Looking Back

From the Sunday Times 50 years ago

RADIANT Elsa Vorster, daughter of the Prime Minister, married Mr. Andre Kolver, a Free State farmer, in the Nederduits Gereformeerde Moederkerk at Stellenbosch, Cape, yesterday.

The bride wore a gown of pure French silk, white over palest pink, with a high boat-neckline and long sleeves finishing in a point. The dress was cut on Empire lines, with a high waistline and a slightly bell-shaped skirt.

The couple received so many wedding presents that a contractor has been engaged to transport them to Mr. Kolver’s farm, Bokpost, in the Philippolis district of the Free State. — April 16 1967

From the Sunday Times 25 years ago

SOUTH Africa’s censorship scissors, which have been pretty inactive recently, are likely to be sharpened to slashing point before the censors watch the thriller Basic Instinct. Michael Douglas and his co-star, Sharon Stone, stripped off for a series of kinky love scenes so explicit that the film has become the talking point of Hollywood. The film will test the limits of censorship in this country, creating a watershed decision which will indicate the future of censorship policy. Blonde Sharon, 33, who plays a bisexual murder suspect, is now set for superstardom after Basic Instinct rocketed to number one in the US just three days after its release. — April 12 1992