Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1)

[CalMeacham]

@Baker

The movie was dreadful, but the book that The Mouse That Roared was based on was great, with two or three sequels. I’ve like them always. But the author, Leonard Wibberley, wrote many books, and while looking for a copy of one online, I found out that TMTR was the Anerican title that popularized the story. It’s title in the UK was The Wrath of Grapes. Most readers know about title changes in other works, Harry Potter anyone? But this is one that is new to me. Another Wibberley novel had two titles, The Seven Hills, and The Testament of Theophilus. I have copies of both of those.

Quite a few books in the UK have very different titles than in the US. In the main, I have to admit, I prefer the US title. The Mouse that Roared is descriptive and relevant. The Wrath of Grapes sounds like a book about hangovers.

The first Horatio Hornblower novel was The Happy Return in the UK. It could’ve been about anything. The US title, Beat to Quarters, tells you it’s a naval adventure (assuming you know at least a little of the vocabulary)

I will admit that I like some recent UK titles better than the US titles that have been “dumbed down”. I knew what the Philosopher’s Stone was when I was ten. They didn’t need to change it to “Sorcerer’s Stone” – let the book do some instruction!
Similarly, I like the title The Madness of George III. I don’t think, as some people have claimed, that they changed it because Americans wouldn’t go because they hadn’t seen parts I and II. I’m sure they changed it to The Madness of King George because we don’t automatically associate “George III” with the guy who was around at the time of the revolution, so they had to stick the “King” in there. (Note that they didn’t have to specify which King George. As far as we’re concerned, there was only George III, because he’s the only one that showed up in our history books. Even though the roman numerals imply the existence of at least two more King Georges.)

[Baker]

The Wrath of Grapes, was, I assume, a reference to the pretence Grand Fenwick used for war against the United States. An American vinter was copying the main export of the duchy, a superb wine.

There was a British film that showed in the US as .ffolkes A really good film, starring Roger Moore, Anthony Perkins, and James Mason. It’s original title I forget, but it referred to the North Sea.

[markn_1]

@Baker

It’s original title I forget, but it referred to the North Sea.

North Sea Hijack

[Baker]

Thank you!!! I loved the last scene, with the three white kittens.

[Love_Rhombus]

An old article, but the first I’d heard of it. The article isn’t as conclusive as the title seems to suggest, I’d say.

Plague: Ancient teeth reveal where Black Death began, researchers say

[carnut]

This is the first I’ve heard of this location identification too. Thank you for sharing it!

[DCnDC]

Part of the reason for the bizarre bungee-corded guitarist in the movie Mad Max: Fury Road is because the guitar weighed about 130 pounds due to the fully functioning flamethrower, and the actor/musician couldn’t play or hold it without assistance. It was actually a fully functioning musical instrument otherwise. The lower neck was a bass guitar neck.

[Pardel-Lux]

@TreacherousCretin

@Railer13

Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died on the same day, June 25, 2009.

JFK and Aldous Huxley, November 22, 1963.

And Charles Darwin and Abrahm Lincoln were both born on the 12th of February 1809 (which may have been posted before).

@CalMeacham

The Wrath of Grapes sounds like a book about hangovers.

@Baker

The Wrath of Grapes, was, I assume, a reference to the pretence Grand Fenwick used for war against the United States.

To me it sounds like a pun on John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.

[Robot_Arm]

@Baker

There was a British film that showed in the US as .ffolkes A really good film, starring Roger Moore, Anthony Perkins, and James Mason. It’s original title I forget, but it referred to the North Sea.

I was trying to write a trivia question, “what do the following films have in common?” The answer would be “James Bond actors with beards.” I had Connery, Moore, and Dalton, but couldn’t find a good example with Pierce Brosnan.

[needscoffee]

@Robot_Arm

I was trying to write a trivia question, “what do the following films have in common?” The answer would be “James Bond actors with beards.” I had Connery, Moore, and Dalton, but couldn’t find a good example with Pierce Brosnan.

That Eurovision movie with Will Ferrell had Brosnan with a beard.

[Pork_Rind]

Also, every one of the many, many speakers on his vehicle actually worked. The entire thing was completely functional top to bottom.

[John_Bredin]

Brosnan wears a beard as Bond in the first few minutes of Die Another Day

[Saint_Cad]

Here’s George Lazenby

[Robot_Arm]

@needscoffee

That Eurovision movie with Will Ferrell had Brosnan with a beard.

@John_Bredin

Brosnan wears a beard as Bond in the first few minutes of Die Another Day

I was seeing promos somewhere for a western with Pierce Brosnan sporting a full beard. That made me think of Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October and Roger Moore in ffolkes. I knew I’d seen Timothy Dalton with a beard in something; did a little searching and it was The Lion in Winter. I figured that might make an interesting trivia question, but I couldn’t really find a familiar enough example for Brosnan. The promos that inspired the question were for a TV series called The Son (I’m a stickler for details, so I wanted all to be movies), and whatever movie he did with Will Ferrell I’ve never even heard of.

I’m not surprised George Lazenby had a beard at some point, but probably not in a movie role (did he even do any other movies). I can find pictures of Danial Craig with a beard, too, but I don’t think they’re from movies. And I was originally thinking of classic Bond actors, not current.

So, no trivia question yet. Maybe Craig will have some iconic performance with a beard and I’ll dust off the idea again.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

Brosnan sports a beard in a rather dismal 1990s adaptation of Robinson Crusoe.

[needscoffee]

@Robot_Arm

I couldn’t really find a familiar enough example for Brosnan. The promos that inspired the question were for a TV series called The Son (I’m a stickler for details, so I wanted all to be movies), and whatever movie he did with Will Ferrell I’ve never even heard of.

The name of the movie is Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga from 2020, and it was fairly well known, even if you haven’t heard of it. One of the songs was nominated for an Oscar. Brosnan sports a full beard throughout the movie.

Pierce Brosnan’s new movie: “Eurovision the Song Contest: The Story of Fire...

[Terminus_Est]

Most recently, Brosnan sports a beard in Black Adam.

[eschereal]

Sean Connery had a pretty hefty mustache in that one movie where he wore the dystopian red speedo.

[commasense]

Zardoz

Never seen it. Never want to.

[AppallingGael]

@Pardel-Lux

@Baker

The Wrath of Grapes, was, I assume, a reference to the pretence Grand Fenwick used for war against the United States.

To me it sounds like a pun on John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.

Well, sure, but it must be more than just that.

I recently found a copy of The Mouse That Roared at my local used book store. It’s old, but it seems to have been stored in a cooler and dryer climate these last decades than its predecessor copy, so I am hopeful of reading this one before it disintegrates. I am, btw, a second cousin twice removed from Leonard Wibberley! That is something I hadn’t known the first time I came into possession of the book, or I might have read it with more urgency. Speaking of second cousins, though…

Jimmy Carter and Berry Gordy are half-second cousins, or is it second half-cousins? Anyway, the “half” is due to a master-slave coupling. That seems too good not to have been mentioned so far, though, so I’ll add…

“Rick-rolling” (which I had heard of before) was a play on “trick-rolling” (which I had not). In the latter, the hooker is the roller and the trick the rollee.