Shakepeare’s Richard III bebins with the quote “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York.” The word “sun” is in part a pun on “son,” and a reference to the heraldic emblem of Richard’s brother Edward IV, which was a triple sun called “The Sun in Splendor.” The emblem was in reference to the eve of a battle against the Lancastrians, where Edward’s troops saw three suns in the sky. The phenomenon, known as a “sundog<” occurs when there are ice crystals in the air, refracting the light. Edward was asked if it was good or bad omen for the upcoming battle and Edward, being no fool, said it was a sign they’d be victorious. They were, and he contunued to use the symbol.
There have been at least 11 US Navy ships named after Benjamin Franklin, only one of which is in current service. These include the nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640), the WWII aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13), and the five ships USS Bonhomme Richard including the LHD-6 Wasp-class ship currently in service.
A “Benjamin” was a nickname for a long coat in England in the late 18th century/Regency period.
Puff Daddy’s song “It’s All About the Benjamins”, referring to his love of money, uses the name of Franklin, the dead non-President on the US $100 bill, the largest denomination in common circulation, to refer to wealth in general. Now named P. Diddy, the rapper stole the term from Notorious B.I.G., who was in no condition to complain, having recently been killed, only 6 months after Tupac Shakur’s violent demise.
Apparently, many people were curious if Grant on the $50 bill represented General-in-Chief Grant who defeated the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War or Grant the President whose administration was so corrupt that he has the only cabinet member to be impeached. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has made it clear the it is President (not General) Grant.
The portraits on the Australian $50 note are those of David Unaipon, writer and preacher, and Edith Cowan, politician.
U.S. Army PFC Richard Cowan was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for his heroism during the 1944 Ardennes campaign (popularly known as “the Battle of the Bulge”). Cowan is the only graduate of Oberlin College to have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
Since 1990, March 25 is the annual Medal of Honor Day in the United States. On the Army and Navy versions of the Medal of Honor, Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom is at its center. On the Air Force version the head of the Statue of Liberty is at its center. Personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version of the medal.
March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, was the traditional beginning of the New Year in Britain until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. JRR Tolkein preserves this date as the beginning of the New Year in the Shire reckoning.
The only person to be directed to an Oscar-nomination by a sibling was for the 1974 movie, The Godfather: Part II, when brother Francis Ford Coppola directed sister Talia Rose Coppola (Talia Shire).
British actress Keira Knightley has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as a Bletchley Park codebreaker in the movie The Imitation Game.
Alan Arkin was nominated for, but did not win, Best Supporting Actor for his role as movie mogul Lester Siegel in 2012’s Argo. Ironically, even though the film was based on a true story, Arkin’s role was completely invented from scratch for the movie.
It is known that Sarmatians from the East European steppes had traditions which resemble the Sword in Stone tradition ascribed to the Camelot legend. And Sarmatian mercenaries were employed/impressed to serve in Roman legions in Britain. With these mercenaries probably came individuals of a neighboring culture, the Alans, which has a sword-returning-to-water myth very similar to the Lady of the Lake legend in the Camelot story.
Despite this, and various unconvincing evidence, it is widely held that the story of Arthur the great Christian Warrior-Chief was completely invented.
In early Mad Magazines, a potted avocado plant was drawn for no particular reason in many of the strips and parodies. The plant was often labeled with the name “Arthur.”
Lt. Col. Oliver North’s lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, was noted for having said he was “not a potted plant” during 1987 Congressional hearings into the Iran-Contra Affair.
Lt. Col. Oliver North, USMC, was convicted on three of twelve charges in Iran-Contra. The three charges were overturned in 1990.
In 1994, North ran unsuccessfully for a Virginia seat in the Senate on the Republican ticket.
The Roman Senate lasted for over a thousand years. It dated back to the earliest days of the foundation of Rome and the Roman kingdom, approximately 753 B.C. It ceased to exist sometime between 603 and 630 A.D.
The term ‘decimation’, which these days is usually taken to mean ‘total annihilation’ originated in the Roman Empire, from the Latin, meaning the ‘removal of a tenth’.
In the Roman military, decimation meant the removal and execution of every tenth man from a larger military group in order to punish the whole.
In Roman military rank structure, lieutenants outranked tribunes which, in turn, outranked centurions.
Michael Fassbender played the title character in the recent Roman Empire epic Centurion.