In 1987, two years after Ricky Nelson’s death, Kris Harmon’s brother Mark Harmon and his wife Pam Dawber petitioned for custody of Kristin’s youngest son Sam, on the grounds that Kris was incapable of good parenting. Sam’s psychiatrist testified that the thirteen-year-old boy depicted his mother as a dragon and complained about her mood swings and how she prevented him from being with his siblings.
Mark Harmon dropped the custody petition after his sister made allegations of cocaine use by Dawber. Kris retained custody, although Mark Harmon was granted visitation rights
Mark Harmon’s other sister, Kelly Harmon, was once married to John DeLorean, the founder of the DeLorean Motor Company and the designer of the Pontiac GTO muscle car, the Pontiac Firebird, Pontiac Grand Prix, Chevrolet Vega, and the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car, which was later featured in the 1985 film Back to the Future.
In 1988, Mark Harmon was part owner of a minor league baseball team, The San Bernardino Spirit, which spawned Ken Griffey, Jr.
In 1996, Mark Harmon saved two teenage boys involved in a car accident outside his Brentwood home. Harmon used a sledgehammer from his garage to break the window of their burning car, then pulled them free from the flames.
David Birney, who played Dr. Ben Samuels on St. Elsewhere, was married to Meredith Baxter, whom he met when they played the lead roles in the short lived sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie.
The word plumbum is the origin of the word “plumber”, as Ancient Rome used lead pipes for their plumbing. “Plumber” is this one of the oldest English names for an occupation or trade.
The English House of Commons originally sat in a small church, St Stephen’s Chapel. The arrangement of the pews, facing each other across the aisle, is thought to have contributed to the idea of groups in opposition to each other. Other European Parliaments adopted semi-circular chambers, which some think reflects a more consensus-based approach to governing.
“First we shape our buildings. Then our buildings shape us.” Winston Churchill (attrib.)
The Australian flag flown over Parliament House in Canberra is about the size of the side of a double-decker bus, measuring 12.8 metres by 6.4 metres. The flagmast is 81 metres high and weighs 220 tonnes.
The flag is changed every four to six weeks. Fourteen flags are rotated regularly so that they wear evenly.
According to the US Flag Code, when an American flag is worn out or otherwise in such condition that it is no longer fit for display, it is to be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.
The US Flag Code specifies that the flag should be displayed not just on every day but also especially on the Christian holidays of Easter Sunday and Christmas Day.
In 1841 President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia. He was the first President to die in office. With his presidency of one month, he was the president with the shortest term served.
Francis Forde was the 15th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australia’s history, being in office for only eight days.
Albert Piddington was one of four Justices appointed to the High Court of Australia in 1913, the bench having been been expanded from five to seven justices that year. Appointed on 6 March, he resigned on 5 April after opponents questioned his independence. He is thus the shortest serving Justice of the High Court of Australia, never actually having sat at the bench.
In 2013, the Canadian federal government appointed Justice Nadon of the Federal Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, for one of the seats reserved for Quebec. The Supreme Court eventually ruled, on a constitutional reference, that Justice Nadon was ineligible for appointment, as he was not a judge of either of the Quebec superior courts at the time of his appointment. Justice Nadon never sat on a case in the Supreme Court.