Catherine Zeta-Jones is 46 years old. Her husband, Michael Douglas, is 71 years old. She is 25 years younger than he. Twenty five.
The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was first adapted into a 1963 play starring Kirk Douglas (who purchased the rights to produce it for the stage and motion pictures) as McMurphy and Gene Wilder as Billy Bibbit. Michael Douglas would later co-produce the astonishing good and successful movie, starring Oscar winners Jack Nicholson and Louis Fletcher.
Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, grew using the name Izzy Demsky and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before entering the United States Navy during World War II. His parents were Russian immigrants and according to Douglas’s 1988 autobigraphy The Ragman’s Son, his father was a ragman, buying old rags, pieces of metal, and junk for pennies, nickels, and dimes.
In the early 1960s the Naval Academy had two Heisman Trophy winners. Halfback Joe Bellino in 1960, and Quarterback Roger Staubach in 1963.
The Maryland State House in Annapolis is the oldest in continuous legislative use in the United States. Construction started in 1772, and the Maryland legislature first met there in 1779. The US Naval Academy was established at Fort Severn in Annapolis in 1845.
Annapolis and Indianapolis are two state capitals that end with the same seven-letter string. But there is a longer pair.
Carson City and Jefferson City, same last 8 letters.
Columbus and Columbia begin with the same 6 letters.
Little Rock and Pierre mean the same thing, in different languages.
Carson City, NV and Carson Pass are named after Christopher “Kit” Carson, the mountain man and guide hired by US Army explorer John C. Fremont to lead his 1840s expeditions over the Sierra Nevada mountains in present-day Californiia. Kit Carson’s home is in Taos NM where you can visit it today.
Taos, New Mexico, is surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The name of this mountain range means “blood of Christ” in Spanish.
At 565’, the 7th highest bridge in the USA, and the 82nd highest bridge in the world, is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos NM. The highest bridge in the USA spans the Arkansas River in Colorado, at 955’ high, is the Royal Gorge Bridge.
During 1888 the 7th tallest building in the world was, briefly, the chimney of Charles Tennant’s St.Rollox Chemical Works in Glasgow.
Very “briefly”, because it was in 6th place before the Washington Monument and Eiffel Tower were built (at almost exactly the same time as each other), and in 8th place by the time both were completed.
Septimus beat me to it, try again.
David Tennant (1971 - ) is a Scottish actor known for his roles as the Tenth Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who, Alec Hardy in Broadchurch, Giacomo Casanova in the TV serial Casanova, Kilgrave in Jessica Jones, and Barty Crouch, Jr. in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In January 2015, Tennant received the National Television Award for Special Recognition.
In 1913 the thoroughbred racehorse Donerail overcame the longest odds, 91-1, ever to win the Kentucky Derby. Since then, two horses have overcome the next highest odds to win at 50-1, Mine That Bird in 2009, and Giacomo in 2005.
With reports from the Iowa Caucus in 2016, in betting markets the odds that Donald Trump would win the GOP Presidential nomination went from even-money to 3-1.
In 1943, thoroughbred racehorse Count Fleet won the Kentucky Derby. Count Fleet’s trainer was Don Cameron. Count Fleet went on to win the Triple Crown as the second Triple Crown winner in the 1940s after Whirlaway in 1941. By the decade’s end there would be four TC winners, including Assault in 1946 and Citation in 1948. Citation was, of course, the last TC winner to begin the 25 year TC drought before 1973 when the TC was won by the great Secretariat.
The most famous Count in history never held the title of Count. Count Dracula was a fictional name given to Bram Stoker’s character, based on the real life of Prince Vlad of Wallachia. Count Dracula has been immortalized by numerous spinoffs, including breakfast cereal. The title of Count is inexact, and depending on the country, can be fairly high or low on the order of hierarchy.
Beginning in 1971, General Mills began a series of monster-themed breakfast cereals, including Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo-Berry. Since 2010, Franken Berry, Boo-Berry, and Count Chocula cereals are manufactured and sold only for a few months during the autumn/Halloween season in September and October. These cereals are neither made nor sold the rest of the year.
The bicentennial of the birth of Civil War hero Major General George H. Thomas, “the Rock of Chickamauga,” a Virginian who remained loyal to the Union, will be this July 31st. He was born in Newsom’s Depot, Va.
Louis “Bobo” Newsom was a baseball pitcher who would be in the Hall of Fame, except that he always played for a losing team. He played for nine teams in his career, changing teams 16 times in his 24 years, and was re-acquired by the hapless Wasington Senators five differen times… He won 211 games, more than some Hall of Fame inductees, but lost more games than he won. He lost 20 games three different times, in a sport in which winning 20 games is a hallmark of greatness.
Tommy Newsom was a band member on The Tonight Show who served as substitute for Doc Severinsen. While Doc always dressed flamboyantly and was great at fast repartee, Newsom was dead pan and wore conservative suits that would not have looked out of place at a law office, but he and Johnny still had some very funny moments, often with Newsom scoring with an unexpected improv.