Happy birthday Emily Watson
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
JANUARY 14, 1943
THE King signed a proclamation yesterday reducing the age of conscription of women from 20 to 19. That means that all single girls who reached the age of 19 from yesterday will be liable to call up for national service. They will be able to opt for the Services, nursing or industry.
JANUARY 14, 2005
A DEFIANT Prince Harry refused yesterday to make a televised apology for wearing a Nazi uniform. Despite a torrent of condemnation, a Clarence House spokesman insisted that the two-line statement already issued on his behalf was sufficient. The Queen and Prince Charles insisted the 20-year-old's 23-word apology for wearing the costume with a swastika armband was enough.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
EMILY WATSON, 58. The actress from London started out with the Royal Shakespeare Company - where she spent most of her time 'spear carrying and pouring ale' - before being Oscar-nominated for Breaking The Waves and Hilary And Jackie.
DAVE GROHL, 56. The US musician was drummer in Nirvana before becoming founder and frontman of Foo Fighters - playing every instrument himself on their debut album. He was disowned by his father after he dropped out of school to join punk rock band Scream.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JACK JONES (1938-2024). The US crooner angered Frank Sinatra by releasing Strangers In The Night first, but Sinatra still said he was 'the best singer in the business'. He had his own BBC series in the 1970s, and his six wives included Jill St John, who was the first US Bond girl.
CARL WEATHERS (1948-2024). The former American football player said he preferred acting because it 'I ache a lot less'. He starred as Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky films, Predator and Disney's The Mandalorian.
ON JANUARY 14...
In 1878, Queen Victoria became the first monarch to use a telephone.
In 1984, Ray Kroc - who turned McDonald's into the world's biggest fast food chain - died, aged 81.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION
Williwaw (coined 1842)
A) Lack of nerve.
B) A sudden, violent squall.
C) Winter twilight.
Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Couch potato: meaning an inactive person who watches a lot of TV; coined in mid-1970s America, the reference to potato is most likely to have come from 'tube', slang for TV, from 'tuber', a thickened plant stem.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
'I didn't realise I was unattractive - in inverted commas - until I started acting.'
Kathy Burke, English actress and director
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY did the egg cross the road? To get to the Shell station.
Guess The Definition answer: B.
Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD
