Hostage of Hollywood
QUESTION
Did Elizabeth Taylor offer herself as a hostage during the 1976 Entebbe hijack?
ElizabEth taylor converted to Judaism in 1959, thanks to the influence of her third husband, producer Mike todd, the grandson of a Polish rabbi.
She made frequent trips to israel and showed her support for Judaism in many ways, including offering herself as a hostage in exchange for the Entebbe hijack victims. the offer was declined.
on June 27, 1976, four terrorists seized an air France flight, flying from israel to Paris via athens, with almost 250 people on board. the hijackers — two from the Popular Front for the liberation of Palestine (PFlP) and two from the German baader-Meinhof gang — diverted the plane to Entebbe, Uganda.
they were joined by three more hijackers and demanded the release of 53 militants in jails in israel. Ugandan dictator idi amin supported the PFlP and supplied the hijackers with troops and weapons.
the hostages were moved to a disused airport terminal where the Jewish passengers were separated. on July 1, the hijackers released a large group of hostages, but continued to hold captive 106 Jewish passengers and the crew, who had elected to stay behind.
as diplomatic efforts stalled, israel launched an audacious rescue. at 1am on July 4, three hercules transport planes landed after a 2,500-mile trip from israel and 200 elite troops stormed the airport.
During the 35- minute battle, 40 Ugandan soldiers and the seven hijackers were killed. the leader of the assault force, lieutenant Colonel yonatan ‘yoni’ Netanyahu, was shot dead by a Ugandan sentry along with three hostages. another hostage, 76-year- old Dora bloch, was later murdered by the Ugandans.
yoni was the brother of the future prime minister of israel, benjamin Netanyahu, on whom his death had a profound effect.
the israelis also destroyed 11 russianbuilt MiG fighters, which amounted to a quarter of Uganda’s air force.
Simcha Dinitz, israel’s ambassador to the U.S., praised Elizabeth taylor for her offer to save the hostages and said: ‘the Jewish people will always remember it.’ taylor starred in the film Victory at Entebbe, which was made soon after the real-life rescue.
Peter Green, London E12.
QUESTION Alec Guinness received a cut of the Star Wars revenue. Was Peter Cushing offered a similar deal?
GEorGE lUCaS cast Peter Cushing as Grand Moff tarkin for his 1976 space opera. this relatively minor role required a week’s work at Elstree Studios, sandwiched between filming the New avengers and flying to the U.S. to appear in the Great houdini.
according to the Peter Cushing Companion by David Miller, the actor was paid a flat fee of £1,000 for a week’s work, completed on May 4, 1976.
this figure was confirmed by Elstree Studios historian Paul Welsh, though some sources claim Cushing was paid £2,000. he did not receive alec Guinness’s famous percentage, which has earned his estate £50 million.
the movie reunited Cushing with David Prowse (Darth Vader), who had played his creation in Frankenstein and the Monster From hell in 1973, and with Don henderson (General tagge), with whom he had made the Ghoul in 1974.
I. P. Parsons, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
QUESTION Why was the body of Anne Boleyn exhumed in 1876?
aFtEr anne boleyn’s execution on May 19, 1536, she was buried in a communal grave under the chancel of the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula (St Peter in Chains) in the grounds of the tower of london. other ‘traitors’ buried in the chapel include the Duke of Somerset; the Duke of Northumberland; Catherine howard, henry Viii’s fifth wife; lord and lady rochford, anne boleyn’s brother and his lady-in-waiting wife; and Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury,
in the mid-19th century, the chapel was in need of restoration. historian lord Macaulay visited in 1848 and wrote: ‘i cannot refrain from expressing my disgust at the barbarous stupidity that has transformed this interesting little church into the likeness of a meeting house in a manufacturing town.
‘in truth there is no sadder spot on earth than this little cemetery.’
in 1876, a major restoration restored the chapel to its original state, creating a place of worship for the tower garrison.
the ground had collapsed under the chancel and it was decided to excavate it so symmetrical paving could be laid, aligning it with the rest of the chapel.
all the bodies had to be removed and reinterred. When the flooring was lifted in the area thought to have been the resting place of anne boleyn, the bones of a female were found at a depth of about two feet: ‘Not lying in the original order, but which had evidently for some reason or other been heaped together into a smaller space.’
the remains were examined by Dr Frederic Mouat, who confirmed they were of ‘a female of between 25 and 30 years of age, of a delicate frame of body and who had been of slender and perfect proportions. the forehead and lower jaw were small and especially well formed.
‘the vertebrae were particularly small, especially one joint (the atlas), which was that next to the skull, and they bore witness to the Queen’s “lyttel neck” ’.
he claimed they were consistent with descriptions and portraits of anne.
the remains of all seven were ‘soldered up in thick leaden coffers, and then fastened down with copper screws in boxes made of oak plank, one inch in thickness. Each box bore a leaden escutcheon, on which was engraved the name of the person whose supposed remains were thus enclosed, together with the dates of death and of the year (1877) of the reinterment.’
they were reburied in the chancel under concrete and memorial tiles.
John Mossiman, Tewkesbury, Glos.
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