ON THIS DAY
FROM THE ARCHIVE SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
IT MAY only be week one of The Apprentice, but sparks have already begun to fly between the candidates as straight-talking tycoon Bill Cullen warned them to ‘cut out the waffle and talk from experience’.
The first episode of the Irish version of the hit British show was screened last night on TV3, and the contestants are pulling no punches in the race to get a €100,000-a-year job in Cullen’s business empire. David Neary, a 25-year-old brand manager with an international cosmetics firm, became the first contestant to be fired last night. Before booting him, Cullen said: ‘I think you lost the plot David, you were weak on sales and stood back from the whole process.’
SEPTEMBER 23, 1992
POPE John Paul II has put tax dodging and passing false cheques on a list of sins that risk eternal damnation.
Drunk drivers and people who fiddle their expenses, read horoscopes or bet on dogs or horses are also sinners, he has ruled in the first major revision of Catholic guidelines in 400 years.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, 73. The Boss, right, is now well into his 70s, so the concern for fans of the US songwriter will be whether he will still be able to deliver his legendary marathon live shows. Regarding fan expectations that he deliver lengthy concerts, Bruce joked in 2020: ‘We screwed the whole thing up by playing too long. Now I have to do it.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
ROMY SCHNEIDER (1938-1982). The Austrianborn French actress, right, made her screen debut at 15 before starring in What’s New Pussycat? and The Trial. But it was the Sissi film trilogy in which she starred as 19th century Empress Elisabeth of Austria, that she said ‘sticks to me just like oatmeal’. COLIN BLAKELY (1930-1987). The actor from Bangor in Co. Down worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, starred in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. He was described by the British Film Institute as having a ‘chunky form and rumpled, good-natured features’ that ‘tended to direct him towards hero’s-friend roles’.
ON SEPTEMBER 23 . . .
IN 1992, Belfast’s forensic science laboratory is destroyed in a Provisional IRA bomb attack. IN 1999, Bono and Bob Geldof are part of an international lobby group who meet Pope John Paul II to discuss cancelling Third World debts – and the Pontiff tries on the U2 star’s sunglasses.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Sprezzy (c 2016) A) Chic and elegant. B) Wet or feeble. C) Expensive. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED: Firing on all four cylinders: meaning functioning or working at its highest level; it is a metaphor referring to an internal-combustion engine in which a cylinder is said to be firing when the fuel inside is ignited.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn’t commit when he had the opportunity. Helen Rowland, US writer (1875-1950)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHERE did Robin Hood buy his sweets? The Friar’s Tuck shop. Guess The Definition answer: A.