ON THIS DAY
May 25, 2020
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MAY 25, 1956
JOAN COLLINS, famous for her ‘floosy’ and juvenile delinquent screen roles was chosen by Roberto Rossellini as ‘the face of innocence’ in his new film. She will fly to Jamaica to star with Richard Burton in Sea Wife. Rossellini said: ‘I saw her femme fatale in The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing and said: “There’s my nun”.’
MAY 25, 1988
SUE LAWLEY told yesterday of the ‘terrifying’ moment when lesbians invaded the Six O’Clock News studio. The BBC newsreader insisted her co-presenter Nicholas Witchell was ‘a true hero’ for sitting on one of the protesters who had handcuffed herself to a desk, then muffling her shouts with his hand. The lesbians were protesting about rules banning the promotion of homosexuality by councils and schools.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JONNY WILKINSON, 41. The retired rugby star (left) from Surrey won 91 caps for England and scored the winning drop goal in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final but says he never watched a replay of it. He says he battled anxiety through his 20s: ‘I spent my career surviving the pressure I put on myself.’
ANTHEA TURNER, 60. The former Blue Peter and Top Of The Pops presenter was famously branded ‘Princess Tippy Toes’ by her GMTV co-host Eamonn Holmes, and was unkindly described as ‘the most overexposed, over-paid, over-pasteurised presenter in TV history’. In the 1990s, she was the second highest-paid woman on British TV after Cilla Black.
BORN ON THIS DAY
RICHARD DIMBLEBY (1913-1965). The BBC’s first war correspondent, father of David and Jonathan, was the first journalist to enter the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp 75 years ago and broke down five times as he tried to record his report. The BBC initially refused to put it out but relented after Dimbleby threatened to ‘never broadcast again’.
SONIA RYKIEL (1930-2016). The French fashion designer (right), dubbed the ‘Queen of knitwear’, also published a book of philosophy and several erotic novels. Her portrait was screenprinted by Andy Warhol and sketched by karl Lagerfeld. Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren recorded a duet with her for the song Who The Hell Is Sonia Rykiel?
ON MAY 25
IN 1934, The Planets composer Gustav Holst died in London aged 59. IN 1994, the contract to run Britain’s first national lottery was won by Camelot.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Woggle (20th c)
A) To walk with shoes nearly off the feet. B) A pathway up to a steep hill. C) The ring of leather through which a Scout’s neckerchief is threaded. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED
Rome was not built in a day: Worthwhile tasks aren’t achieved without patience and time; it derives from a Latin proverb and was used in 1546 by John Heywood.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them?’
Algernon in The Importance Of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the judge ask the dentist? do you swear to pull the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth?
Guess the definition answer: C.