Dusty Springfield sang the (short-lived, used only in a couple of TV movies, not the series) theme for The Six Million Dollar Man. Sample lyrics:
Catch him if you can
Beat him if you can
Love him if you can!
Wigwag magazine was an attempt at a serious popular literary magazine a la The New Yorker, founded by several former writers for that magazine. It premiered in 1988 but only lasted until 1991. One feature in each issue was a report on Springfield, the writer going to a different Springfield in each state. He didn’t manage to get to all 34 Springfields in the US before the magazine folded. Circulation was 200k, but ad revenue could not support it.
Shays’ Rebellion was an armed uprising that took place in and around Springfield, MA, between 1786 and 1787. Rebels attempted to seize the Springfield Armory for the purpose of overthrowing the Massachusetts’ government; state militia and other private militias turned back the attack.
The rebellion laid the groundwork for drafting the Constitution of the United States, effectively superseding the Articles of Confederation (which favored a weaker central governing body, giving more authority to individual states) with a stronger, central government. George Washington, having retired following the end of the American Revolution, was persuaded to join the Federalists in establishing the new Constitution and subsequently became the first president of the United States.
A Shay locomotive is a geared steam railroad locomotive, based on patents developed by American inventor Ephraim Shay in the 19th century.
The Shay was produced by Lima Locomotive Works, which built approximately 2,770 Shays between 1878 and 1945. The Shay’s unique design, with its side-mounted drive shafts, allowed it to operate effectively even with “partial slip” of its wheels, making it well-suited for logging and mining operations, which often had steep inclines and poor rail conditions – conditions which led to wheel slippage with traditional steam locomotives.
An example of a Shay:
Other examples of geared steam locomotive used in the United States were models made by the Climax Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania, and the Heisler Locomotive Works (originally of New York, and later re-established in Pennsylvania as well). These used different designs to drive gears to the wheels so as not to infringe on the Shay patents.
In addition, there were some other designs constructed in Europe and Australia, but they were done on a very limited scale.
-“BB”-
Schenectady Locomotive Works, in Schenectady NY, was founded in 1848. They built the Jupiter, the Central Pacific Railroad’s type 4-4-0 No. 60. The Jupiter was there at Promontory Summit, Utah on 10 May 1869 for the Golden Spike Ceremony when the first transcontinental railroad was completed. The other locomotive, representing the Union Pacific, was the Union Pacific No. 119. That was manufactured in 1868 by Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson NJ.
Both of these locomotives were scrapped years ago but replicas were built for costumed reenactments of the 1869 ceremony at the Golden Spike National Historic Site.
Today, at least ten original locomotives built at Schenectady Locomotive Works before their 1901 ALCO acquisition are preserved. Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, and Nova Scotia each has one, and California has 3 — in Bakersfield, in Newhall, and in Pomona.
The character Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables was born in Nova Scotia, and lived there until being adopted by the Cuthberts on Prince Edward Island when she turned eleven.
Admiral Sir Cuthbert Collingwood was Admiral Lord Nelson’s second-in-command at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. He took command of the battered but victorious Royal Navy squadron after Nelson’s death at the hands of a French masthead sniper.
The St. Cuthbert Gospel is a small “pocket gospel” - a bound book of the Gospel of John, dating from the early 8th century. It takes its name from the fact that it was discovered in the tomb of St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, in Northumbria, though it was likely placed there some years after Cuthbert’s death in 687.
The St. Cuthbert Gospel is historically significant, as the earliest surviving European book which is complete with its original binding. It is now owned by the British Library, where it is displayed when it is not out on exhibition.
The British Library, as its name implies, is the national library of the United Kingdom. Along with the Library of Congress of the United States, it is one of the two largest libraries in the world. The British Library is estimated to contain between 170 million and 200 million items from many different countries.
Communist theoretician Karl Marx studied and wrote in the Reading Room of the British Library during his final years in London.
In 1976, the Reading Railroad was reorganized under a government conglomerate known as Conrail. From its initial charter in 1833 to its bankruptcy in 1971, the railroad had gone from one of the largest corporations in the world to a pitiful government-owned not-for-profit.
In the classic U.S. version of the board game Monopoly, four of the properties are railroads:
- Reading Railroad
- Pennsylvania Railroad
- B&O Railroad
- Short Line
At the time when Parker Brothers first published the game in 1935, both the Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads were major lines in the eastern U.S., and both of them served Atlantic City (the source of the names of most of the game’s locations). “Short Line” referred to the Short Fast Line, a streetcar line which served Atlantic City. The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) did not run to Atlantic City at that time, but was also a major Mid-Atlantic railway, and had a controlling interest in the Reading.
The two fictional Royal Navy corvettes featured in Nicholas Monsarrat’s classic World War II novel, The Cruel Sea, about the Battle of the North Atlantic, are HMS Compass Rose and HMS Saltash Castle.
Mark Hamill starred in Corvette Summer, a summer hit in 1978. It was his first screen appearance following the surprise hit Star Wars the previous year. It was not a hit with film critics, some of whom claimed audience members saw it solely because Hamill was in it.
Director George Lucas held extensive auditions for the three main characters in the original Star Wars film (Luke, Leia, and Han). Among the other actors whom Mark Hamill beat out for the role of Luke Skywalker were Kurt Russell, William Katt, Robby Benson, Charles Martin Smith, and Will Seltzer.
David Thompson is a native of North Carolina who starred in the NCAA, ABA, and NBA. As a junior at North Carolina State in 1974, he led the Wolfpack to a 30-1 season and the NCAA championship, defeating defending champion UCLA in the semifinals. In the ACC tournament final that year, NC State defeated Maryland 103-100 in overtime, in a game played with no 3-point shot and no shot clock. That game was a major factor in leading to the expansion of the NCAA tournament.
Thompson, who stood 6’4", possessed incredible leaping ability and earned the nickname ‘Skywalker’. He and his NC State teammate Monty Towe are generally credited with the ‘invention’ of the alley-oop pass.
I have a copy of this on DVD, mainly because I once worked for a company that assembled inexpensive DVDs for dump bins at places like Walmart, and this was one of the titles in the catalog. And yes, the packaging made a HUGE thing about it featuring Mark Hamill.
We also had Summer City, an Australian film that marked Mel Gibson’s screen debut about two years prior to his breakout role in Mad Max – and yeah, this one played on his name recognition as well.
-“BB”-
Bill Russell and the 1956 San Francisco Dons were the first NCAA Division I men’s college basketball team to finish the year undefeated with an NCAA tournament national championship.
The next year, the 1957 North Carolina Tar Heels were the second undefeated champions, with co-ACC players of the year Lennie Rosenbluth and Pete Brennan.
UCLA is the only team with multiple perfect national championship seasons with four: 1964 with Gail Goodrich, 1967 with Lew Alcindor, and 1972 and 1973 with Bill Walton).
It has not been done since Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers, with Quinn Buckner and Scott May, went undefeated in 1976.
Those are the seven undefeated national champions during March Madness.
Following their gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, the US Men’s Basketball Team did not meet up against their biggest rival, the USSR Men’s Basketball Team, until 1988 where they lost to the Soviets. This was the second time the US team failed to win gold, and ended the college-only (amateur) requirement for participation in US Olympic games. In 1992, the “Dream Team” of professional NBA players participated in the Summer Olympics, winning gold in decisive fashion against all opponents. For players like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, it was a chance to play for Team USA after being denied the opportunity due to the US boycott of the 1980 games; for David Robinson, who played center on the both the 1988 and 1992 teams, it was a chance at redemption for the loss against the Soviets.