September 29, 2022 ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE SEPTEMBER 29, 1964

Ten out of 25 cigarette smokers think there is an association between smoking and lung cancer. A national Opinion Poll survey among 6,000 people showed this and pointed out, for the first time, that there is a decline in the number of adults who smoke.

SEPTEMBER 29, 1976

The BBC is conducting a nationwide search for the man who presented the first edition of Woman’s Hour, which celebrates its 30th birthday next week.

Former RAF Intelligence officer Alan Ivimey introduced the first programme on October 7, 1946. editor Miss Wyn Knowles said: ‘We very much want Alan to appear on our birthday programme but he is a bit of a mystery man.’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

MACKENZIE CROOK, 51. The actor, from Kent, played Gareth in The Office, Ragetti in Pirates Of The Caribbean and the lead in the BBC’s new adaptation of Worzel Gummidge. He is the creator and star of BBC4’s Detectorists, for which he won two BAFTAs. He said he felt out of place in Hollywood, and ‘making my own little sitcom for BBC4 is where I feel a lot more comfortable’.

ROBERT BENTON, 90. The U.S. filmmaker won two Oscars for writing and directing Kramer vs. Kramer. But he said: ‘I’m dyslexic, I can’t spell, I can’t punctuate and I took one creative writing class in college and flunked it.’ The former art director of esquire magazine says that in auditions he tries to get to know the actors, explaining: ‘You cannot act wit. You cannot act intelligence.’

BORN ON THIS DAY

GREER GARSON (1904-1996). The London-born actress starred in Goodbye, Mr Chips and won an Academy Award for Mrs Miniver. When she appeared in Adventure, the slogan declared: ‘Gable’s Back, and Garson’s Got Him!’ Latterly, she criticised the violence in modern movies, saying: ‘I think the mirror should be tilted slightly upward when it’s reflecting life.’

MADELINE KAHN (19421999). The Tony-winning U.S. actress and comedian, dubbed ‘a Botticelli angel cracking a malicious grin’, was Oscar-nominated for Paper Moon and Blazing Saddles. The latter’s writer and director, Mel Brooks, said: ‘She is one of the most talented people that ever lived.’

ON SEPTEMBER 29 . . .

IN 1979, The Police were enjoying their first of five no. 1s, with Message In A Bottle. IN 2010, U.S. actor Tony Curtis, star of Some Like It Hot, died aged 85.

WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Kindie (coined 2020)

A) A gift or present. B) A style of music that appeals equally to children and adults C) A large bruise. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED First things first: meaning important agenda should be carried out before anything else; it comes from the title of a book by George Jackson in 1894.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

I’m not so think as you drunk I am. Sir J.C. Squire, British writer (1884-1958)

JOKE OF THE DAY

WHen should you buy a bird? When it’s going cheep. Guess The Definition answer: B