ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE DECEMBER 18, 1942
MPs stood in a hushed mass to record their sorrow for the Jews whom Germany is slaughtering and their loathing of history’s most infamous act. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden read, in tones which carried the horror of all humanity, the United Nations’ condemnation of Nazi sadism.
DECEMBER 18, 1980
BREAKFAST TV will be given the goahead by the Independent Broadcasting Authority today. The decision will open the way to programmes on ITV from 6.30am until 9am. Eight groups have been lobbying for the breakfast franchise and the winner will be announced later this month.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
STEVEN SPIELBERG, 77. The triple Oscarwinning U.S. director of E.T., Jaws and Jurassic Park was rejected from film school three times and started out as an unpaid intern at Universal. He refused to accept pay for Holocaust film Schindler’s List, saying it would have been ‘blood money’.
KATIE HOLMES, 45. The U.S. actress (pictured) played Jacqueline kennedy on TV in The kennedys and starred in the films Batman Begins and Coda. In 2004, while engaged to actor Chris klein, Holmes said: ‘Every little girl dreams of her wedding. I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise.’ They met the following year and were married for nearly six years.
BORN ON THIS DAY
LORD BRAMALL (1923-2019). The D-Day veteran from kent was wounded twice in Normandy but returned to duty on both occasions and was awarded the Military Cross by Field Marshal Montgomery. He rose to become chief of the defence staff.
RAY LIOTTA (1954-2022). The U.S. actor (pictured) played a baseball star in
Field Of Dreams and gangster Henry Hill in Goodfellas. But he protested he was not ‘a tough guy or a gang member. I like playing the nicer guy in movies.’ He was adopted at six months old and grew up convinced he was of Italian heritage, but found out in his 40s that he was Scottish.
ON DECEMBER 18 . . .
IN 1958, the first communications satellite, SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbital Relay Equipment), was launched. IN 1972, the then U.S. senator Joe Biden’s wife Neilia, 30, and 13-month-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION Misocapnist (c1839)
A) One who is sullen or shy. B) One who bathes in the open air daily even in winter. C) One who hates the smell of tobacco smoke. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED It’s an ill wind:
A contraction of ‘It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good’ and means that even a bad situation can produce good results. It is a nautical expression and a reference is in John Heywood’s 1546 book of English proverbs.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is thread, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years.
Simone Signoret, French actress (1921-1985)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT is a vegan’s favourite Christmas carol? Soy to the World.
Guess The Definition answer: C. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD