The Pirate Queen was a musical written by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil (Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre), with John Dempsey is the co-lyricist. The Pirate Queen marked the first time Boublil and Schönberg have created a musical with American collaborators. It is based on the life and adventures of the 16th century Irish chieftain and pirate Gráinne O’Malley, who was one of the last Irish clan leaders to resist the English conquest of Gaelic Ireland.
The show failed miserably on Broadway, running from March to May of 2006. It also ended the saying “Boublil and Schönberg cannot write a decent show whose title starts with ‘M’”
This alleged story is told about Grainne O’Malley, also known as Grace. This occurred during Grace’s meeting with the Queen in England.
It is said that during the meeting, Grace sneezed in the presence of the Queen and her lords and ladies. A member of the court, in an act of politeness, handed Grace an attractive and expensive lace handkerchief. She took the delicate cloth and proceeded to blow her nose loudly then tossed the handkerchief into a blazing fireplace. The members of the court were aghast that she would be so rude to toss an expensive gift so easily into the fire.
Queen Elizabeth then scolded her and said that the handkerchief was meant as a gift and should have been put into her pocket. Grace replied that the Irish would never put a soiled garment into their pocket and apparently had a higher standard of cleanliness. After a period of uncomfortable silence, (during which the members of the court expected the Queen to have Grace executed for her rude behavior) nervous then roaring laughter followed. The Queen was amused.
The customary personal honorific in Great Britain for both a duke and an archbishop is “Your Grace.” Before Henry VIII (the first to regularly use the phrase “His Majesty”), kings of England also were referred to as “Your Grace.”
ETA: With six wives, Henry VIII was something of an alley cat himself.
James Buchanan Duke made his fortune in tobacco and electric power. In 1885, Duke used the first automated cigarette manufacturing machine and in five years he was supplying 40% of all cigarettes in America. He is the namesake of Duke University in Chapel Hill NC, and that is his final resting place.
Doris Duke, whose only child died in infancy, was fascinated by the paranormal. Duke University had already conducted experiments in parapsychology before Doris came into her money, but after her child died she earmarked millions of dollars of the hundreds of millions the Duke family gave the university they’d endowed for the study and investigation of the paranormal, including experiments in ESP, past life regression, telekinesis, and other horror-movie-of-the-week fodder. While obviously none of the studies have conclusively proven the existence of the supernatural, they are considered some of the most scholarly and controlled studies.
Duke University and the University of North Carolina have a traditional rivalry fueled by the fact that they are only 10 miles apart, Duke being located in Durham, North Carolina and UNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Author Betty Smith lived in Chapel Hill NC when she wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a tale of NYC. Author Thomas Wolfe was living in NYC when he wrote Look Homeward Angel, a tale of North Carolina.
The House of Commons sat in St Stephen’s Chapel at the Palace of Westminster. The floor plan of the Chapel had a lasting effect on the way the Commons sits, with the Government and Opposition members on opposite sides, emphasising the adversarial nature of the Westminister system.
In addition, the two red lines you see that MPs are not allowed to cross during debate are traditionally two sword-lengths apart. Oh and the MPs have a free supply of snuff from the the doorkeeper.
Snuff films are not related to the elected office of MP and are not claimed by the FPP, whatever that is, thus employing all possible words in the domino… The earliest known is a silent film on decaying nitrate celluloid, simply titled La Mort D’une Fille, and bears the date of 1896. None of several dozen known snuff films has been absoluely confirmed as being genuine.
Nitrites oxidize the iron atoms in hemoglobin from ferrous iron(II) to ferric iron(III), rendering it unable to carry oxygen. This process can lead to generalized lack of oxygen in organ tissue and a dangerous condition called methemoglobinemia. This is called Nitrate toxicosis.
A sunroom is a structure, either attached or integrated into a building such as a home, restaurant, or office, which allows enjoyment of the surrounding landscape while being sheltered from adverse weather.
Also known as a sun parlor, sun porch, patio room, Florida room, garden conservatory, Wintergarden,or, just across the stateline from the Florida Pahhandle, an Alabama Room.
The “Alabama Song” made popular by The Doors was written for a German play which was completely written in German except for the Alabama Song which was written in English
The original German title of Marat/Sade, the Tony Award winner for Best Play for 1966, is Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean Paul Marats dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade. The playwright is Peter Weiss.
The very first SR-71 reconnaissance plane first went into service out of Beale AFB in January 1966.
In early development the SR-71 was going to be a supersonic bomber following the likes of the B-58 Hustler. It was briefly given the designator B-71, and it followed sequentially after the XB-70 Valkyrie. The number 71 was kept when the prototype B-71 became the strike reconnaissance airplane,