Audie Murphy is usually cited as the most decorated US soldier of WWII, earning, among other things, the Medal of Honor. After the war, he became an actor (under the tutoring of James Cagney) and appeared in over 40 feature films.
The *Order of the Companions of Honour *is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It consists of the Sovereign and at most 65 Companions. It was founded by King George V in June 1917 as a reward for outstanding achievemen in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry, or religion.
The Curious George children’s books were written by H. A. Rey - Hans Augusto Rey, of Jewish descent from Hamburg born in 1898. Living in Paris in 1940, Rey escaped Paris just hours before it fell to Nazi Germany and he fled to New York City. Among the few possessions he carried was an illustrated manuscript of Curious George.
Argentinian actor Alejandro Rey played casino owner and playboy Carlos Ramirez on “The Flying Nun”, opposite Sally Field as the winged-cornette-wearing Sister Bertrille of the Convent San Tanco in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On May 16, 2007, the New York Mets started three players named “Carlos” – Carlos Beltran, Carlos Degado, and Carlos Gomez. It was the first time in major league history that it happened.
They first appeared in a box score together on May 13th, when Gomez pinch hit but did not start.
Beltran and Delgado are from Puerto Rico, and Gomez is from the Dominican Republic. Other notable baseball players from the Dominican Republic include Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, and Sammy “the bat corker” Sosa.
Robert Beltran, who played Cmdr. Chakotay on Star Trek Voyager, was notoriously outspoken in his dissatisfaction with the show. A producer of the show once frustratedly told a reporter, “I think Robert Beltran should stop whining and do his job… print that if you want!”
Actor Robert Reed, best known for the character Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch, grew up in Navasota. Texas, which is roughly halfway between Houston and Waco. Another actor, Chuck Norris, lives just outside Navasota. Bluebonnets grow plentifully in Navasota. They are the state flower of Texas.
The state of New South Wales has a land area of 800,642 km[sup]2[/sup], putting it roughly midway between the land areas of comparable countries Namibia (823,290 km[sup]2[/sup]) and Mozambique (786,380 km[sup]2[/sup]).
Sam Nujoma was the leader of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) in its struggle for independence from South Africa, and became the first president of the new independent country of Namibia.
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) was an international organisation for collective defence in Southeast Asia, established on 8 September 1954. The organisation’s headquarters were in Thailand. The members of SEATO were Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan (including East Pakistan, now Bangladesh), the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
SEATO was dissolved on 30 June 1977 after many members lost interest and withdrew.
Namibia has the highest proportion of Lutherans of any country in Africa, at about 50% of the country’s population. Namibia is the only country outside Europe and Great Britain to have a Lutheran majority.
The Lutheran Church (with sixty million members) is considered to have the world’s largest protestant congregation.
The root of the word ‘congregation’ is the Latin noun grex, gregis, meaning ‘flock’.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, has the largest congregation of any Episcopal church in the Diocese of Ohio, which is roughly the northern half of the state. St. Paul’s is currently seeking a new rector (top priest) after the election of Rev. Alan Gates as Bishop of Massachusetts.
Hindu priests, identified as pandits or pujaris amongst devotees, traditionally come from the Brahmin caste. Their primary responsibility is to conduct daily prayers (puja) at the temple. During Hindu festivals, traditional events such as weddings, sacred thread, last rites and special deity ceremonies, priests are called upon to conduct puja’s either at the temple or at the location of the event. In order to perform these puja’s, the priests are required to have prior skills and knowledge. To be a qualified priest, they must know the required chants (mantras and strotas) fluently in Sanskrit and be familiar with the materials required to perform the puja for various ceremonies and rituals.
*Dawn Mantras * is a piece by the Australian composer Ross Edwards. It was written specially for the performance which took place at dawn on the sails of the Sydney Opera House on the first day of the new millennium.
After the Marx Brothers completed Duck Soup – a big flop in it’s original run – they were dropped by Paramount. They managed to make a deal with MGM and its boy genius producer Irving Thalberg. Thalberg insisted on changes – most notably adding a romantic subplot in the film – and also sent the trio (Zeppo had left the act) on the road to test out and hone the material in theaters. The result was a success: their first MGM film, A Night at the Opera was a smash.
Rights to the Star Trek franchise have been variously held by Desilu (Lucille Ball’s production company), NBC, Paramount, Viacom and now CBS.
Legend has it that the cheesiness and cheapness of the Star Trek sets was due to Desilu’s chronic brokeness, resulting mainly from Desi Arnaz’ gambling habit. He could usually be found the Santa Anita betting windows, when he wasn’t drinking or skirt-chasing. His divorce from Lucy was another consequence.