ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE APRIL 29, 1952
BUCKINGHAM Palace announced last night that the Queen has appointed Tuesday, June 2, 1953, to be the day of Her Majesty’s Coronation. It will be Derby week when London is full, therefore there will be no chance of making a ‘double season’ of it.
APRIL 29, 1969
SOME men now go to women’s hairdressers rather than a barber’s shop. They are ready to overcome the embarrassment of the ‘harem-like atmosphere of chatter, hairnets, banks of driers and gay gowns,’ said John Mortimer, master of the Guild of Hairdressers, Wigmakers and Perfumers. He asked: ‘Will the cult of unisex develop?’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ANDRE AGASSI, 47. The American tennis star admitted in 2009 that his long hair in the Nineties was a wig and his obsession with it not falling off lost him his first Grand Slam final at the French Open in 1990 (right). He said: ‘During the warming-up I prayed. Not for victory, but that my hairpiece would not fall off.’ Now married to tennis champion Steffi Graf, he was first married for two years to actress Brooke Shields. UMA THURMAN, 47. The U.S. actress, star of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, is a muse to director Quentin Tarantino. She was married to actor Gary Oldman for two years, then for six to actor Ethan Hawke, with whom she had two children. He married their nanny four years after their divorce.
BORN ON THIS DAY
JEREMy THORPE (1929-2014). The former Liberal Party leader’s career collapsed when he was charged with conspiracy and incitement to murder his former lover, male model Norman Scott. Thorpe managed to postpone his trial to fight for his North Devon seat in 1979’s election, which he lost. He was later acquitted. LONNIE DONEGAN (1931-2002). The Glasgow-born singer (right) was described as the first British pop superstar, with hits such as Rock Island Line and My Old Man’s A Dustman. Paul McCartney said: ‘When we were kids, Lonnie started the craze for guitars.’ But Donegan was left behind when The Beatles took off, and said: ‘I was resentful at the way they stopped my cash flow.’