# Second- or third-hand brushes with history **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921 "2016-01-22T23:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/101 "2016-01-28T01:59:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > How the heck old are you, your dad, and the guy who taught him? > Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier died in 1830. If your dad’s teacher was born in 1810, I could see him teaching your father if he was born sometime well before the end of the 19th century, but then you’d have to be born at the beginning of the 20th century. > > I suspect you’re either missing a link (or more) in your chain of transmission, or you’ve got the wrong Fourier. Yes, I realized I’d missed a couple of generations when I woke up. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/102 "2016-01-28T04:17:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Closer, but no cigar. [Kathryn Sullivan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_D._Sullivan) ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/103 "2016-01-28T04:18:30Z")
My grandmother taught high school English back in the 1940s and 50s and 60s, and one of her students, Wilbert “Skeeter” McClure, won a gold medal in light middleweight boxing in the 1960 Olympics. When he got his big parade upon returning home, he came to my grandmother’s house to thank her for her encouragement. He brought an Olympic teammate he thought she might like to meet because McClure was sure he’d be famous someday: Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammed Ali. I was not born until ten years later. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/104 "2016-01-28T07:32:33Z")
There’s a guy who goes to my gym. We’ve become friendly over the past few years, and just talking with him is a brush with history. He: - was born in 1921 in Oklahoma - came to California with his parents in the Depression - served in the Pacific (mainly New Guinea) during WWII - went to San Diego State, then worked for the County sheriff - was a civil rights activist in San Diego in the 1960s, part of a group of blacks and Latinos who protested against restaurants that refused to serve people of color - was the first black member of the San Diego City Council in the late 1960s and through the 1970s - was the first (and, i think, still only ever) black member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors - was vice-chair and then chair of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System in the 1990s and early 2000s. One of the city light rail stops, the one at SDSU, is dedicated to him. He’s 94 now, and i still see him at the gym pretty regularly, walking the treadmill and lifting light weights. He’s absolutely fascinating to talk to. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/105 "2016-01-28T14:37:22Z")
I waited on Bo Diddley once when I worked at McDonalds. One of my co-workers is a close relative of Tom Petty. Sorry, that’s all I got. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/106 "2016-01-28T18:26:56Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I waited on Bo Diddley once when I worked at McDonalds. So, you know Diddley, eh?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/107 "2016-01-28T18:45:32Z")
Trust me, I don’t know squat! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/108 "2016-01-28T19:42:11Z")
Another one: a good friend and colleague of mine’s father was asked by the Hussein family to defend Saddam in his trial for mass murder. He eventually passed on it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/109 "2016-01-28T19:54:29Z")
Thirdhand brush with fame: my doctoral advisor had an Erdös number of 2. So I’m within 3 degrees of separation from Pal Erdös. (Too bad my advisor and I never co-wrote a paper, because then I’d have an Erdös number of 3. I guess you could stretch a point and say that my dissertation was a collaboration with my advisor, but it’s iffy.) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/110 "2016-01-28T21:10:37Z")
Once my dad and I were waiting for our car to be fixed at a service station in Pennsylvania, and Jack Palance walked in. At the time, I only knew him from an episode of the Buck Rogers TV show. (Hadn’t seen **Shane** yet.) ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/111 "2016-01-28T23:09:49Z")
In descending order of seriousness: My great-uncle was a survivor of the Bataan Death March (the treatment he received left him legally blind). I shook hands with Senator John Warner of Virginia. At the time, he was married to Elizabeth Taylor. I’m sure he had recently washed his hands, but still…sometimes…the mind wanders… I was one of several people at the table having dinner with John Hornsby (brother of Bruce, for those old enough) once; he made a joke about how, after having written “Mandolin Rain”, they were wondering how to follow that - “French Horn Cold Front”? Later, we all went to an Alex Chilton show (I was literally sitting about four feet in front of him; the venue wasn’t very big at all). Our group went backstage afterwards, and he offered me a gingerbread cookie off of a tray of them. That was, and remains, the vilest cookie I have ever tasted. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/112 "2016-01-29T02:43:28Z")
was going through some things from the attic, found my autographed copy of Bill Pearl’s book. Nice guy. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/113 "2016-01-30T00:06:02Z")
One that sort of counts is William McCool, the pilot of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the one that burned up over Texas on February 1, 2003, went to both my high school and my undergraduate university. But he was younger than I, and I never knew him. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/114 "2016-01-30T00:18:52Z")
My grandmother introduced me to Stanley Knowles, a major figure in Canadian politics in the last 2/3 of the recent century. He boarded with a friend of hers. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/115 "2016-01-30T00:23:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > One that sort of counts is William McCool, the pilot of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the one that burned up over Texas on February 1, 2003, went to both my high school and my undergraduate university. But he was younger than I, and I never knew him. Well he went to my high school, but now I’m not sure about the undergrad university. His Wikipedia bio says he got his bachelor’s degree from the United States Naval Academy, and that sure was not my undergrad university. During one of the transmissions from space, he was seen wearing a T-shirt with my undergrad uni’s name on it, and that uni is close to the high school, so I assumed he went there. May have taken some courses. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/116 "2016-01-30T17:27:18Z")
My grandfather shook Adolf Hitler’s hand. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/117 "2016-01-30T18:17:05Z")
While I’ve met many celebrities at Broadway stage doors, the only one I walked down the street with was Christopher Reeve. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/118 "2016-01-30T19:38:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > While I’ve met many celebrities at Broadway stage doors, the only one I walked down the street with was Christopher Reeve. My late father-in-law was one of his college professors, but I don’t think that qualifies as a brush with history. Maybe one of those six degrees of separation dealie to **Annie Xmas** , though. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/119 "2016-01-30T20:10:57Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > While I’ve met many celebrities at Broadway stage doors, the only one I walked down the street with was Christopher Reeve. > [@koeeoaddi](#): > > My late father-in-law was one of his college professors, but I don’t think that qualifies as a brush with history. Maybe one of those six degrees of separation dealie to **Annie Xmas** , though. I lived in the same dorm (Risley) as Christopher Reeve at Cornell. I knew him casually. He didn’t look much like Superman then.😉 ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921/120 "2016-01-30T21:09:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I lived in the same dorm (Risley) as Christopher Reeve at Cornell. I knew him casually. He didn’t look much like Superman then.😉 So, he could have been your professor, too! Another six degrees. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/second-or-third-hand-brushes-with-history/743921.md?page=7)