DESPARATE VIRILITY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 198, 12 August 1940, Page 8

DESPARATE VIRILITY

IL DUCE'S HEALTH GARGANTUAN ENERGY On the eve of liis fifty-seventh birthday, Signor Mussolini • entertained journalists at an equestrian display at Villa Torlonia. in the course of which he jumped If) ■ hurdles (including one of sft 2in) —a feat which doubtless many a British hunting man of the Duce's age could emulate. Of the journalists to whom he was anxious to prove his fitness, lie asked: "Am I Sick? Am I tired?" * This was no new act, as the following extract from "Time" will show: "II Duce carries his 56 years with desperate virility. Every morn ing before going to work he takes a fierce ride in the grounds of Villa Torlohia. Every afternoon between 2 and 3 o'clock he plays tennis witl; a professional avlio gets £12 10s a month. Lives Ascetically. "Fifteen years ago he underwent an operation for stomach ulcers, and ever since lie has lived ascetically, He never smokes. His breaklast consists of about two pounds of fruit and a drink of half coffee and half milk; for lunch spaghetti, rarely meat and seldom wine, a huge salad, fruit for dessert; for dinner about the same things as for lunch, and fruit and milk before retiring. "Reports that he is sick infuriate him. (It was whispered about this time that he hall had a heart attack). When they were in circulation he used to call reporters to his home and ride like Iliad up f\nd down before them to demonstrate his soundness. But of late (written in April) he has appeared less in public than he used to ... , East autumn, for the first time in many years, lie failed to appear—stripped to the waist, swinging a pitchfork, sweating up his massive chest—at the Pontine Marshes harvest. "His energy is still Gargantuan and her still keeps tabs on everything and everyone. ..."