ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE
MAY 3, 1983 AT STUDIO 54 in New York, British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber clutched the hand of the girl he wants to marry. She is Sarah Brightman, 22, who once danced in his show Cats, but he is already married to another Sarah. The multi-millionaire confessed: ‘I am torn between a deep and lasting affection for my wife and my love for Sarah.’ [They wed the following year.] MAY 3, 1997 AN ARMY of sharp-suited women has been swept into the House of Commons, promising to transform what has been essentially a gentlemen’s club. There will be 120 women MPs, compared with 60 in the last Parliament — and 101 are Labour.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
REBECCA HALL, 40. The London-born actress and director starred in the films Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Frost/Nixon and Godzilla Vs. Kong and won a 2010 Bafta for TV’s Red Riding: 1974. The daughter of opera singer Maria Ewing and Royal Shakespeare Company founder Sir Peter Hall made her screen debut aged ten in The Camomile Lawn, directed by her father. She has a line from Hamlet tattooed on her ankle. KATYA ADLER, 50. The London-born BBC Europe editor was told off by her daughter for bringing her work home: ‘Mummy, at a children’s birthday party, would you please stop talking about Brexit.’ Adler, who speaks German, Italian, French, basic Arabic and Hebrew, pretended she spoke Spanish to land the job of BBC Madrid correspondent. She then learnt Spanish by listening to Spanish political radio and Mexican soap operas.
BORN ON THIS DAY
MARY ASTOR (1906-1987). The U.S. actress starred in The Maltese Falcon and Meet Me In St. Louis, and won an Oscar for The Great Lie. Born Lucile Langhanke, she found Hollywood somewhat of a disappointment on arriving there: ‘I distinctly remember feeling, “Is that all?” Glamour is in the eye of the movie fan.’ Astor married four times and wrote five novels. JAMES BROWN (19332006). The U.S. singer, the ‘Godfather of Soul’, said of the musicians he influenced: ‘I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know.’ Brown, who had hits with Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag and Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, was jailed for carrying a deadly weapon at a public gathering and arrested on domestic violence charges against his wife.
ON MAY 3 . . .
IN 1964, The Rolling Stones were at No1 with their self-titled debut album. IN 1979, Britain went to the polls in the general election won by Margaret Thatcher.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Canalise (coined c 1850) A) Crush with criticism. B) To convert into a canal. C) To inhabit. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED To get one’s wires crossed: Meaning to have a misunderstanding; it refers to wires becoming crossed in a telephone exchange, so other calls can be heard.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews.
W.H. Auden, English poet (1907-1973)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHY haven’t aliens visited our solar system? They checked the reviews and saw only one star. Guess The Definition answer: B. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN
and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD