John Major leads the Conservatives to surprise victory in the General Election
This week in 1992, the UK general election was held. The result – which saw John Major stretch the Conservative Party’s winning streak to four – took many by surprise, as opinion polls right up to election day had shown Labour, under leader Neil Kinnock, consistently,ifnarrowlyahead.
Also this week in 1992, Australian soap-turned-pop star Jason Donovan won £200,000 in damages against style-bible The Face after the magazine ran an article which contained a reference to his supposed sexuality.
Confronted with “the prospect of financial ruin”, The Facerequesteddonationsfrom readers to pay the substantial libel damages and court costs which came to £300,000.
The Face set up the “Lemon Aid” fund, so called because the original offending article on Donovan claimed that he treated his hair with lemon juice to make it blonder.
Eventually, Donovan reached a settlement with The Face, which allowed the magazine to stay in business.
“Jason’s purpose in bringing this action was to clear his name, not to close The Face,” said Richard East, Donovan’s manager.
In other news, mafia boss John Gotti was found guilty of murder and racketeering after a ten-week trial in New York.
The man known as “Dapper Don” was convicted of all counts in the case which capped the US government’s six-year crusade to topple America’s most notorious crime chief.
Elsewhere, Cuba’s presidentFidelCastrosaidhiscountry would not destroy itself like the former Soviet Union and Cubans would rather die than accept capitalism.
In a fiery, rambling speech to young communists in Havana, Castro said Cuba remained committed to its oneparty state despite economic hardships.
Meanwhile, in the world of sport, former Scotland international Graeme Souness spoke of his shock after discovering he had a heart complaint which could kill him at any time.
After a lifetime devoted to achieving the peak of physical fitness, the last thing the then Liverpool manager expected to hear from doctors was that a triple bypass operation was necessary to save his life.
“This has to be the biggest shock I have ever had,” said Souness at the time.