Sunday, August 10, 2014

Trivia Bits 10 August

 

 adele76t

English musician and singer-songwriter Adele Adkins is better known as Adele (pictured) who in 2013 received an Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for her song Skyfall, written for the twenty-third James Bond film of the same name.

Alexei Sayle starred as a psychotic landlord in the 1980’s comedy series The Young Ones.

Dutton Horse Bridge on the River Weaver in Cheshire, England is one of the earliest surviving laminated timber structures. The bridge dates from 1915–1919 and is by John Arthur Saner.

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II delivered the speech We shall fight on the Beaches to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4 June 1940.

Antonín Dvořák could not conduct his symphonic poem A Hero's Song in Berlin on December 4, 1898 because of a nervous breakdown.

Hyacinth Bucket, played by Patricia Routledge, features in the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, which was first broadcast from 1990 to 1995 and is the show's protagonist, the social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket who insists her surname is pronounced Bouquet with her primary aims in life are to impress people, particularly those of the upper-classes, and to give the impression she's of high social-standing despite her fairly average status.

Judge Dredd first appeared in the 1977 British science fiction comic anthology 2000AD.

The United States Coast Guard has operated life-saving stations both on shore and in floating installations for over 150 years being founded by Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine first, and later as the Revenue Cutter Service on 4 August 1790.

In mathematics, the Pythagorean Theorem relates to the right angled triangular geometric shape stating that the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

The French term peloton is used to describe the main group of cyclists in a road race.

Rafer Johnson

 

 

Former U.S. decathlete Rafer Johnson ignited the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles by touching off the flame which passed through a specially designed flammable Olympic logo, igniting all five rings then passing up to cauldron atop the peristyle where it remained aflame for the duration of the Games (pictured).

 

The infamous World War 1 spy Mata Hari was of Dutch nationality.

The Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, site of Willy Brandt's Warschauer Kniefall in 1970, was made from labradorite intended to be used in monuments in Nazi Germany. The monument commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 being located in the area formerly part of the Warsaw Ghetto, at the spot where the first armed clash of the uprising took place.

France Antarctique, a short-lived French colony as a haven for the Huguenots, was not in Antarctica but in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and existed between 1555 and 1567.

The 2013 MotoGP World Championship was won by Spanish Marc Marquez who is the youngest to win the title overall at 20 years old.

Janine Haines was the first female federal parliamentary leader of an Australian political party. An Australian Democrat, she was also the first member of that party to enter the federal parliament after the party's formation in 1977.

The Web Ellis Cup is the trophy played for in the Rugby World Cup. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as the inventor of rugby football. The trophy is silver gilt and has been presented to the winner of the Rugby World Cup since the first competition in 1987.

samisen

The samisen (pictured) is a stringed instrument from Japan.

Shazbot was a catchphrase used in the 1970s/80s TV series Mork & Mindy an American science fiction sitcom broadcast from 1978 until 1982 starring Robin Williams as Mork, an alien who comes to Earth from the planet Ork.

Joseph Barrow was better known as Joe Louis an American professional boxer and the World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949.

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