One of Jackie Gleason’s characters, other than Ralph Kramden, was a foppish millionaire with a wild imagination, named Reginald Van Gleason.
In the Simpsons episode with Bart appearing as a young Mozart, two doorways to the opera house were labeled “Fops” and “Dandies.” 
During the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), contemporary slang held that the dress of of a “dandy” is more subdued & refined than that of a “fop”.
The first quarterback to lead the Dallas Cowboys to the playoffs was SMU product “Dandy Don” Meredith. With him, the 'Pokes lost to Green Bay in the title game in both 1966 and 1967 (the “Ice Bowl” game). Later, he performed on ABC’s Monday Night Football alongside play-by-play man Frank Gifford, and as usefully as his other color partner, Howard Cosell.
Howard the Duck was a flop produced in 1986 by George Lucas after his smash success with the first three films of the Star Wars series. Lea Thompson was the lead actress of the film, which was set on Duckworld and in Cleveland, Ohio.
On the TV series Daktari, the vet played by Marshall Thompson kept a cross-eyed lion named Clarence as a pet.
George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III died in prison after being drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine. Some authorities believe that the barrel (referred to as a “butt”) was empty of wine, but being used as a bathtub.
Prince Charles of Great Britain is also Duke of Cornwall; his brother Andrew is Duke of York. There has been speculation that, after the Queen’s husband passes on, their younger brother Edward may be given his title of Duke of Edinburgh.
The saying “Put up your dukes!” for “Let’s fight!” is a two-stage example of Cockney slang. Hands and fingers look something like forks and tines, and forks rhymes with Duke of Yorks.
The White Hand was the symbol of Saruman, a good wizard gone bad and a jealous rival of Sauron the Dark Lord in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The Black Hand was a secret society organized as part of a pan-Slavic movement that opposed the Austrian annexation of the southern Slavic territories. They organization is believed to be behind the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that set off a chain of events leading to World War I.
The Black Hand (La Mana Nera) was also the name of a criminal organization specializing in extortion, protection rackets, and sometimes kidnapping in the early days of Little Italy in New York City and other U.S. cities with large Italian immigrant populations. In The Godfather, Part 2 the street boss Don Fannucci, whose murder bumped Vito’s rise, is rumored to be associated with the Black Hand, but the implication is that he’s not.
Barry Bonds’ godfather was Willie Mays, a previous San Francisco Giants outfielder of Hall of Fame caliber.
Winona Ryder’s godfather was LSD advocate Dr. Timothy Leary, who was also married to Uma Thurman’s mother, psychotherapist Nena von Schlebrügge, prior to her marriage to Uma’s father the Buddhism scholar Frank Thurman.
Thurman Munson, an All-Star catcher for the New York Yankees during the 1970s, is the only Yankee to date to win both the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. Munson died in a plane crash in Canton, Ohio, at age 32 in 1979, while practicing take-offs and landings in his private jet.
The only two baseball players to win the Most Valuable Player award in their rookie years (and, obviously, the Rookie of the Year Award as well) were the Boston Red Sox’ Fred Lynn, in 1975, and the Seattle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki, in 2001.
Kent “Flounder” Dorfman was accepted by the Delta House because his brother Fred was a legacy. Flounder repaid Fred by wrecking his car during a disastrous road trip.
In one of the introductions to the commercials for the various Rocky and Bullwinkle Shows, Rocky would find a message in a bottle. Bullwinkle would always ask “Fan mail from some flounder?”
Burgess Meredith played Rocky Balboa’s broken-down but still sharp coach in the early Rocky movies.
Vasco Nunez de Balboa explored the New World, eventually traversing the Isthmus of Panama and discovering the Pacific Ocean.