A bushel is a measure of dry volume that is equal to 32 quarts. Since it measures volume instead of weight, the weight of the fruit in a bushel varies depending on the fruit. For instance, a bushel of peaches weighs about 48 pounds, a bushel of corn weighs about 35 pounds, and a bushel of tomatoes weights about 53 pounds.
“A Bushel and a Peck” was a tune written by Frank Loesser for the play “Guys and Dolls”. It became a novelty hit first for Perry Como, charting at #6, and later for Doris Day, charting at #30. Part of the lyrics:
In 2000, the Canadian Alliance proposed a form of direct democracy, suggesting that any petition that had 3% of support of voters should be put to a national referendum. An electronic petition proposing that the Alliance leader, Stockwell Day, should change his name to Doris Day promptly met the proposed requirement. No referendum was held.
One of the most famous marriage proposals in literature is a letter from Frederick Wentworth to Anne Elliot, in Jane Austen’s Persuasion. He had proposed to her eight years earlier and she had accepted, but withdrew because of her family’s disapproval.
Eliott Murphy was a singer-songwriter of the early 1970s who is probably the least-known member of the “New Bob Dylan Club.” His album, *Aquashow[/I, was a massive critical success, but sold poorly and Murphy never achieved stardom, though he has been successful since then, primarily in France.
Jerry Lewis is a member of the French Legion d’Honneur. Other Americans who are members include Ben Bradlee, Miles Davis, Kirk Douglas, Bob Dylan, and Alan Greenspan.
Kirk is a Scottish word meaning a church, or more specifically, the Church of Scotland. As a proper noun, The Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland.
“Kirk” is a cognate of “church” - both derive from the Greek: “kyriakon (dōma)” (Lord’s House).
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Captain James T. Kirk’s middle name was never given in the original series of Star Trek. It was said to be “Tiberius” in Star Trek: The Animated Series, the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and later in the movies themselves, making it now Trek canon.
William Shatner, the original Captain James T. Kirk, was born in the Notre Dame de Grace neighborhood of Montreal, graduated from McGill University and trained as a classical Shakespearean actor at the Canadian National Repertory Theatre in Ottawa. In 1954 Shatner began performing at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, and director Tyrone Guthrie called him the Festival’s most promising actor, a peer to contemporaries like Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
Robert Redford auditioned for the role of Ben Braddock in The Graduate (1967), but was rejected because director Mike Nichols didn’t think anyone would believe Redford would have trouble getting “the girl”.
Robin Williams was the fourth actor Gary Marshall auditioned for the role of Mork from Ork. When Marshall told him to take a seat, Williams proceeded to sit on his head.
Marshall thought “Here I am auditioning actors to play an alien, and I get a real alien.” He cancelled the rest of the auditions and signed Williams right away.
Gary Hart of Colorado, a Democratic candidate for President in the 1984 and 1988 primaries, was called an “Atari Democrat” by some pundits for his emphasis on high technology and defense reform.
The yacht on which Gary Hart and Donna Rice did their “monkey business” was named “Monkey Business.”
“Tales from The White Hart” is a collection of humourous science fiction stories by Arthur C. Clarke, set in a pub called the White Hart. It bears some resemblance in pattern to the “Mr Mulliner” stories by PG Wodehouse.
The White Hart (“hart” is an archaic word for a mature white stag) was the personal badge of King Richard II of England, who probably derived it from the coat of arms of his mother, Joan. There are still many inns and pubs in England that sport a sign of the white hart, the fifth most popular name for a pub.
Richard II was deposed by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV. The deposition laid the groundwork for the Wars of the Roses.
Then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon once told Supreme Court justice and liberal icon William O. Douglas that he had been inspired to enter public service when Douglas spoke at Nixon’s college. Douglas later told friends that “I never felt more like killing myself than at that moment.”
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University. She states in her 2013 memoir, My Beloved Land, that as an undergraduate she received an invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa but thought it was a scam since she did not know anything about the group; a friend saw the invitation in the trash and told her that it was a prestigious organization.
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Justice Sotomayor grew up in a relatively poor Puerto Rican immigrant family in the Bronx. She wrote that she never saw a Turkish rug until she went to college.