5 things we learned this week
By Jon Connell of daily online newsletter
1 Photo-booths are back in vogue.
Suppliers are fielding several times the enquiries they used to, and units in bars are running out of film and chemicals long before their usual refills. According to The Wall Street Journal, internet searches in the US for ‘vintage photo booth’ hit their highest level in 15 years in August. People say the four-picture film strips are more ‘authentic’ than hyper-edited socialmedia feeds.
2 Barack Obama mixes a strong martini – as Bono discovered during a boozy night at the White House.
In his new book, the U2 crooner recalls ‘slipping out for a kip’ in the Lincoln Bedroom, before being woken up by Obama. The singer claims the snooze was brought on by his allergy to salicylates, a chemical in many alcoholic drinks. But the then US President was dismissive, with Bono saying: ‘He doesn’t for a minute believe I have this allergy… he tells people he can drink me under the table.’
3 The secret to marital harmony might be a so-called ‘sleep divorce’.
One in five couples sleep in separate beds, according to YouGov. The benefits are obvious: each partner can control their own body temperature, and there’s room to spread out like a starfish. King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla are solo sleepers – having three bedrooms: one shared, and one private room each.
4 Mary, Queen of Scots may have spent 18 years in confinement but her living conditions were anything but meagre.
According to financial records released by the British Library, she was waited upon by a large household, and served two courses at lunch and dinner – with a choice of 16 dishes for each, including veal, partridge, oysters and exotic foreign imports such as olives and figs. Her meals were deeply scented with cinnamon, ginger and the Tudor delicacy saffron.
5 The hospital fees for the birth of actress Julia Roberts, below, were paid for by Martin Luther King Jr after the civil rights leader became close friends with her parents.
They had accepted King’s children to their theatre school in Atlanta, Georgia – the only racially integrated one in the city. King returned the favour by covering the costs of Julia’s birth in 1967.