ON THIS DAY
FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE MAY 16, 1957
RUSSIA is closing her slave labour camps. Imprisonment in remote areas will be outlawed. Two-thirds of the camps have already been shut and 70 per cent of the prisoners released. News of the switch in Soviet prison policy was given by Deputy Procurator-General Mr Kudryavtsev. He said it had followed Stalin’s death.
MAY 16, 2006
AS AN expert commentator, he seemed strangely lacking in relevant comment.
Viewers of the BBC’s News 24 channel listened intently to the ‘Internet music analyst’ enlisted to explain the implications of the court judgment involving Apple Computers and Apple Records. But his replies left them more confused than ever. Last night it became clear why. It was a case of… the wrong Guy. Instead of ushering into the studio Guy Kewney, editor of Newswireless. net, a producer brought up Guy Goma, who had arrived for a job interview.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MEGAN Fox, 36. The U.S. actress (right) starred in two Transformers and two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. She says she got over her fear of flying by playing music: ‘I know for a fact it’s not my destiny to die listening to a Britney Spears album. So I always put that on my iPhone when I’m flying because it won’t crash as long as I’ve got Britney on.’
CHRISTIAN LACROIX, 71. The French designer counts Madonna and Helen Mirren among his fans. He made his name with dresses inspired by the matador’s costume and invented le pouf, the puffball skirt. Lacroix declared couture should be ‘fun, foolish, almost unwearable’.
BORN ON THIS DAY
BETTY CARTER (19291998). The Grammy awardwinning U.S. musician and composer (right) was ‘the finest jazz singer of the late 20th century. She performed with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and sang Baby, It’s Cold outside with Ray Charles.
ADRIENNE RICH (1929-2012). The U.S. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet was ‘among the most influential writers of the feminist movement’. Rich turned down the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton because she disagreed with his ‘cynical politics’.
ON MAY 16…
IN 1929, the first Academy Awards ceremony was held in Hollywood. The winners had already been named. IN 1990, puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, died aged 53.
WORD WIZARDRY
GUESS THE DEFINITION: scimitar (c1540s) A) Curved, single-edged sword. B) Severe critic. C) Sheriff; a government official.
Answer below.
PHRASE EXPLAINED Bells and whistles:
refers to non-essential but engaging features added to a piece of technical equipment or computer program; it was coined in the mid-19th century in reference to fairground organs.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
Vote for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing. Bernard Baruch, American financier and presidential adviser (1870-1965)
JOKE OF THE DAY
I GOT a degree to teach Egyptology… I think it’s a pyramid scheme. Guess The Definition answer: A.