ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
SEPTEMBER 7, 1977
PERHAPS it’s the thought of all that jitterbugging she’ll have to do; perhaps it’s the new Fifties look that she finds hard to get used to. Whatever it is, singer Olivia Newton- John looks a little apprehensive in her film role in Grease.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
LUCIANO PAVAROTTI ( right) lay in state at Modena Cathedral last night as hundreds of fans queued to file past his body after he lost his battle against cancer, aged 71. Friends and colleagues remembered a ‘musical colossus’ with ‘a voice of pure gold’. His first taste of musical success was in Wales aged 19, as part of a winning choir from his home town of Modena at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SONNY ROLLINS, 90. The American saxophonist has been hailed a ‘titan of jazz’. He said the closest he came to death was on September 11, 2001 — he lived six blocks from the World Trade Center, recalling: ‘I lost many prized possessions in 9/11 and learned a lesson — possessions are not “where it’s at.” ’ CHRISSIE HYNDE, 69. The u. S. frontwoman of The Pretenders has a daughter with Ray Davies of The Kinks and another with Jim Kerr of Simple Minds. She has lived in London since she was 22, but says her accent ‘confuses people every single day — they expect this little English girl in a miniskirt and then they hear this American truck driver’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
ERIC HILL (1927-2014). The author and illustrator, who left school at 14, sold tens of millions of his lift-the-flap Spot the Dog books. Hill said much of Spot’s personality was his own, including his excitement on Christmas Day. ‘Subconsciously, I see things from the dog’s point of view, so Spot is within me,’ he said. LAURA ASHLEY (1925-1985). The fashion designer from Merthyr Tydfil established her clothing and home furnishings firm after her family moved from London back to Wales to live in tents for six months to save enough money to invest in her designs. Two months after she died, the business was floated with a valuation of £200 million. It filed for administration this year.
ON SEPTEMBER 7…
IN 1907, RMS Lusitania made its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New york. It was torpedoed by a German u-boat in 1915.
IN 1985, David Bowie and Mick Jagger hit No 1 in the uK with their version of Dancing In The Street.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Ret (15th century)
A) To knock the feet together in walking. B) Ploughman’s call to his horse to come to the right. C) Soak flax or hemp in water or expose either to moisture. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED To bite your tongue: To stop yourself from speaking, even when you want to. used by Shakespeare in his plays; biting your tongue would stop you from saying something you might regret.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
I’m tired of love; I’m still more tired of rhyme. But money gives me pleasure all the time.
Hilaire Belloc, writer (1870-1953)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a dinosaur that takes care of its teeth? A Flossiraptor. Guess The Definition answer: C.