Hill Street Blues was inspired by The Police Tapes, a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The latter ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC.
The protagonist of Robert Harris’s 1992 alternative-history novel Fatherland is SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Xavier March, a former World War II U-boat commander and, in 1964 Nazi Germany, a highly capable but conflicted police investigator with the Berlin Kriminalpolizei.
Xavier University, located in Cincinnati, is a private Jesuit school founded in 1831. Its athletic teams, known as the Musketeers, compete in the Big East conference. The university’s athletic graduation rate is 94%, third in the nation behind only Duke and Stanford. Since 1985, every male basketball player who has played as a senior has graduated with a degree.
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 were baseball’s first all-professional team. The Red Stockings, with ten salaried players in 1869, were the first team to declare itself a professional team and they were among the most aggressive in recruiting the best available players. As a result they became the most dominant club of the era. Eventually 12 clubs, including most of the strongest in the National Association of Base Ball Players, ultimately declared themselves professional for the 1869 season.
(I’m actually somewhat surprised by this factoid. I would’ve guessed that the first all-professional team would’ve been in Boston or New York. But no, Cincinnati.)
Silk Stockings (1957) starring Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire, was a musical version of Ninotchka (1939), starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.
The Silk Spectre was a crime-fighting sexpot who was also a member of The Minutemen, the precursor to the next generation of costumed adventurists known as The Watchmen. Sally Jupiter (Juspeczyk) was the first Silk Spectre; her daughter Laurie succeeded her as the Silk Spectre II and joined The Watchmen.
Annie Laurie is a Scottish folk song, said to date back to a love poem written around 1700.
According to rampantScotland.com, the song Annie Laurie was a favorite with Scottish soldiers during the Crimean War of the 1850s. That war is known for Florence Nightingale, and also for the infamous “Charge of the Light Brigade” depicted in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, which occurred during the Battle of Balaclava.
Florence Nightingale was named after the city of her birth. Her sister Parthenope also was, Parthenope being a Greek place name which is now part of Naples.
Movie director Ron Howard does a similar thing for his children. All 4 of his children were named after places in which they were conceived.
Daughter Bryce Dallas Howard, conceived in Dallas TX.
Twin daughters Jocelyn Carlyle Howard and Paige Carlyle Howard, conceived at the Carlyle Hotel, NYC.
Son Reed Cross Howard, conceived on/near Cross Street, London.
Jeebus, who keeps track?
In play:
Ron Howard made his film debut as an 18-month-old in the movie Frontier Woman. He is not credited with the role, however.
The 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story, which depicted the origins of the Han Solo character, was originally to be directed by the team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
Six months into production, Lord and Miller were fired from the film, due to what Lucasfilm termed “creative differences” – reports were that the directors envisioned it as a comedy, rather than as a Star Wars film with comedic elements. They were replaced on the project with director Ron Howard, who re-shot a majority of the scenes which had been completed by Lord and Miller.
The current Duke of Norfolk is Thomas Fitzalan-Howard, the 18th Duke. The Duke of Norfolk is a peerage of England, and the highest-ranking peerage, other than Royal peerages.
The peerages Duke of Albany & Duke of Cumberland were deprived from their holders for being German in 1917. Their heirs could petition to have the peerages restored but none have as of yet.
Presumably Mrs. Howard.
In play:
King George III made dukes of all of his sons except the last two, who died quite young. The royal dukes included Frederick (Duke of York and Albany), Edward (Kent and Strathearn), Ernest Augustus (Cumberland and Teviotdale), Augustus Frederick (Sussex) and Adolphus (Cambridge). His eldest son, George, the future Prince Regent and then King George IV, was automatically at birth Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay. Prince William, Prince of Wales and eldest son of King Charles III, holds the same two dukedoms today.
And IMDB.
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Albany NY is the oldest continuously chartered city in the United States. It was founded in 1686 and became the capital of New York in 1797. Close to Albany NY is Watervliet NY (water-va-LEET, or water-VLEET). The name Watervliet comes from the Dutch for ‘water brook’, or ‘water stream’. Watervliet is known as “the Arsenal City” because of the Watervliet Arsenal along the Hudson River.
Watervliet Arsenal was constructed in 1813 and is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the United States. Watervliet Arsenal was founded to support the War of 1812. Watervliet Arsenal produces artillery, gun tubes, and other weapons for the US Army and Marine Corps, and for some foreign militaries. It has provided equipment for the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, World War II, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Watervliet Arsenal is a National Historic Registered Landmark. The mission of Watervliet Arsenal is to be the Department of Defense’s Manufacturer of choice specializing in cannons, mortars, associated components and complex machined items for the U.S. Joint Forces, allied countries and commercial industry.
I hail from near Watervliet and Albany, in Latham NY.
The DC character Roy Harper, originally a Green Arrow sidekick, used the aliases Speedy, Arsenal, and Red Arrow.
Roy Harper was a UK guitarist who has been cited as an influence by people like Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Pink Floyd, and Ian Anderson. He did lead vocals on Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar,” and was referenced in the Led Zeppelin song “Hats off to (Roy) Harper.”
Though never a major sale success, he was a major critical success due to his albums.