ON THIS DAY
1154: Nicholas Breakspear became the only English Pope as Adrian IV.
1791: The Observer, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom, was first published.
1865: Edith Cavell, the nurse shot by the Germans in 1915 for helping refugees, was born in Norfolk.
1872: The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged
1921: Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, silent film comedian, was found not guilty by 10-2 of rape and manslaughter. He was retried twice and found not guilty both times - but his career was ruined.
1935: The game of Monopoly was born - the brainchild of unemployed engineer Charles Darrow.
1937: The Dandy comic was first published by DC Thomson, featuring Desperate Dan.
1947: Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desire was premiered on Broadway with Marlon Brando, above, and Jessica Tandy in the leading roles.
1954: The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida.
1991: Pan American World Airways ceases its operations after 64 years.
THE famous actor was in town on December 8, 1982, to promote her new fragrance, Sophia, by Coty, which was on sale in Lewis’s department store on Argyle Street.
A week earlier, the Evening Times ran a competition for readers to win the chance to have lunch with her at the Albany Hotel.
“It’s the stuff dreams are made of,” the report said. “People will call you a storyteller … because who is going to believe you had lunch with Sophia Loren?”
Were you one of the lucky winners who got to meet Sophia? Email ann.fotheringham@ heraldandtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB.
Sophia was born in Rome in 1934 and while working as a model, was spotted by director Carlo Ponti. By her late teens, she was playing lead roles in many Italian features such as La
Favorita in 1952 and Aida a year later.
She went on to star in many famous movies, including El Cid and Man of La Mancha and remains one of Hollywood’s most recognisable stars.
During her visit, she spoke to the press about her new perfume.
“I had no idea how much time and effort and professional knowhow went into producing such a range,” she was reported as saying in the Evening Times, which described the scent as a “classic floral one with Oriental undertones and a basic amber tone,” adding bizarrely that it “makes any man think of Sophia Loren and any woman feel she could be that lovely…” Different times.
The picture of the “ravenhaired screen goddess” had the caption: “Sophia – now an incredible 47 years old”, and the report said she was “mobbed by starry-eyed shoppers”.
Dressed in “high-heeled black boots, red and black dress and black silk scarf, draped fashionably around her neck, and dripping in gold rather than diamonds,” Sophia arrived 25 minutes late for a champagne reception. She said chilly Glasgow reminded her of “northern Italy” and she answered questions about everything from her movies to her love life with aplomb.
“No-one talks, no-one makes me laugh,” she joked when the press corps fell uncharacteristically silent. “Can you say it’s a braw, bricht moonlicht nicht?” one reporter asked.
The Evening Times’ sister