ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 19, 1996
THE marriage of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley is over after just 20 months. Elvis’s daughter is divorcing the 37-year-old superstar citing ‘irreconcilable differences’. The coupling of the man from Neverland and the woman from Graceland always seemed the most unlikely of unions.
JANUARY 19, 1998
BILL CLINTON faced a further damaging sex scandal yesterday after an ex-White House worker gave sworn testimony that he propositioned her in the Oval Office. Kathleen Willey has told investigators the President fondled her before asking her for sex.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
DOLLY PARTON, 75. The U. S. country star has released 47 solo albums and sold more than 100 million records. She is also a major philanthropist, who has given away more than 130 million books to children and donated $1 million to coronavirus research, which supported development of the Moderna vaccine — approved for use in the UK this month. Last year, she said she wanted to pose for Playboy for a second time: ‘It would be such a hoot, I don’t know if they’ll go for it.’ She had her first cover aged 32, but insisted on remaining clothed, remarking that posing nude ‘was so totally not me’. SIR SIMON RATTLE, 66. The former conductor of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic announced last week that he will be leaving the London Symphony Orchestra to return to work in Munich. A staunch critic of Brexit, he has also applied for a German passport.
BORN ON THIS DAY
ROBERT PALMER (1949-2003). The double Grammy-winning singer- songwriter from yorkshire quit his job as a graphic designer at 20 and formed a band with Elkie Brooks. In 1990, the ‘ageing lothario in a designer suit’ was voted the best-dressed rock star by Rolling Stone magazine. He smoked heavily, and enjoyed malt whisky, but insisted he did not enjoy the excesses of rock ’n’ roll, opting instead to play Scrabble and do crosswords while on tour. EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849). The U.S. writer is considered the creator of detective fiction, and played a major role in the development of the science fiction and horror genres. Alfred Hitchcock said: ‘It’s because I liked Edgar Allan Poe’s stories so much that I began to make suspense films.’
ON JANUARY 19. . .
IN 1978, After making more than 16 million, the last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany left VW’s plant in Emden. IN 1984, The Living Planet, David Attenborough’s sequel to his landmark Life On Earth series, was first broadcast.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Cellaret (coined c1805) A) A wine cabinet. B) A musical instrument. C) A dash or flourish at the end of a written word. Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Kill the fatted calf: to provide special hospitality; it alludes to parable of the Prodigal Son in St Luke’s Gospel when an estranged son returns and his family feasts on the prized beast.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. André Gide, French author (1869-1951)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT do you call a sleeping T-Rex? A dinosnore. Guess The Definition answer: A