ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MARCH 17, 1998
LEONARDO DICAPRIO has made Hollywood history by starring in America’s two highest-grossing movies at the same time. His latest, The Man In The Iron Mask, shared the joint top spot with Titanic at the U.S. box office over the weekend. The accolade will send 23-year-old diCaprio’s earnings potential soaring.
MARCH 17, 1999
ACCORDING to some of the crustier members, it’s still not cricket. But with the arrival of the first honorary lady members yesterday, it is now reality. They marked the end of 212 years as a male-only preserve for the Marylebone Cricket Club.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
JEFF BANKS, 80. The Welsh fashion designer and former host of the BBC’s The Clothes Show was made a director at Vivienne Westwood days before her death — in a move described as ‘the equivalent of putting Marks & Sparks in charge of Versace’. Banks was asked by dame Vivienne from her hospital bed. He said: ‘I felt a bit like Cardinal Wolsey going to see the monarch.’
GRIMES, 35. The Canadian singersongwriter, born Claire Elise Boucher, was the partner of billionaire CEO of Twitter and Tesla Elon Musk until 2021. They named their son X Æ A-Xii — pronounced Ex Ash A Twelve. She said in 2012: ‘I really hate being in front of people. But I’m also obsessed with being a pop star.’
BORN ON THIS DAY
ALEXANDER McQUEEN (1969-2010). The Londonborn fashion designer, who shot to fame with his lowcut ‘ bumster’ trousers, dressed Rihanna and Lady Gaga. His MA graduate collection was inspired by Jack the Ripper and was bought for £5,000 by stylist Isabella Blow. He took his own life aged 40, nine days after the death of his mother.
RUDOLF NUREYEV (1938-1993). The Russian ballet star — who was born on a train travelling through Siberia — defected to the West from the Soviet Union’s Kirov Ballet while on tour in Paris in 1961. He was known for popularising classical ballet and one critic said: ‘What the telly did for art, what Billy Graham did for religion, Nureyev has done for ballet.’
ON MARCH 17 . . .
IN 2000, the film Erin Brockovich was released. Its star Julia Roberts, right, had become the first actress to command $20 million.
IN 1969, Golda Meir (played by Helen Mirren in a new biopic) became Israel’s first female prime minister.
WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Maranoia (2018)
A) The anxiety experienced by marathon runners before their race.
B) An extreme or irrational fear of clowns. C) The fear of living offline. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED
Kill someone with kindness: meaning to spoil someone by overindulging them; this mid 16th-century phrase first appears in the title of Thomas Heywood’s 1607 play A Woman Killed With Kindness.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
All generalisations are dangerous, even this one.
Alexandre Dumas, French writer (1824-1895)
JOKE OF THE DAY
WHAT did the stamp say to the envelope? Stick with me and we’ll go places. Guess The Definition answer: A. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD