ON THIS DAY
June 6, 2022
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JUNE 6, 1946
AT 3PM tomorrow, 21-year-old Beryl Romeril, of Palmers Green, North London, a Vision Mixer at Alexandra Palace, will turn a knob on the television control panel. For owners of 20,000 sets within a 30-mile radius of London, her action will flash on their screens, the first picture since September 1, 1939 — the signal that TV is on again.
JUNE 6, 1992
Charles and Diana are spending a critical weekend together at highgrove following the Daily Mail’s revelation that the Princess tried to commit suicide. Speculation has increased that the overdose of paracetamol tablets six years ago was not Diana’s only attempt at ending her life of misery.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Lord (DAVID) Blunkett, 75. The Sheffield-born former Education and home Secretary was Britain’s first blind Cabinet minister. But he said he did not feel the affection and awe towards the Commons that his colleagues did, partly because he had never seen it. he uses an electronic device that can detect the colour of fabrics, so he doesn’t go out in clashing clothes. his second wife,
Margaret, is his former GP.
Robert Englund, 75. The u.S. actor made his name playing serial killer Freddy krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street and seven subsequent films, spending threeand-a-half hours in make-up each morning. he was turned down for the role of han Solo in Star Wars. But for the character of Luke Skywalker, he recommended his friend — a then-unknown Mark hamill.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DAME NINETTE DE VALOIS (1898-2001). The dancer and choreographer, who founded the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School, was hailed as ‘the principal driving force in British ballet for more than 70 years’. Born Edris Stannus in Ireland, she was called ‘Madam’ by those who worked with her, but apparently, ‘behind her back she was known as “the games mistress” — though her back was rarely turned’.
JAN STRUTHER (1901-1953). The English author created Mrs Miniver, the character that began life in a series of newspaper columns, which were turned into a book and then a 1942 film starring Greer Garson. Winston Churchill once remarked that this fictional British housewife did more for the Allied cause than a flotilla of battleships.
ON JUNE 6…
IN 1944, D-Day began, with Allied troops landing on the beaches of Normandy.
IN 1966, BBC sitcom Till Death us Do Part, with Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett, began.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Laterite (c. 1805) A) A pole to stop cattle crossing a stream. B) Red clay. C) Religious figure at prayer. (answer below)
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Be of good cheer — meaning be optimistic or cheerful; referenced in the Bible, and by Middle English ‘cheer’ meant ‘face’ or ‘demeanour’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper function of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.
D.H. Lawrence, English novelist (1885-1930)
JOKE OF THE DAY
What medication do you use to treat snake bites? anti-hiss-tamines Guess The Definition answer: B