ON THIS DAY
December 2, 2017
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE DECEMBER 2, 1957
FILM actress Simone Silva was warned by friends that her ‘starvation diet’ was making her ill. She refused to give it up — and died on Saturday, aged 29, alone in her flat in london’s Mayfair. Silva caused a storm when pictured topless with star robert Mitchum at the 1954 cannes film festival.
DECEMBER 2, 1963
FANS used a crowbar to break open the gate of singer cliff richard’s country home at nazeing, Essex, yesterday, then drove up to the house in several cars. cliff, whose mother, Mrs Dorothy Webb, called police to remove them, said: ‘We don’t mind them coming if they behave themselves, but it’s the limit when they’re rude to Mum.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BRITNEY SPEARS, 36. the american popstar, whose hits include toxic and Baby One More time, has sold more than 100 million records over two decades. in 2002, she starred in the most costly tv advertising campaign in history for Pepsi — it cost £5.7 million. She became the ‘most searched’ person on the internet in 2008, following her ‘annus horribilis’ — that saw the then-troubled star temporarily lose custody of her sons and enter rehab following a public meltdown, which included shaving off her hair. PENELOPE TREE, 68. hailed ‘the ultimate Sixties it-girl’, the English fashion model was photographer David Bailey’s muse. John lennon described her as ‘hot, hot, hot, smart, smart, smart’. She said of the Sixties: there wasn’t the therapy culture that there is now and there was a huge amount of abuse of alcohol and drugs.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
Gianni VERSACE (19461997). the italian-american fashion designer, son of a coal merchant and seamstress, dressed Elton John, Joan collins, Madonna and Elizabeth taylor. he got his love of skimpy dresses as a child walking past a brothel as his mother tried to shield his eyes: ‘But i looked. those brothel girls were magical, beautiful.’ versace was shot dead at his Miami mansion, age 50, by a serial killer. OTTO Dix (1891-1969). the German painter documented the Weimar republic in the twenties before the rise of the nazis, who branded him a ‘degenerate’ artist. When carrying out research for 1972 film cabaret, director Bob Fosse could not find archive photos to inspire the Kit Kat club so turned to Dix’s paintings.
ON DECEMBER 2…
IN 1804: napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France.
IN 1995: rogue trader nick leeson was sentenced in Singapore to six-and-a-half years in prison for bringing down Barings, Britain’s oldest merchant bank.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Totild (coined 1100-1500) a) large paunch in a pig. B) Fond of peeping. c) a mole. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED
Kitchen-sink drama: a type of drama of the Fifties depicting the sordid aspects of domestic reality. From the arts movement of the time, whose leaders were ‘angry young men’, disillusioned with society.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist (1881-1973)
JOKE OF THE DAY
MY NEW stopwatch is super-fast. It goes from 0 to 60 in a minute. Guess The Definition answer: B.