ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE DECEMBER 31, 1966
INTERNATIONAL hair- stylist Vidal Sassoon is to marry one of his clients, 21-year-old Canadian starlet Beverly Adams. Miss Adams went to Mr Sassoon’s Belgravia salon for a hair- do six weeks ago — and came out with an invitation to dinner.
DECEMBER 31, 1999
FORMER Beatle George Harrison escaped death by half an inch yesterday when he was stabbed by a crazed intruder at his Oxfordshire mansion. Harrison, 56, was saved by the bravery of his wife Olivia, who hit the knifeman with a brass table-lamp.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG, 74. The Belgian-born designer is best known for her wrap dress (right), which sold five million in two years. Von Furstenberg, called ‘the most marketable designer since Coco Chanel’ by Newsweek, said the dress was so successful because ‘it made every woman look like a feline’. She said she created it because it did not have any buttons or zips. ‘Well, if you’re trying to slip out without waking a sleeping man, zips are a nightmare,’ she said. SIR BEN KINGSLEY, 77. The star of Schindler’s List and Sexy Beast was born Krishna Bhanji in Yorkshire. He was once told by a senior director at the Royal Shakespeare Company that he would be good at portraying servants, but would never play kings or national leaders. He went on to win an Oscar for his starring role in Gandhi.
BORN ON THIS DAY
DONNA SUMMER ( 19482012). The U.S. singer- songwriter, born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, was dubbed ‘ The Queen of Disco’ but hits such as Love To Love You Baby — with its ‘eye-watering 23 seconds of faked orgasm’ — earned her another moniker: ‘The First Lady of Lust.’ Summer later became a born-again Christian. JULE STYNE (1905-1994). The Londonborn U.S. songwriter gave up his dreams of becoming a concert pianist at 13 because he was told his hands were too small. He went on to compose the music for Gypsy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Funny Girl. He won an Oscar, but was always disappointed with Hollywood adaptations of his work, saying: ‘The movies destroyed every musical they ever made from the stage.’
ON DECEMBER 31…
IN 1923, the BBC broadcast the chimes of Big Ben at New Year for the first time. IN 2019, China alerted the World Health Organisation to cases of pneumonia ‘of unknown cause’ in Wuhan. It was quickly identified as a novel coronavirus and the disease it caused was labelled Covid-19.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Philippic (1500s) A) A speech of bitter denunciation. B) A horse trainer. C) Wild, unmanageable, obstinate, perverse. Answer below PHRASE EXPLAINED Stick to your last — Meaning to concentrate on your own speciality: from an old adage ‘cobblers, stick to your last’ in which a ‘last’ was a wooden model of a foot used by shoemakers for shaping boots.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
After 40, a woman has to choose between her face and her figure. My advice is, keep a lovely, plump pretty face, and stay sitting down.
Barbara Cartland, novelist (1901-2000)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the first mind-reader say to the second mind-reader? You’re all right, how am I? Guess the definition answer: A.