Let’s open today with a pretty face. At 59D the clue was “Band with the 1984 hit ’99 Luftballons.’” Yikes, was it really over 40 years ago? NENA.
It’s such a good song. Turn it up!
George Harrison was born on this date in 1943. In Liverpool (duh). He passed away in 2001. Did you know he was only 14 when he joined the Beatles? There was some grumbling about his always being treated as “the little brother,” although that’s what I was and it never bothered me. To the contrary, I always felt loved. But where was I? Oh, yeah, George. So he was only allocated two songs per album and when the band broke up and he went solo he had a huge backlog to draw from.
Here’s a tune of his I like, below. It’s a love song George wrote for his then-wife Pattie Boyd. Pattie went on to marry Eric Clapton after she and George divorced. Pattie and George were married for eleven years and remained close after splitting. George called Clapton his husband-in-law. Pattie is still living and is 80. George is still dead. You know Clapton’s song Layla? Sure you do. Pattie is Layla. It was the world’s loss that neither marriage resulted in children, though they all tried. Pattie was a model whose look helped define the era. It’s easy to see how all the boys fell for her. She said if a biopic is ever made on her life, she’d like Taylor Swift to play her. (I’m requesting Tom Cruise for mine, BTW. Just sayin’.)
At his death, Paul said of George: “He was a lovely guy, and a very brave man and had a wonderful sense of humor. He is really just my baby brother.”
The limo in which John F. and Jackie were riding on that fateful day in 1963 is on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. We saw it; it’s chilling. Amazingly, it was fixed up and still used for a time in motorcades after the assassination. Anyway, if you recall that day, you will recall the image of Jackie, terrified, climbing out of her seat. The car was speeding to the hospital and if Jackie had fallen out and onto the road, she would likely have been run over and killed. The Secret Service agent who climbed onto the trunk and pushed her back in is thus credited with saving her life. That agent was Clint Hill. He died last Friday at the age of 93.
Hill was chosen to protect Jackie because he was close in age to her, and Jackie and he grew to be very close friends, although he always called her Mrs. Kennedy and she called him Mr. Hill. He stayed by her side for four days after the shooting. Thirteen days after it, in a ceremony attended by Jackie, Hill received the highest award bestowed on Secret Service agents, for “extraordinary courage and heroic effort in the face of maximum danger.” He remained the protection for Jackie and the kids for a year.
Despite being considered a hero by others, Hill was tortured for years by the belief he could have saved JFK had he only reacted better once the shooting began. He told Mike Wallace in an interview “Had I turned in a different direction, I’d have made it. It’s my fault. I have a great deal of guilt about that.”
He sank into a terrible depression and alcoholism and retired at the age of 43. He only made peace with himself when he visited the scene, and went into the building where the shots came from. He concluded nothing he could have done would have saved the president. In time, he snapped out of his depression.
Hill married his second wife in 2021, Lisa McCubbin, the journalist/author with whom he wrote his memoir “Mrs. Kennedy and Me” in 2012, and she survives him, as do his two sons from his earlier marriage to Gwendolyn Brown, a college classmate; five grandchildren; two step-grandsons; and all the rest of us, in this poor beaten-up country, who are grateful for our time with Jackie Kennedy, whose beauty and grace kept the glow of those years alive for all those extra years thanks to Clint Hill.
Rest in peace, Agent Hill.
This was just reported: Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) took a hard fall in his home state after slipping on ice Sunday, suffering “a severe concussion, a seizure, and a slight brain bleed,” and is taking it “day to day” before returning to his congressional duties.
He’s a Republican Senator — what congressional duties?
Here’s a shot of him going down.
Oy.
Speaking of falling on your ass, you may recall commenter Gary had trouble with the puzzle yesterday since he was prepping for a procedure (no doubt a colonoscopy). Here’s what he wrote today:
“Solved this under the lingering effects of fentanyl after my procedure. So as you can imagine, I found this puzzle quite pleasant.”
At 54A the clue was “Wide-eyed with wonder,” and the answer was AGOG. At 18A the clue was “Not very approachable,” and the answer was ALOOF.
Can you use both in a sentence? A gog and a loof walk into a bar . . .
Barry McMahon posted the following for the Dull Men’s Club (UK), but, for those of us who care deeply, it’s hardly a dull topic:
“Me and the wife have been having a silent battle for years now. She always puts the toilet roll on the holder with the end hanging down the back. Every time I use the toilet I will switch it to the “correct” way, end hanging down the front. Neither of us has acknowledged the fact, but we both know it’s happening…………… Unless she just couldn’t care less and doesn’t notice.”
Did you know there are names for each way: hanging down the front (the correct way) is called a beard. Hanging down the back is a mullet.
Here are some of the 43 comments:
Murray Atkinson: Every time I visited my mum I would turn it round. It was always turned back immediately.
Jim Robertson: The only reason to have the roll hanging at the back, is if you have a toddler or cat who likes to unroll the entire roll for fun.
Alan Hunt: Why don’t you put it your way, over, when you use it and then put it back ,under, when you leave…. She will then think she has won, but you will have more than one ‘over’ her….. see what I did there? …. I’ll get my coat
Gilly B: We have a bathroom each. As a consequence I have no idea how he hangs his.
Chris Fitzgerald: I use the Daily Mail
Liz Webster Goddard: Install a second roll holder.
Rose Kocher: The correct way is whatever way she likes it.
Dominic Hill: Divorce is the only option if she can’t accept she’s wrong
Marc Hurd: My wife is a rare woman. After we married I explained the correct way to hang a toilet roll and she, being able to see the logic, accepted it without question. She has made mistakes from time to time over the last 45 years when she has her head in the clouds but it’s unusual so I quietly forgive her, correct the problem and administer no lectures or punishments.
Paula Adams: I couldn’t care less which way it goes, but I do change them round in other people’s toilets for a giggle
Thanks for stopping by. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 