Most contemporary biblical scholars now regard Mark’s as the earliest of the gospels and was likely used as a source for Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels. It was probably written in c.66–70 CE. Matthew was likely written in 80-90, and Luke and Acts were likely written in 80-100.
The liturgical colour for three of the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark and Luke) is red. For Saint John the liturgical colour is white, since by tradition he alone of the four was not martyred.
The word “colour” is spelt “color” in American English, yet “colour” in most other English-speaking cultures. This is because American lexicographers, in particular Noah Webster, wanted to simplify spelling by restoring the latin-derived -or ending in words with an unstressed -our ending that came about due to the adaptation of Old French spelling following the Norman conquest of England way back when.
The Norman Conquests is a trilogy of plays written by Alan Ayckbourn. Each one of the three plays portrays the same cast of characters on the same weekend, but with the action taking place in a different part of the house.
Painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell was born in New York City in 1894. He died in 1978 in Stockbridge, MA. His middle name was Perceval. When he was 19 years old he became the art editor for Boys’ Life magazine, the publication of the Boy Scouts of America. At 22 years old he started working for The Saturday Evening Post.
The Saturday Evening Post’s lineage can be traced all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, and owes its name to an era when the mail was delivered twice a day and the post office could be depended upon to get it delivered on time.
The phrase “going postal” comes from a series of at least 20 incidents of workplace rage, resulting in 40 deaths, in US Postal Services facilities between 1986 and 1997. Notable incidents occurred in Edmond, Oklahoma; Ridgewood, New Jersey; Royal Oak, Michigan; Dearborn, Michigan; Dana Point, California (on the same day); Goleta, California, and Baker City, Oregon. In his autobiography, Nothing’s Sacred, Lewis Black described his own one-time job at the post office, discussing how stressful it was knowing one could never be done with a task - the mail just kept on coming no matter what.
Former FEMA head Michael (“Heckuva Job, Brownie”) Brown was once the assistant city manager of Edmond, Oklahoma.
Shirley Jones made her film debut in 1955 in Oklahoma, a film based on the Broadway musical.
Oklahoma was the first musical to come from the creative partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. They later went on to write and compose South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music.
Of the four great musicals from Rodgers and Hammarstein, only “Oklahoma” was set in the United States.
John Roberts’s exact title is “Chief Justice of the United States,” not “Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.” The title changed at the behest of Salmon P. Chase, appointed Chief Justice by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864.
Fifteen years after Salmon Chase died in office, Salmon Patterson was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
It is not known what process attracted two such piscine individuals to their highest courts in the latter part of the 19th century.
Chief Justice Earl Warren (in office 1959-69) was followed by his pseudo-namesake, Warren Earl Burger (1969-86). There’s no evidence that either man was ever a sleazy stripper.
Warren Earl Burger’s grandfather was awarded the Medal of Honor in the Civil War. Burger himself never served in the military, but Earl Warren served in the US Army.
Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, was executed on 5 May 1760 for the murder of his steward. He was the last peer to have claimed the privilege of being hanged with a silken rope.
In Cloud of Witnesses, Lord Peter Wimsey’s brother, the Duke of Denver, is charged with murder. He is tried by a jury of his peers, namely the House of Lords sitting in their judicial capacity, as is his ancient right under Magna Carta.
Off-line: I assume that members of the House of Lords no longer have the right to a trial by their peers?
Magna Carta Libertatum, or the ‘Great Charter of Liberties’, was signed by King John on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede in England. Only four original copies of it remain.
Four original copies of Magna Carta survive. The British Library plans to celebrate the 800th birthday of Magna Carta in 2015 by uniting all four surviving original copies under one roof for the first time. Two are in the British Library’s collection, one is at Lincoln cathedral and another at Salisbury cathedral. Magna Carta was reissued several times in the 13th century and 17 of these later copies survive. Fifteen are in Britain, one is displayed at Australia’s parliament and one, dating from 1297, is in the US national archives.
Parliament House in Canberra was officially opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 9 May 1988, the year of the Australian bicentenary.
It was the anniversary of the opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament on 9 May 1901 in Melbourne by the Duke of Cornwall and York, later King George V, her grandfather. It was also the anniversary of the opening of the provisional Parliament House in Canberra on 9 May 1927 by the Duke of York, later King George VI, her father.