July 5, 2022 ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JULY 5, 1973 ISRAELI Prime Minister Mrs Golda Meir gave this delightful reason for deciding to stand for office again in October when she spoke to some women constituents in the capital Jerusalem: ‘Otherwise my place would have been taken by a man.’ JULY 5, 2003 TONY BLAIR and his family are all going on a summer holiday — thanks to Sir Cliff Richard. The singer has offered the Prime Minister use of his £3million colonial-style mansion on Barbados for a couple of weeks. The cost-conscious Blairs have not been asked to pay a penny for their stay. Instead, as with other trips, they will make a donation to charity to avert accusations of freeloading.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MEGAN RAPINOE, 37. The U.S. footballer and former national team captain helped her side win two World Cups and gold at the London 2012 Olympics. Rapinoe, who calls herself ‘a walking protest’, fell out with then-president Donald Trump in 2019, declaring she would not go ‘to the f ****** White House’ to celebrate a U.S. World Cup victory. SUSAN WOJCICKI, 54. The CEO of YouTube was last year named by business magazine Forbes as being among the top 20 most powerful women in the world — ahead of chat-show host Oprah Winfrey and the Queen. Her first business was selling homemade ropes decorated with spices door to door aged 11. Sergey Brin and Larry Page rented Wojcicki’s garage, from which they developed the Google search engine. The mother of five, who is estimated to be worth more than £600 million, limits the amount of time her children spend on YouTube.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SHIRLEY KNIGHT (1936-2020). The Emmy and Tony-winning U.S. actress began studying to be an opera singer at the age of 11. After she played Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, its writer Tennessee Williams came backstage and said: ‘Finally, I have my Blanche. My perfect Blanche.’ CHUCK CLOSE (1940-2021). The U.S. photorealist painter made his name with portraits of everyone from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to Brad Pitt and Kate Moss. Many of his works had the viewer peering up the subject’s nostrils. Close said: ‘I’m very interested in a nose as a shape.’
ON JULY 5…
IN 1975, U.S. tennis star Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win Wimbledon. IN 2003, the World Health Organisation announced that the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak had been contained.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Ineluctable (coined c1620)
A) Without equal. B) Unloved. C) Can’t be evaded. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED: Shot in the dark: A guess or act whose outcome cannot be predicted; the use of ‘in the dark’ as a metaphor for being ‘in a state of innocence’ dates to the 17th century.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing. Samuel Johnson, English writer (1709-84)
JOKE OF THE DAY
HOW should you talk to a giant? Use big words. Guess The Definition answer: C.