ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE DECEMBER 16, 1939
The Prefect of Police in Buenos Aires has issued an order forbidding booing in cinemas when hitler appears on screen, says a French radio message. The practice is embarrassing for the authorities.
DECEMBER 16, 2008
MADONNA is paying out at least £50million to Guy Ritchie in their divorce, the singer’s spokesman said yesterday. The sum is made up of £2.4 million in cash and a large portfolio of property including homes in London, new York and Wiltshire.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
LIV ULLMANN, 83. The norwegian actress and director — nominated twice for an oscar, including as Best Actress for 1976’s Face To Face (right) — has been dubbed the ‘leading lady of Scandi cinema’. A pin-up for a generation, with ‘one of the most expressive faces’ in the history of film, she was famed as the muse and lover of director ingmar Bergman, who said: ‘Liv, you are my Stradivarius.’
TONY HICKS, 76. The guitarist and singer from Lancashire has been in The hollies since 1963, notching up hits including he Ain’t heavy, he’s My Brother, for which they booked a pianist — ‘a shy, skinny young man called Reg dwight, later to become elton John. We paid him £15, the going rate for the job at the time.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
NICHOLAS COURTNEY (1929-2011). The egyptian-born english actor was the longest-serving co-star of doctor Who, appearing as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart opposite five Time Lords, including Jon Pertwee (above). Tom Baker, the fourth doctor, said: ‘of all the characters in doctor Who there is no doubt he was the most loved by the fans.’
BARBARA KENT (1907-2011). The canadian-born actress, winner of Miss hollywood 1925, starred in 1928’s Lonesome and played harold Lloyd’s girlfriend in his first two talkies, Welcome danger and Feet First. kent sparked outrage in 1927’s no Man’s Law by apparently swimming nude (though she wore a flesh-coloured, moleskin bathing suit). She retired aged 28 and refused interviews from the late 1940s until her death aged 103.
ON DECEMBER 16 . . .
IN 1991, Mi5 publicly identified its new head for the first time — Stella Rimington, its first female director-general. it was only two years earlier the government had admitted the security service existed at all. IN 2000, President George W. Bush named colin Powell as the first African-American secretary of state. (Powell died from complications of covid-19 in october.)
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: Trumpery (1400s) A) Arrogance. B) Lacking in deliberation. c) nonsense. Answer below
PHRASE EXPLAINED For kicks:
Meaning to do something just for the thrill and excitement of it. in the 1800s, American slang used ‘kicks’ to mean stimulation from liquor or drugs, but it was not until 1941 that it took on the sense of ‘a surge or fit of pleasure’.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind — even if your voice shakes. Maggie Kuhn, U.S. activist (1905-1995)
JOKE OF THE DAY
RUSSIAN dolls annoy me — they are so full of themselves. Guess The Definition answer: C. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD