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News...Celebrity Quotes and News...Did They Really
Say That...
December 27, 2007:
Celebrities born on Christmas Day
"You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing 'Galway Bay'
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day."
This quote is taken from the festive classic 'Fairytale of New York',
voted the best Christmas song of all time in 2004, 2005 and 2006 in
polls by the music channel VH1 UK.
But in a crazy example of political correctness gone wrong, Britain's
BBC this December censored the famous duet by The Pogues and Kirsty
MacColl, lest the lyrics would offend homosexuals.
The line in question was "You scumbag, you maggot you cheap lousy
faggot, Happy Christmas your arse I pray God It's our last".
BBC Radio 1 listeners, instead of enjoying the complete version which
the station had played uncensored for 20 years, heard the word "faggot"
beeped out.
A BBC spokesman offered the explanation: "This step has been
taken as this is a word that members of our audience would find offensive."
But following a critical backlash, in which fans lambasted the decision
as "ridiculous", the BBC did a U-turn and decided to broadcast
the song uncensored.
The classic Christmas song, about a pair of down-and-outs in the New
York drunk tank on Christmas Eve, was written by Shane MacGowan and
Jem Finer.
MacGowan, a talented songwriter with a serious weakness for alcohol,
celebrated his 50th birthday today in Cork, having been born on December
25, 1957.
Christians worldwide celebrate the birth of the founder of Christianity
Jesus Christ on Christmas Day, even though there is no confirmation
that Jesus was actually born on the date of December 25th.
Among the famous people who were definitely born on Christmas day
are:
1642 - Sir Isaac Newton (English physicist and mathematician)
1821 - Clara Barton (nurse and founder of American Red Cross)
1887 - Conrad Hilton (American hotel magnate)
1899 - Humphrey Bogart (Ameican actor)
1907 - Cab (Cabell) Calloway (American bandleader)
1912 - Tony Martin (Alvin Morris) (American singer and actor)
1915 - Pete Rugolo (Italian-born bandleader, composer)
1918 - Anwar Sadat (Egyptian president; Nobel Peace Prize winner)
1924 - Rod Serling (American TV scriptwriter)
1937 - O'Kelly Isley (American singer: The Isley Brothers)
1945 - Ken Stabler (American football player)
1946 - Jimmy Buffett (American singer and songwriter)
1946 - Larry Csonka (American football player)
1948 - Barbara Mandrell (American singer and actress)
1949 - Sissy (Mary) Spacek (American actress)
1950 - Manny Trillo (Venezuela-born American baseball player)
1953 - Dave Wasick (American football player)
1957 - Shane MacGowan (Irish songwriter and singer)
1958 - Ricky Henderson (American baseball player)
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