BORN ON THIS DAY

JACK KEROUAC ( 1922- 1969). The American author typed seminal Fifties book On The Road in just three weeks on a 120ftlong roll of paper but it took seven years to publish. He coined the phrase Beat Generation and said its meaning was closer to ‘beatific’. At 21, he joined the U. S. Navy but hated it and was discharged after ten days for having ‘a schizoid personality’. AGATHE VON TRAPP (1913-2010). The eldest daughter of the Austrian family who inspired The Sound Of Music. In the 1965 film, her character was called Liesl and sang Sixteen Going On Seventeen. When Agathe saw the film, she cried as it made her father seem too strict. She was 43 before the Trapp Family Singers ceased performing, and until then she had little independence and had never even used a phone.