ON THIS DAY
April 7, 1958 LANA TURNER’S story of terror was told by Hollywood police. It was the night her boyfriend, the gangster Johnny Stompanato, was knifed to death by her daughter. ‘Johnny said he would cut my face with a razor,’ Lana (right) said. Her 14-yearold daughter, Cheryl, told police: ‘I went into the kitchen for the first big knife I could find. I just walked between them and did it.’ April 7, 1960 WITH an old man’s slow steps he walked through Kensington Gardens, past where his statue stands on the Serpentine bank, the spot where, as a boy of four, he met writer Sir James Barrie and inspired the character of the immortal boy. But Peter Pan went across Sloane Square and into the Underground, where he fell under a train and died. Last night police were preparing a report on the death. The name on the file read: ‘Peter Davies, 68, publisher.’
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, 78. The director was 29 when signed to make The Godfather. He got his middle name because his father admired Henry Ford and he was born in Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital. Star Wars creator George Lucas said Han Solo was based on the smooth-talking Coppola. RUSSELL CROWE, 53. The star of Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind called George Clooney a ‘sell-out’ for making TV ads, then apologised by sending him a book of his own poetry and a CD of his music.
BORN ON THIS DAY
BILLIE HOLIDAY (19151959). The U.S. jazz singer (right) was born Eleanora Fagan and nicknamed Lady Day. One of the first black women to work with a white orchestra, her hits included Strange Fruit and The Man I Love. She died under arrest on drug charges, handcuffed to a hospital bed, with $1,000 to her name. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850). The poet who ‘wandered lonely as a cloud’ had a life full of tragedy: both his parents died before he was 15, his brother drowned at sea, his sister had a mental breakdown, and three of his children died before him.
ON APRIL 7...
IN 1927, the first long-distance TV broadcast in America took place, when a speech by Herbert Hoover was broadcast live from Washington DC to New York. IN 1949, Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opened on Broadway. WORD WIZARDRY NEW WORD OF THE DAY Ugi: exercise using a soft ball to develop strength and core stability. GUESS THE DEFINITION Maudlinism (coined by Charles Dickens in The Pickwick Papers, 1837) A) Packing food so the best is visible. B) Standing and staring for long periods. C) Stage of drunkenness characterised by effusive displays of affection. Answer below. PHRASE EXPLAINED
Go to earth: Originally said of a hunted animal to mean ‘hide in an earth’. Later used figuratively to mean ‘go into hiding’. QUOTE FOR TODAY There are some people you cannot change, you must either swallow them whole or leave them alone. Margot Asquith, author (1864-1945) JOKE OF THE DAY WHAT did the fish say when it hit a wall? Dam! Guess The Definition answer: c.