of the most successful investors in history, but was rejected from Harvard Business School. He advises would-be investors to be in it for the long term and not panic if the market dives: ‘Predicting rain doesn’t count, building the ark does.’ He plans to give away 99 per cent of his wealth, insisting: ‘Society has a use for my money; I don’t.’
CAMEroN DIAz, 49. The American star of The Mask and Charlie’s Angels, started out as a model in Coca-Cola ads. The mother-of-one told Gwyneth Paltrow, ‘I got a peace in my soul’ after announcing her retirement from acting. She is now cocreator of the vegan wine brand Avaline.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DENIS HEAlEy (1917-2015). The labour deputy leader and Chancellor of the Exchequer — known for his bushy eyebrows — called Margaret Thatcher ‘rhoda the rhino’ and said being questioned by Sir Geoffrey Howe was ‘like being savaged by a dead sheep’. Healey, whose middle name was Winston, in honour of Churchill, lost the labour leadership contest in 1980, finishing just ten votes behind winner Michael foot.
MAry SHEllEy (1797-1851). When 16-year-old Mary eloped with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, her father cut her off until the pair married. Aged 18, she came up with the idea for her novel frankenstein during a ghost story contest suggested by Shelley’s friend lord Byron. Bisexual, she wrote after her husband’s death that, as she was lonely: ‘I was so ready to give myself away — and being afraid of men, I was apt to get tousy-mousy for women.’
ON AUGUST 30…
IN 1885, German Gottlieb Daimler patented what is thought to be the first motorcycle. IN 1146, European leaders outlaw the crossbow, intending to end war for all time.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Pollex (coined circa 1830)
A) The thumb. B) flight of bees. C) Dust from grinding metal. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED Foul play:
Meaning acts outside the rules in sport, but has come to denote an act of violence or treachery that may result in murder. It is quoted in Shakespeare’s love’s
labour’s lost, written between 1588 to 1597.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him. Robert Benchley U.S. humorist (1889-1945)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I’M rEADING a book about anti-gravity. it’s impossible to put down. guess The Definition answer: A.