Six degrees of separation from David Hasselhoff
Kylie Knott
David Hasselhoff, the American actor famous for his roles as Michael Knight, in Knight Rider, and Mitch Buchannon, in Baywatch, has been in Hong Kong this weekend, taking part in the Rugby Sevens’ fun and games. The Hoff is listed by Guinness World Records as being “the most watched TV star in the world” and holds the record for the highest height a human has been catapulted to in a reverse bungee jump (229 feet, seven inches). There is no end to this man’s talents; he also performed True Survivor, the main song in last year’s bonkers Swedish comedy Kung Fury, which is about a Miami cop who goes back in time to kill the worst criminal to have ever lived: “kung fuhrer Hitler” …
The crimes of the real Hitler need no repeating. To mock this evil enemy, generations of British schoolchildren sang the playground ditty “Hitler has only got one ball” (the other, of course, being in the Albert Hall) and recent research has suggested that perhaps that wasn’t just a baseless insult; the Nazi leader’s medical notes seem to confirm that he suffered from cryptorchidism, or an undescended testicle. In 1989, the fuhrer became the subject of another song, about a woman who dances all night with a charming stranger only to discover in the morning that he is Adolf H. The song, Heads We’re Dancing, is from the album The Sensual World, by Kate Bush …
Born in 1958, Bush has had an enviable career as singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. She was also the first woman to have a UK No 1 hit single with a self-penned song. The singer studied karate in her youth and was given the nickname “Ee-ee” because of the squeaky sound she made when practising. The songs An Architect’s Dream and The Painter’s Link, on her 2005 album Aerial, feature didgeridoo and vocals by Rolf Harris …
The Australian entertainer musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality gained another title in 2014: convicted paedophile. The then 84-year-old was jailed for almost six years after being found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault. In 2001 and 2004, Harris presented Rolf on Art, a television series looking at the work of a selection of his favourite artists, including Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh …
Critics largely ignored the work of the post-impressionist painter until after his presumed suicide, in 1890 (he sold only one painting while he was alive). Van Gogh suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, a condition characterised by seizures. During one episode, van Gogh claimed, he attacked a friend, Paul Gauguin (another postimpressionist who would not be fully appreciated until after his death), with a razor, resulting in the former cutting off a piece of his own ear. New research suggests, however, that Gauguin instead attacked van Gogh with a sword. The 1956 television movie Lust for Life puts forward another theory; that an anguished van Gogh lopped off his ear while alone, in his digs. Playing the Dutch master in that film is Kirk Douglas …
Born Issur Danielovitch to poor Russian immigrant parents in New York, in 1916, Douglas grew up in a ghetto but was a good student and athlete, and wrestled competitively at university. The cleft-chinned wonder went on to star in hits such as Paths of Glory (1957), Spartacus (1960) and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1973), one of the many interpretations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella. Another was the stage musical of the same name that premiered in Houston, in 1990. The final actor to play the lead role(s) in that musical’s initial run on Broadway was one David Hasselhoff.
