ON THIS DAY
FROM THE ARCHIVE MAY 6, 1981
YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe believed he had a mission from God to kill prostitutes, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. Last week, he pleaded not guilty to the murder of 13 women but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. But the judge expressed ‘grave anxieties’ about the pleas and decided a jury should be empanelled.
MAY 6, 2008
TERRY WOGAN claims Dustin the Turkey will get stuffed at the Eurovision. Wogan, who has been presenting the show for the BBC since the early 1970s, thinks it is a mistake for Ireland to send a puppet to represent the country. He also fears the Europeans will not get Dustin’s sense of humour in his entry, Irlande Douze Pointe. He said: ‘I’m not sure it will make the final; they mightn’t get the joke in Belarus or Moldova. I’m also not sure that any entry should try to be funnier than the contest itself.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ADRIENNE WARREN, 35. The Tony award-winning US actress and singer, pictured, was handpicked by Tina Turner to play the latter in the West End musical based on her life. At the opening night, Turner said: ‘I’ve
found a replacement . . . I can go and retire now.’ GRAHAM SOUNESS, 69. The Scottish midfielder had a remarkable career, winning three European Cups (amongst other trophies) at Liverpool, and racking up 54 caps for his country. A robust character, he finally met his match during his time as a pundit on RTÉ; in one heated exchange about football management, Souness snapped at our own Eamon Dunphy: ‘Where did you manage?’ The Irishman retorted: ‘I’ve managed to stay alive for 63 and a half years, baby!’
BORN ON THIS DAY
ORSON WELLES (1915-1985). The American filmmaker, pictured, was a remarkably rounded talent, as he excelled as a director, screenwriter and actor. Indeed, he was involved in all three of these areas in his masterpiece, 1941’s Citizen Kane. However, some say his greatest achievement was shutting down the notoriously mouthy actor Robert Blake during a chat show appearance in 1976; after Blake made a dig at his weight, Welles retorted: ‘I’m fat, you’re ugly – but I can diet.’ GLORIA RICHARDSON (1922-2021). One of the first women to lead a grassroots civil rights movement in the US, the Cambridge movement, Richardson was one of only six women on the programme of the March On Washington, at which Martin Luther King delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
ON MAY 6 . . .
IN 1940, American author John Steinbeck wins the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes Of Wrath. IN 1998, Apple’s Steve Jobs unveils the first iMac computer.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Rachis (coined c. 1780) A) The stem or shaft of a plant. B) A lean deer not fit to hunt. C) The mantle thrown over an infant about to be christened. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED Six of the best: Caning as a punishment; it refers to the six strokes of the cane which was a common practice in boys’ schools.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
‘Jazz will endure, just as long as people hear it through their feet instead of their brains.’ John Philip Sousa, US composer and conductor (1854-1932)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the bottle write on the postcard? Wish you were beer!
Guess The Definition answer: A.