ON THIS DAY
May 25, 2023
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE May 25, 1978
IT TOOK a divorce judge 113 seconds to end 28 marriages yesterday. Number SP 3628b was one of them: ‘Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon versus Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.’ It all seemed a little too casual for such an historic event. Just 13 words were needed to end Princess Margaret’s marriage of 18 years and 18 days.
May 25, 2002
BIG BROTHER was back for a third series last night with another gang of unknowns willing to be filmed 24-hours a day for fleeting fame — and the £70,000 prize money. The six men and six women, include Alison [Hammond, pictured], 27, a cinema manager from Birmingham, and Jade [Goody], 20, a dental nurse from London.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MIKE MYERS, 60. The Canadian actor and filmmaker, famed for Austin Powers, said his rhyming slang in the films was inspired by his dad, an insurance salesman from Liverpool. He said: ‘I grew up with British comedy. It’s a very big part of my life: there’s nobody more English than an Englishman who no longer lives in England.’ CILLIAN MuRPHY, 47.
The Irish actor, who is best known for Peaky Blinders, was a vegetarian for 15 years but started eating meat to bulk up for his role in the series. His breakthrough role was in the 2002 horror film
28 Days Later. He declines to take selfies with fans — instead offering a handshake, a chat or an autograph.
BORN ON THIS DAY
SONIA RYKIEL (1930-2016). The French designer saw her Poor Boy Sweaters, that adapt to the shape of the body, worn by the likes of Lauren Bacall and Audrey Hepburn (who bought 14, one in every colour). Rykiel started designing when she wanted a maternity outfit that celebrated her bump. ‘ My mother- in- law was scandalised,’ she said, ‘but my friends asked how they could find one like it.’ EDwARD BuLwER-LYTTON (1803-1873). The English poet, novelist, playwright and MP coined the phrase ‘the great unwashed’. The opening line of his novel Paul Clifford: ‘It was a dark and stormy night’, is often mocked and his name has been given to an annual contest that challenges ‘participants to write an atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never written’.
ON MAY 25…
IN 1895, Oscar wilde was sentenced to two years imprisonment for gross indecency. IN 1977, the Chinese government lifted its ban on the writings of Shakespeare.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION Muliebrity (late 1500s)
A) Grumpiness.
B) A depression of spirits.
C) womanly nature or qualities.
answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Up a gum tree:
meaning to be in great difficulties or in a predicament; earliest citation refers to ‘possum up a gum tree’ — lyrics from an 1824 American song.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
The more one gets to know of men, the more one values dogs. Alphonse Toussenel, French writer and naturalist (1803-1885)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I BOuGHT five watches the other day. I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. Guess The Definition answer: C. Compiled by ETAN SMALLMAN and ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD