Henry Kissinger was surprised when he attended his first meeting in the Cabinet Room as a consultant for the National Security Council. At one point a White House steward entered with a large tureen of clam chowder but served only John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. When he later described this to a fellow Professor, he referred to the “King and his Duke” and their misguided sense of entitlement.
RHIP. Don’t you know?
The National Security Council was initiated by Harry S. Truman.
Under the Local Government Act 1993, council elections are held on the second Saturday in September every four years. The next elections are due on Saturday 10 September 2016.
There are 152 councils in NSW, with the number of electors enrolled in each varying from fewer than 1,000 to over 150,000.
The Council of Elders ruled the planet Krypton, but not well enough to save any of the residents from calamity, despite their superpowers - the lone survivor made it to Earth only via private initiative.
Krypton is one of the six noble gases, so-called because they do not interact with other elements. The name comes from the Greek word “kyrptos”, meaning “hidden.” Krypton was discovered in 1898.
Radioactive krypton was used during the Cold War to estimate Soviet nuclear production. The gas is a product of all nuclear reactors, so the Russian share was found by subtracting the amount that came from Western reactors from the total in the air.
The Cod Wars were a series of confrontations in the 1950s and 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland regarding fishing rights in the North Atlantic. The conflict ended with Iceland’s victory in 1976, when the United Kingdom accepted a 200 nautical-mile Icelandic exclusive fishery zone.
George Lucas’s original title for his outer space epic was The Star Wars. In an early draft, the hero was named Luke Starkiller.
George Lucas’s film American Graffiti was shot in less than one month.
There has been speculation in recent years that when the Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne, he will take George as his regnal name (George VII) in homage to his grandfather George VI.
Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys is a 1939 children’s book written and illustrated by H.A. Rey. It’s most recent English printing was in 2007. This book was the first-ever appearance of Rey’s most famous character, Curious George.
The English actress Evelyn Millard is best known for creating the role of Cecily Cardew in 1895 in the premiere production of Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. In 1900 she played Cho-Cho-San in the London premiere of David Belasco’s play Madame Butterfly. This production was seen by the composer Giacomo Puccini, who is said to have based his opera Madama Butterfly on it.
Actor and comedian Jim Varney, R.I.P.,(15 June 1949 - 10 February 2000) was best known for playing the character Ernest P. Worrell. The first commercial featuring Varney as Ernest was in 1980 and also featured the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
The English actor Reginald Alfred “Reg” Varney was best known for his role as Stan, the long-suffering bus driver in the television sitcom On the Buses.
Varney went to considerable lengths to research the role, even taking bus-driving lessons and a test to gain a public service vehicle licence so that he could be filmed driving a bus on the open road.
Despite his own family’s claim to the throne, Reginald Pole (1500-1558) was a staunch supporter of King Henry VIII; but he turned against him regarding the divorce from Catherine of Aragon. After Reginald refused the offer to become Archbishop of York if he accepted the divorce, Henry VIII was infuriated and, with Reginald out of reach on the Continent, imprisoned and sentenced to death several other members of the Pole family. Reginald, though not a priest, was made a Cardinal by Pope Paul III and charged with restoring Roman power in England. When the Catholic Mary ascended the throne, Reginald was ordained and made Archbishop of Canterbury.
Although several Poles were executed for treason, the most gruesome death was that of Reginald’s mother Margaret, who was Countess of Salisbury in her own right and, as niece of Kings Edward IV and Richard III, a claimant to the throne.
Margaret Pole was eventually beatified by Pope Leo XIII. Although executed 27 May, her feast day is 28 May since 27 May was already the feast day for Saint Augustine of Canterbury.
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering approximately 780 km[sup]2[/sup]. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England’s best known landmarks.
Sailsbury Plain is also a suburb on the north-eastern outskirts of Adelaide in South Australia.
A TV movie adaptation of the children’s frontier family drama Sarah Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan, starred Glenn Close as the title character, and Christopher Walken as her eventual husband. There were two sequels.
Sarah Brightman played the title character in Nightingale, a children’s opera by Charles Strouse, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. When she later made her Broadway debut in her then husband Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, New York Times critic Frank Rich, known for his hatred of Lloyd Webber’s works, compared Brightman’s performance to “a nightingale on LSD.” This line became so famous that Gerard Alessandrini’s parody in Forbidden Broadway included “Sarah” singing these lines to “Andrew”:
Your scores pour forth a veil
Of melody.
Just like a nightingale
On LSD.
I’ll try again.