Ronald, Washington had a population of 265 as of the 2000 census.
Lawrence Hilton Jacobs played Sweathogs member Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington on “Welcome Back, Kotter”. Like all other cast members not named Travolta, he never had a significant role again.
James “Jimmy” Jacobs was one of the most successful athletes in sports history, dominating four-wall handball in the 50s and 60s. He went from 1955 to 1969 without losing a match. He won several doubles championships, and took on doubles teams by himself and dominated. In one national doubles championship, he told his partner to stand back and let him take everything. He won the match.
Most observers agreed that, if he chose to play another sport, he would have excelled at that, too. He was good enough at basketball to be invited for and Olympic Games tryout.
He also became one of the world’s biggest collectors of boxing films, and most historical footage of boxing comes from his collection. He was also an avid collector of comic books.
John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquis of Queensbury, father of Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas and the nemesis of Oscar Wilde, was an amateur boxer and creator of the Marquess of Queensbury rules that still govern the sport. He has been portrayed on screen by Tom Wilkinson, Tudor Evans, and Lionel Jeffries- all in films about his association with Wilde.
Incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois agreed to meet his challenger, Abraham Lincoln, in a series of seven debates throughout Illinois in 1858. Douglas won re-election. Two years later, the two men would campaign against each other as the Democrat and Republican candidates for President.
Although Douglas opposed Lincoln in the 1860 election as the Democratic candidate for President, he strongly supported his former rival once Confederate forces fired on Ft. Sumter and the Civil War began in early 1861. He died not long afterwards of illness, however, and Lincoln sincerely mourned him, according to family and friends.
Stephen Douglas was a suitor of the young Mary Todd before Abraham Lincoln and most of her family felt he was much preferable as her mate due to their comparable heights and his more aristocratic background, but she was not attracted to him, partly because he was a Democrat and she was a Whig.
Stephen Colbert was knighted by Queen Noor of Jordan in exchange for signing the Global Zero declaration. Since Jordan has no chivalric orders, he is a knight-bachelor.
Director Neil Jordan, best known for The Crying Game, usually casts his friend Stephen Rea in his films.
Queen Noor of Jordan, the former Lisa Halaby, is a Princeton graduate and the daughter of former FAA Administrator and Pan Am president Najeeb Halaby. Her late husband, King Hussein, for a time renamed the national airline after his previous wife, Alia.
Queen Noor’s late husband Hussein was a Hashemite who was with his grandfather, King Abdullah I, when he was assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist. The throne passed to Hussein’s father/Abdullah’s son Talal who was forced to abdicate due to severe mental illness. Abdullah I was a younger brother of King Faisal of Greater Syria, portrayed as Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia by Alec Guinness.
Lawrence, Indiana is one of four “excluded cities” in Marion County. The other three are Beech Grove, Indiana; Speedway, Indiana; and Southport, Indiana. The rest of the county is the city of Indianapolis.
The airline was named after his eldest daughter, Princess Alia, not his third wife, Queen Alia. However, the main airport in Jordan IS named after the queen, not the princess.
The career rushing leader for the All American Football Conference was Marion Motley, who is sometimes referred to as “The Jackie Robinson of Football” since he broke the color line.
In its early drafts, the Simon & Garfunkel song “Mrs. Robinson” mentioned Eleanor Roosevelt. They changed it to refer to the female lead character in the movie The Graduate.
There is some argument as to whether the song Mrs. Robinson is a sequel or a prequel to the events of The Graduate. Either way Mrs. Robinson is being welcomed to an asylum of some sort.
Comic writer Dave Barry once declared the 1968 song “MacArthur Park” (sung by Richard Harris, Donna Summer and others) the worst song of all time.
Douglas MacArthur was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II.
***Die Hard 2 ***was supposed to be set at Dulles Airport in Washington DC, but in one scene, Bruce Willis is clearly using a public telelphone that bears the logo “Pacific Bell.”
(A discussion of factual and continuity errors in that flick would be an entire thread).
The German terrorist/thief Hans Gruber played by Alan Rickman in “Die Hard” oddly had exactly the same voice as Professor Snape in the “Harry Potter” movies, even when addressing Bruce Willis as “Mr. Cowboy”. The sequel “Live Free or Die Hard” is based on the New Hampshire state motto, printed on its license plates, “Live free or die.”