The Avro Lancastrian was a civilian airliner version of the legendary Lancaster bomber. It was replaced by the York, which had a more appropriate fuselage. On 2 August 1947 Lancastrian G-AGWH Star Dust" of British South American Airways was lost in the Argentine Andes, whilst en route from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile. The airplane’s last transmission was the mysterious “STENDEC”, although the eventual discovery of the wreckage did put an end to alien abduction theories.
In WWII Avro also manufactured the Manchester, a two engine medium bomber, and the Lincoln, a four engine heavy bomber. The Lincoln irst flew a few days after D-Day, so, late in the war. The Manchester was introduced in 1940 and retired in 1942.
Manchester was originally a stronghold of the Brigantes, a pre-Roman British Celtic tribe. The Romans established a fort there; it did not become a large town until the Industrial Revolution. It achieved city status in 1853, the first new British city for three hundred years.
The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Constantine I in 325 AD and produced the beginning of the Nicene Creed, up until the line “We believe in the Holy Spirit.” And it ended there. Later was added the ending of the prayer:
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Constantine II, King of Scots, reigned for 43 years. His reign marked the consolidation of Picts and Scots into a single Scottish kingdom.
Mary Queen of Scots was unusually tall for a woman of the 1500s. Reliable sources estimate her height at around 5’11".
“Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” is a popular English nursery rhyme. One therory about it’s meaning is that the rhyme is connected to Mary, Queen of Scots, with “how does your garden grow” referring to her reign over her realm, “silver bells” referring to (Catholic) cathedral bells, “cockle shells” insinuating that her husband was not faithful to her, and “pretty maids all in a row” referring to her ladies-in-waiting – “The four Maries”.
Queen Mary I of England, like Mary, Queen of Scots, also lived during the 16th century. Queen Mary I of England is known as “Bloody Mary” because, as a staunch Roman Catholic, she had over 280 Protestants executed by burning during the English Reformation.
There have been four ships christened Queen Mary:
HMS Queen Mary, a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy launched in 1912 and lost at the battle of Jutland in 1916.
TS Queen Mary, a Clyde Steamer launched in 1933, now retired as a floating pub/restaurant on the Embankment in London, UK
RMS Queen Mary, a Cunard Line ocean liner launched in 1934, now retired as a hotel in Long Beach, California, USA
RMS Queen Mary 2, a Cunard passenger ship that entered service in 2003
The nickname “Bloody Mary” for Mary Tudor has been characterized as part of the “Black Legend” of anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish rhetoric that became current during the reign of her successor, her half sister Elizabeth I.
The reigns of Mary’s father Henry VIII and of her siblings Edward VI and Elizabeth saw deaths of far more Catholics; compared to the 280 Protestants executed during her reign, over 5000 Catholics were put to death in a Catholic rebellion in Cornwall during Edward VIs reign. Henry VIII was responsible for 72,000 executions, many of them for the practice of Catholicism.
Tudor Revival architecture first appeared in domestic architecture beginning in the United Kingdom in the mid to late 19th century based on a revival of aspects of Tudor architecture or, more often, the style of English vernacular architecture of the Middle Ages that survived into the Tudor period. The Tudor revival style was a reaction to the ornate Victorian Gothic revival of the second half of the 19th century.
David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recently acknowledged that it should not have taken him five days of evasions and half-answers before admitting that he and his wife had indeed benefitted from offshore accounts set up by his late father and revealed by the so-called “Panama Papers.”
The March of the Cameron Men is the traditional march of Clan Cameron in the western Highlands.
The Clan Cameron of the Highlands was known for its fierce warriors. The clan’s ferocious war cry was a promise to feed their enemies’ flesh to dogs: “Sons of the hounds come here and get flesh”.
In the Broadway production of the Neil Simon play, Biloxi Blues, actors Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck played best friends. One year later they played best friends again in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Playing high school students, Broderick was 24 years old, and Ruck was 30(!). Ruck’s character was Cameron Frye.
In “the Flying Saucer” song, the on-site reporter is John Cameron-Cameron.
The boom in craft beers has given rise to nice, modern bars, clubs and eateries. One, in Austin TX, is named the Austin Flying Saucer.
I have no affiliation with the place. I was in ATX just last month and didn’t know of the place. I have family in ATX. Next time I’m there I think I’ll check it out.
Flying Saucer song reporter John Cameron-Cameron was a takeoff on John Cameron Swayze, who was Walter Cronkite’s predecessor on the NBC nightly news. His son, Cameron Swayze, followed in his footsteps to become a reporter for many years on NBC radio news. It was the elder Swayze who made Timex watches famous by losing one attached to an outboard motor in a tank back when all commercials were aired live (there was no tape yet). Swayze ad-libbed his way out of it like the pro he was.
Timex was the watch manufacturer of choice for the US army during WWI. Timex produced the first and original Mickey Mouse watch in the 1930s.
In his later years, Emperor Hirohito wore a Mickey Mouse watch.