August 29, 2022
ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE AUGUSt 29, 1940
AMErICAN women are wearing woollen British evening dresses, designed in case of air raids. ‘Paris is occupied by the Nazis and inaccessible now to fashion buyers from free countries,’ dress designer Norman Hartnell’s secretary said yesterday. One creation — the ‘en tout cas’ [‘in any case’] dress, suitable for afternoon, dinner or dancing — was made of wool because if the sirens go off, its wearer might have to swap the dancefloor for a cold air raid shelter.
AUGUSt 29, 1994
SHOPPErS splurged £100million yesterday as Sunday trading laws ended. Marks & Spencer, which had initially opposed the move, opened ten stores. New rules state large shops may open for six hours and small shops whenever they like.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
EDDI rEADEr, 63. The red-haired singersongwriter from Glasgow, whose first name is Sadenia, was lead singer of Fairground Attraction, who had a No 1 with Perfect. Fellow pop star Alison Moyet said reader is ‘the
only female singer I claim as a friend’.
BrIAN CHESkY, 41, the U.S. co-founder of Airbnb. It began as ‘Airbed & Breakfast’ after Chesky and a friend rented out three blow-up mattresses in their flat, offering Pop-Tarts for breakfast. The former bodybuilder is now worth over £7 billion. He has signed the Giving Pledge, promising to donate the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JOHN McCAIN (1936-2018). The six-term U.S. senator was the republican presidential nominee in 2008, but was defeated by Barack Obama. After losing, he joked: ‘I’ve been sleeping like a baby — sleep two hours, wake up and cry.’ McCain was a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam: his hair went white and injuries inflicted by his captors left him with a limp and damaged arms.
CHArlIE PArkEr (1920-1955). The U.S. jazz bandleader, nicknamed ‘Yardbird’ or ‘Bird’ for short, was hailed as ‘one of the greatest saxophone players of all time’. Parker practised for up to 15 hours a day and sometimes ate 20 burgers in a row before gigs. His body was so ravaged by drink and drugs at his death, aged 34, that those carrying out his autopsy thought he was 60.
ON AUGUST 29 . . .
IN 1950, the first British troops arrived to aid the U.S. in the korean War. IN 1997, Netflix — then called kibble — began as an online DVD rental service.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Perilune (c. late 1950s) A) Wander aimlessly. B) Point at which a spacecraft in a lunar orbit is nearest to the moon. c) A severe critic. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED Eye of a needle: Meaning an impossibility, it comes from Matthew’s gospel in the Bible: ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Life is like a B-movie. You don’t want to leave in the middle of it, but you don’t want to see it again.
Ted Turner, CNN founder
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you get if you cross a telephone with an iron? A smooth operator. Guess the definition answer: B.
Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD