Although Jewish by heritage and ethnicity, English comic Sacha Baron Cohen entered Christ’s College, Cambridge. He has retired his characters Ali G, Borat, and Bruno due to audience familiarity, eliminating the surprise factor his schtick depends upon.
Christchurch is a common name for churches in the Anglican Communion.
The US base at the South Pole operates on New Zealand time for convenience, since its communications and supplies travel via Christchurch, New Zealand. The ski-equipped C-130 Hercules transport aircraft that serve it are operated by the New York Air National Guard, based in Schenectady, NY.
Seconded.
In play:
The U.S. Antarctic base at McMurdo Sound is featured in the conclusion of Robert Brinkley’s post-WWIII novel The Last Ship, recently adapted (almost out of all recognition) for TV.
Like many other slang terms, the acronym FUBAR, for Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition, originated in WW2 in the US military. A variant is FUBAR BUNDY, adding “but unfortunately not dead yet” to the meaning. The 1944 U.S. Army animated shorts *Three Brothers *and *Private Snafu Presents Seaman Tarfu In The Navy *(both directed by Friz Freleng), feature the characters Private Snafu, Private Fubar, and Seaman Tarfu. - Totally and Royally Fucked Up.
The site of the 1944 Summer Olympic Games was to have been London, UK. The Winter Games were destined for Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Both were cancelled due to WWII.
About a month after D-Day, on 17 Aug 1944, an ammunition ship exploded while being loaded in Port Chicago, California, killing 332 people. The United States’ World War II military campaign in the Pacific was in full swing at the time. Poor procedures and lack of training led to the disaster.
The Water Hemisphere is the hemisphere on the Earth with the greatest area of water. Its centre is at a point in the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand. It contains only about one-eighth of the world’s land.
Its counterpart is the Land Hemisphere, the centre of which is close to the city of Nantes, in France.
Author Jules Verne was born in Nantes, France in 1828.
Republican Marriage was a form of execution said to have been imposed in Nantes during the French Revolution. It involved tying a naked man and woman together and then drowning them.
The claim that such a manner of execution has been practiced and ordered by Carrier appears for the first time in the trial of the members of the Revolutionary Committee of Nantes by the Revolutionary Tribunal in 1794. It was present in the report of Charles-Gilbert Romme and in several letters and witness testimonies. However, while a few witnesses asserted that they had heard about “republican marriages”, none had actually seen one; one cited a drunken boatman who had used the term “civic marriage” but hadn’t suggested that the executed were paired according to sex
John Abbott, a Montreal lawyer, in his youth suggested that the Canadian colonies should be annexed by the United States and adopt a republican form of government.
In his mature years, Abbott became Prime Minister of Canada, a loyal subject of the Her Majesty.
A referendum proposing that Australia adopt a republican form of government was defeated in 1999. All states and territories, except the ACT, voted no.
<Aside>I see your new location is Beck’s Cove in Newfoundland. Summer holiday?<Aside>
on-game:
A referendum in 1995 proposing that Quebec should separate from Canada was rejected by the narrowest of margins: 50.58% “No”, 49.42% “Yes” - a difference of 54,288 out of 4,757,509 votes cast.
Significantly, the number of disallowed ballots was greater than the margin of victory for the “No” side: 86,501. There were concerns that the returning officers were rejecting ballots which appeared to be cast for the “No” side.
Off-game
Hey, 350 million Caesars per year suggests it’s not so bad.
Although there is this little gem in the wiki article:
The “clam barrier” - hmmm. Sorta like the sound barrier, only clamesque.
<Aside>Canadian Bar Association Annual Conference; plus a bit of a holiday. Mrs P and I are both delegates, plus there’s the legal education portion. But more importantly, Newfoundlanders throw a great party!<Aside>
Quebec was the NATO reporting name for the Soviet 615 Class coasts defence submarine.
The Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City is said to be the most photographed hotel in the world.
Sightsmap recently used data from a Google-powered photo-sharing application to claim that the Guggenheim Museum, New York City, is the most photographed location in the world.
Benjamin Guggenheim and his valet died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. They were last seen sitting in the foyer of the Grand Staircase, drinking brandy and smoking cigars.
The largest iceberg on record was spotted in 1956. It had calved from the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica. At over 11,000 square miles, it was larger than the country Belgium.
The Olympic Games of 1956 were held in Melbourne - except for the equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm since Australia’s quarantine laws would not allow overseas competitors to bring their horses into the country.