ON THIS DAY

May 23, 2018

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE

MAY 23, 1957 PRINCE PHILIP was today ranked third in a list of the ‘most exciting dates in the world’ compiled by an organisation of 50 film actresses and models. MAY 23, 1968 STOLEN pet dogs and cats are still being used for research by hundreds of British hospitals and medical schools, Mr John Bleby, a leading expert on animal testing, said yesterday. He said up to three-quarters of the institutions using animals in research were buying them for £8 a time from ‘back-street dealers’.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

BOB MORTIMER, 59. The Yorkshire-born comedian (right) ‘financially crippled’ his already struggling family when, aged seven, he accidentally burnt the house down with fireworks. He was a binman, then worked as a solicitor for Southwark Council in London before finding fame in a comedy double act with Vic Reeves. In 2015, Mortimer married his partner of 22 years half an hour before he went into hospital for a triple bypass operation.

ANATOLY KARPOV, 67. The Russian former world chess champion held the title for a decade until 1985 when he was beaten by Garry Kasparov. Learning to play aged four, he was enrolled, aged 12, in a specialist chess school, where his tutor said: ‘The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there’s no future for him in this profession.’

BORN ON THIS DAY

ROBERT MOOG (1934-2005). The New York-born electronic music pioneer invented the Moog synthesizer, the portable synth used by bands including The Beatles, The Monkees and The Rolling Stones. But he was not always happy with the results, saying in 1969: ‘Sure, I like the idea of my name becoming a generic term for the synthesizer. But I don’t like the fact that cruddy records are being put out with my name attached.’

ROSEMARY CLOONEY (1928-2002). The U.S. singer and actress starred with Bing Crosby in White Christmas and reached No 1 in the UK and U.S. in 1954 with This Ole House. She was the aunt of George Clooney and appeared with her nephew — playing an ageing singer with Alzheimer’s — in the TV show ER (above) in 1994.

ON MAY 23…

IN 1533, Henry VIII’s marriage to first wife Catherine of Aragon was annulled. IN 1785, U.S. founding father Benjamin Franklin announced his invention of bifocal spectacle lenses. IN 2016, U.S. actress Amber Heard filed for divorce from actor Johnny Depp.