ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MAY 5, 1979
PRIME Minister Margaret Thatcher walked into No.10 Downing Street yesterday to begin the job which the British people have given her with a decisive mandate in the General Election. And at her historic moment of triumph she chose to recall her close associate Airey Neave, assassinated by the IRA four weeks ago.
MAY 5, 1997
KATRINA LESKANICH was walking on sunshine yesterday after her group Katrina And The Waves won the Eurovision Song Contest for Britain with Love Shine A Light. But celebrations at the BBC were a little more muted. It must foot the bill for next year’s event.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ADELE ADKINS, 34. The Oscar-winning singersongwriter from London has had three No 1 singles and four No 1 albums. She wrote her debut single Hometown Glory in just ten minutes. In 2009, she revealed that then Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sent her a thank-you note. She said: ‘It was really nice. It went, “With the troubles that the country’s in financially, you’re a light at the end of the tunnel.” It was amazing.’
MARION BAILEY, 71. The actress, from Harrow, starred in the films Vera Drake and Mr. Turner — both directed by her partner, Mike Leigh, with whom she got together at a party for her 60th birthday. She portrayed the Queen in the play Handbagged, and the Queen Mother in the Netflix series The Crown (pictured).
BORN ON THIS DAY
SOREN KIERKEGAARD (1813-1855). The Danish philosopher, known as ‘the father of existentialism’, was a coffee addict who had at least 50 coffee cups. He said: ‘People understand me so little that they do not even understand when I complain of being misunderstood.’
HUGH COURTENAY (1942-2015). In 1999, the 18th Earl of Devon became the last hereditary peer sitting by right to make a maiden speech in the House of Lords. He also won the first Lottery grant awarded to a private home, to restore the kitchen and servants’ hall at Powderham Castle.
ON MAY 5…
IN 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space when he lifted off in the Freedom 7 spacecraft. IN 1980, an SAS raid ended a six-day siege of the Iranian embassy in London.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Mullock (coined late 14th century)
A) Refuse rock or earth from a mine. B) Instrument for loosening soil in digging. C) The youngest of a litter of pigs.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED To give a wide berth:
meaning to stay away from someone or something; the word ‘berth’ is a nautical term which initially referred to the distance ships should keep away from each other, from rocks or from the shore to avoid collision.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (1875-1961)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the football manager do when the pitch flooded? He sent on his subs. Guess The Definition answer: A.