ON THIS DAY
SEPTEMBER 24, 1957
IT WAS an historic moment for Cheam School, in Hampshire, yesterday when the eight-year-old heir to the throne became a boarder among other boarders. The Queen led the way, as the headmaster’s wife stooped to catch the comments of the new pupil. The nameplate on his trunk read ‘HRH Prince Charles’.
SEPTEMBER 24, 1969
MORE women smokers are dying from lung cancer, and the death rate is rising more than twice as fast for them as for men. It seems the consequences of long-term cigarette smoking are now catching up with women who took up smoking during and after the last war.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
GERRy MARSDEN, 77. The Liverpool-born musician was the frontman of Gerry and the Pacemakers, who reached No. 1 with their first three singles: How Do you Do It?, I Like It, and you’ll Never Walk Alone. In the 1980s, Marsden was making about $250,000 a year in royalties thanks partly to Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s rearrangement of the Pacemakers’ hit Ferry Cross The Mersey. The ex-British Rail delivery man announced his retirement from touring last year. VICTORIA PENDLETON, 39. The cycling champion from Bedfordshire, who won her first race aged nine, scooped two Olympic golds and a silver before becoming a jockey. Asked what the best kiss of her life was, she responded: ‘To be honest, I spend most of my time snogging my horses these days.’ She said she was ‘minutes’ from taking her own life last summer, having been diagnosed with depression after a failed attempt to climb Mount Everest.
BORN ON THIS DAY
F. SCOTT FITzGERALD (1896-1940). The American author of The Great Gatsby did not live to see the success of his masterpiece. It was only after 150,000 copies were sent to Americans serving in World War II that the novel took off. His friend Ernest Hemingway claimed Fitzgerald’s wife zelda ‘encouraged her husband to drink so as to distract him from his writing’. RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI (1902-1989). The Iranian ayatollah and Supreme Leader founded the Islamic Republic of Iran and led the 1979 Iranian Revolution. He called the U.S. the ‘Great Satan’ and banned music — which he said was ‘no different from opium’ — from TV and radio. A UN report said his regime had overseen the deaths of 7,000 people by shooting, hanging, stoning or burning.
ON SEPTEMBER 24…
In 1953, U.S. actress Rita Hayworth (right) married Argentinian-born actor and singer Dick Haymes. He became the fourth of her five husbands.
In 1957, Elvis Presley released Jailhouse Rock, which would reach No.1 on both sides of the Atlantic.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Dudgeon (c1565) A) A feeling of anger or resentment B) An urchin C) A miser ( Answer below)
PHRASE EXPLAINED
At first blush: Meaning when first examined, at first glance; the word ‘blush’ was coined around 1300 and meant ‘to look at’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
You can have it all, but you can’t do it all Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHy do porcupines always win the game? They have the most points. GuESS The Definition answer: A