THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Bill Clinton, the former US president who was impeached for lying about an affair, has raised eyebrows by eulogising the Times Square of old, recalling the old mix of prostitutes and colourful characters as “romantic” and “fascinating”.
At the risk of reviving memories of his infamous sex scandal, the former US president managed to weave his fondness for the seedy past of the city’s central thoroughfare into an announcement that he and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were merging their environmental initiatives.
Asked if he had any memories of the area before it was sanitised and later pedestrianised, he said: “When I was 18 years in November of 1964, a freshman at Georgetown, I first went to Times Square. I bought a steak at Tad’s Steakhouse. I heard a guy ream his mother out, poor working woman, because she’d given him a hi-fi instead of a stereo speaker. I remember everything about it.
“I saw a hooker approach a man in a grey flannel suit. Pretty heavy stuff for a guy from Arkansas. Yes, look, I still have vivid memories of it. Romantic, fascinating.” » | Alex Spillius, Washington | Thursday, April 14, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Marine Le Pen's godfather arrested for pimping in Paris: The ageing godfather of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been arrested and charged with running brothels in Paris' notorious Pigalle red light district, officials said on Thursday. » | Thursday, April 14, 2011
