Noel Coward (right), whose 1931 song
Mad Dogs and Englishmen references Hong Kong's noonday gun, was born 113 years ago today in Middlesex, England. The flamboyant playwright, composer, actor and singer had the honour, in 1968, of firing the gun himself on a visit to the city. Coward never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, although in later life he commented, "There are still a few old ladies in Worthing [on England's south coast] who don't know." The phrase "mad dogs and Englishmen" is referenced in
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, a 1965 novel by sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick …
Born in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, Shaw is believed to be 105 years old, although no official records exist to confirm it. The founder, along with Runme Shaw - of the Shaw Brothers film studio founded in the 1930s - launched TVB, now a broadcasting giant, in 1967. Run Run is a member of White's, a gentleman's club in London whose roll call of past denizens includes George Bryan "Beau" Brummell …
