Robert the Bruce soundly defeated English king Edward II at the Battle of Bonnockburn in 1314, taunting him by saying words to the effect of “I fear your father’s dead bones more than you and all your army”. (Ed2’s father Edward I had been a very scary foe indeed to the Scots.)
In 1995’s Braveheart, Edward I, also known as the Hammer of the Scots and Longshanks, was portrayed by Patrick McGoohan, who portrayed Number Six in TV’s original The Prisoner.
Edward II abdicated and was later murdered, with some accounts saying he was killed by shoving a red-hot fireplace poker in his ass. This was a method of killing homosexuals; Edward was thought to be gay by many, mostly because of his close friendship with two knights Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despenser, which was considered much closer than two men were supposed to be.
Steel Pier was a musical by Kander & Ebb the team best known for Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Unlike those musicals Steel Pier, set during a dance marathon in 1933, was not a hit, running for less than three months in 1997.
The Chicago Whales won baseball’s Federal League championship in 1915. Manager Joe Tinker had previously been the shortstop in the Cubs’ famous Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double play combination.
John le Carre’s 1974 novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was the first of his Karla Trilogy and introduced the British spy George Smiley, played by Alec Guinness on the BBC series.
You’re gonna love this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glvGfQnx3DI
George H.W. Bush was a Navy pilot during World War II. He was shot down in the Pacific but later rescued by a U.S. submarine. A new supercarrier will be named for him.
I’m not seeing the connection.
Did that pick up on “Lt.” from a few posts back?
Anyway … Sir Alec Guinness played an archaeologist turned Spitfire pilot in The Malta Story, in which he is finally shot down.
There. The rift in the continuum is patched.
Actress Lupe Velez was nicknamed “The Mexican Spitfire” for her fiery screen persona and her starring role in a film by that title (designed as a vehicle for her) and a series of sequels. Off-screen, her love life was notorious, with romances with Gary Cooper and Johnny Weismuller and a series a salacious rumors. She ended up committing suicide; years later rumors were spread that she was dead found with her head in the toilet (she was found in bed with a overdose of sleeping pills).
“George” and “George”, I think.
Otto Velez of the Toronto Blue Jays homered four times in a 1980 doubleheader, driving in four, two, one, and three runs respectively.
In the comic strip “Beetle Bailey”, Sgt. Snorkel has a pet dog named Otto, who wears an Army uniform.
Beetle Bailey’s sister is Lois Flagston of “Hi and Lois”, which is a spinoff of the Beetle Bailey strip.
The Volkswagon Beetle was created prior to World War II by Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche as part of a program by Adolph Hitler to design a car cheap enough for the average German family to own.
Yes.
World War II broke out on Sept. 1, 1939, when German troops invaded Poland after a faked “border incident.” It ended on Sept. 2, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered to the Allies on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
And six years after THAT on September 8, 1951, 49 nations gathered in San Francisco to sign the Japanese Peace Treaty, officially ending World War II and reestablishing Japan as a sovereign nation…
After the Meiji Restoration of Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Japanese martial art of Jujitsu, “gentle art,” was on a downslide and on the verge of becoming a dying art, partially due to its roots in the budō and ties to the samurai. Jigaro Kano instuted changes in both curriculum and public attitudes towards the martial art, cultivating the sportive, health, and community aspects of what he named “Judo,” or “gentle way,” the “do” or “way” being more indicative of the holistic benefits offered.
Budokan, a judo arena in Tokyo built for the 1964 Olympics, was the recording site for best-selling live albums by Cheap Trick, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Avril Lavigne, Pink Lady, and Stormtroopers of Death, among many others.
Nitpick: The Stormtroopers of Death (“S.O.D”) album title “Live at Budokan” is a joke - it was actually recorded in NYC at the Ritz. I had the album. 
Cheap Trick provided singing voices and music for the Canadian animated film Rock and Rule, which also featured Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed.
Robin Zander provided the singing voice for the hero, Omar; Harry for the heroine, Angel; and Reed for the villain, Mok Swagger (a reference to Mick Jagger). The rest of Cheap Trick were the rest of Angel and Omar’s band.
Speaking voices for the characters were Susan Roman for Angel, Don Francks for Mok, and Greg Duffel for Dizzy and Stretch (the rest of the band). Omar had two voices, depending on which version - the original cut (shown on CBC in Canada) had Greg Saluta, and the American release (shown in 4 theatres, then on HBO and Showtime) had Paul Le Mat. It’s not known why Omar was recast.
(Now there’s a lot of points to play off…)