3 May: Bing Crosby

On this date in 1903, the American singer Bing Crosby was born. He made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs. Here are 10 facts about him:

1. His real name was Harry Lillis Crosby and he was born in in Tacoma, Washington, the fourth of seven children.
2. He got the name Bing from a comic feature in a local paper, called The Bingville Bugle, a parody of hillbilly newspapers. The young Crosby found this hilariously funny and would giggle uncontrollably when reading it. A neighbour started calling him "Bingo from Bingville" as a result, and it stuck, without the O. As a young adult he liked a drink and actually received another nickname: "Binge" Crosby.
3. By the time he was in his 30s, he was almost completely bald. He hated wearing a toupee, though, and would select film roles on the basis of most of his scenes being outdoors, so he could wear a hat, and where he could wear a nightcap in bed. In his early roles, he’d also have his large Ears pinned back.
4. He was married twice. His first wife was Dixie Lee, a fellow actress. Although they almost divorced after just six months due to Bing’s drinking and “mental cruelty”. However, he vowed to change his ways and they remained married for 22 years, until she died. After his wife died, Crosby had relationships with model Pat Sheehan (who married his son Dennis in 1958) and actresses Inger Stevens and Grace Kelly before marrying actress Kathryn Grant in 1957.
5. His fondness for a tipple and a gamble got him into other trouble as well. He once paid $10,000 to a gangster to cover a debt. Unsealed FBI files reporting on a gambling den sting in Burbank, California, said "approximately 100 patrons, among them Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, were permitted to leave the place." In his autobiography Call Me Lucky, Crosby recounts drinking with a gangster who had been involved in the St. Valentine's Day massacre and nearly being gunned down when a rival gang came for retribution.
6. He’s particularly famous for the song White Christmas, which he first sang on the Kraft Music Hall radio show on Christmas Day 1941. Bing had to re-record the song in 1947 because the original master was damaged so badly from pressing copies. He claimed the success of the song wasn’t really down to him, saying "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully".
7. Bing Crosby was the first actor to be Oscar-nominated for playing the same role twice. Having won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1945 for his performance as Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way, Bing made history by earning another nomination for the same role in the sequel The Bells of St. Mary's. Only six other actors have ever managed it.
8. He was a very keen golfer. One of the reasons he invested in early recording technology was so that he could record his contributions to several radio shows in one go and then clear off to play Golf. Golf was also the reason he turned down the role of Columbo in the TV series, although the producers were keen for him to play the role, which eventually was given to Peter Falk. Crosby thought the filming schedule would eat into his golf time too much. He was serious about his game and whittled his handicap down to two while playing in both the British and U.S. amateur championships.
9. Horse racing was another interest of his. He got together with a bunch of other celebrities, including Jimmy Durante and Oliver Hardy, to open the Del Mar Racetrack just north of San Diego. The track was the venue for to the famous winner-take-all two-horse race between Seabiscuit and Ligaroti, which was such big news that NBC radio made it the company's first-ever national broadcast of a horse race.
10. Crosby suffered a fatal heart attack on October 14, 1977, while playing golf in Spain, at the age of 74. He’s shown no sign of illness during the game and was in good spirits, complying with requests from people who recognised him for photos and a song. He won the game, and said to the rest of the group, "That was a great game of golf, fellas. Let's go have a Coca Cola." These turned out to be his last words, as he collapsed on his way back to the clubhouse.

Character birthday

Mortimer Atkins, head teacher at Rathbone Academy. He appears in Obsidian’s Ark.

Obsidian's Ark

Teenage years bring no end of problems. Daniel Moran's include getting hold of computer games his parents don't think he should have; a full blown crush on the beautiful Suki from Zorostan; maintaining his status as a prefect and getting his homework done. He must also keep from his parents and sister the fact that he is a superhero with a sword from another world.

Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.

Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?

When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?

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