Tuesday, November 8, 2005

Spotlight
Happy 70th birthday to French film star Alain Delon. In the 50s Delon was a parachutist with the French marines in Indochina; later he worked as a waiter, a salesman and a porter, and was 22 when he made his French film debut. His first major success was in the role of Thomas Ripley in Plein Soleil (Purple Moon), a 1962 version of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Delon was awarded a "Légion d'honneur," the highest French decoration for his career.

Quote
"In love, we have to dare everything if we really love." – Alain Delon

Word of the day
nouvelle vague: a new wave cinematic art movement of the 1950s and 60s in France; Delon was part of the nouvelle vague. (© )

Today's News

• Australia: police arrest 17 terror suspects, say major attack was foiled (story)
• France: set to impose curfews to quell banlieue riots (story)
• animal testing: European Commission eyes an end to the practice (story)
• Phil Collins: says he's open to the idea of a Genesis reunion (story)

Today's History

• Louvre: former Paris palace opened as a museum (1793)
• Days of Our Lives: soap opera premiered on TV (1965)
• Three Gorges Dam: the Yangtze, China's largest river, was diverted in a massive ongoing construction project (1997)

Today's Birthdays

• Edmond Halley: astronomer who discovered Halley's Comet (1656-1742)
• novelists: Bram Stoker, Dracula (1847-1912); Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind (1900-1949)
• Hermann Rorschach: Swiss psychiatrist who created the inkblot test (1884-1922)