The late Alex Higgins of Belfast, Northern Ireland, holds the highest break to win a World Championship in snooker, being 139 in the 1982 final against Ray Reardon. He is credited with making the game or sport extremely popular in the UK in the 70s and 80s. His death in 1910 at the age of 61 may have been due in part to overuse of alcohol and drugs.
In late 2001, during Jeopardy!'s 18th season, Alex Trebek shaved the mustache that he had worn for over 30 years. He wore a fake mustache for the first half of the April 1, 2008, episode as an April Fools joke. In summer 2014, Trebek regrew the mustache for the 31st season of Jeopardy! – only to shave it off again a month into the season.
The given name Algernon was originally a Norman French nickname, derived from aux gernons, meaning “having a mustache”. It was a nickname for William de Percy, a companion of William the Conqueror. It was first used a given name in the 15th century (for a descendant of William de Percy).
William the Conqueror was given a blessing, a ring and a special banner by Pope Alexander II for his invasion of England in 1066; the flag appears in the Bayeux Tapestry: http://magnacarta.cmp.uea.ac.uk/read/resource/images/William_hastings__1.jpg
Paris’ Alexander III Bridge is named after Tsar Alexander III, who had concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892. His son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896. In the 1997 animated film Anastasia, the bridge is damaged by Rasputin in an attempt to kill Anastasia, who in real life was the granddaughter of Tsar Alexander III.
The French word bistro, meaning a small, inexpensive restaurant, comes from the Russian word for “quickly”. It entered the French language during the Battle of Paris (1814). Russian officers or cossacks who wanted to be served quickly would shout “bystro”.
The Wiktionary entry for bistro varies a little from ElvisL1ves’ post; it has:
Attested from c. 1920, from the French bistro(t) with the original meaning “proprietor of a tavern” (1880s), of Unknown origin, presumably regional French dialect.
A brasserie is a French restaurant with a relaxed setting, serving single dishes and other meals. The word brasserie is also French for “brewery” and, by extension, “the brewing business”. A brasserie can be expected to have professional service, printed menus, and, traditionally, white linen—unlike a bistro which may have none of these.
In the US, a cantina is a synonym for a bistro. In the 1890s, cantina entered American English from the Spanish language in the Southwest United States with the meaning of “bar room, saloon.” The word is derived from the Italian word for a cellar, winery, or vault. In Italy, a cantina refers to a room below the ground level where wine and other products such as salami are stored. The term cantina entered the French language circa 1710 as cantine. It was used originally to refer to the shop of a provisioner for soldiers.
The Chalmun’s Cantina (often called “Mos Eisley Cantina” or “the Star Wars Cantina”) is a fictional cantina in the Star Wars universe located in the “pirate city” of Mos Eisley on the planet Tatooine. It is the haunt of freight pilots and other dangerous characters of various alien races and contains booths, a bar counter, and some free-standing tables, and sometimes a band of musicians named Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes.
Died in 1910…and 72 years later made a world record in snooker…that is quite the accomplishment… 
:p;)
in play:
A lymph node or lymph gland is an ovoid or kidney-shaped organ of the lymphatic system that is widely present throughout the body. Lymph nodes are important for the proper functioning of the immune system, acting as filters for foreign particles and cancer cells.
The glands on either side of the neck, under the jaw, or behind the ears commonly swell when you have a cold or sore throat. Mine seem to swell also when I err by 100 years in typing a date, eg 1910 instead of 2010/:mad:
The popular Rodgers and Hart song “Thou Swell” is featured in the film All About Eve. It is played on the piano at the party when Margo tells her friends to “fasten your seat belts.”
Richard Rodgers was the first person to win the top show business awards in television, recording, movies and Broadway—an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony—now known collectively as an EGOT. Winning all four awards has been referred to as winning the “grand slam” of American show business. Rogers also won a Pulitzer Prize, making him one of two people to receive each award; Marvin Hamlisch is the other.
Marvin the Martian is a character from Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Unlike the other Warner Bros. cartoon villains, Marvin can be actually evil at most points, and not just daft; although, like the others, he is also funny. Marvin’s design was based on a conception of the Roman god Mars.
President Abraham Lincoln nicknamed his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, “Mars,” and his Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, “Neptune” or “Father Neptune.”
In George Orwell’s 1984, the Ministry of Peace handled war, the Ministry of Love was the secret police, the Ministry of Plenty managed rationing, and the Ministry of Truth delivered propaganda.
English writer and editor Robert McCrum calls 1984 “The masterpiece that killed George Orwell”. In 1946 Observer editor David Astor lent Orwell a farmhouse on Jura, a remote Scottish island, in which to write his new book. Orwell’s stay on the island was a struggle with the extreme cold and primitive conditions, as he engaged in a feverish race to finish the book. He was diagnosed with TB in December 1947 but instead of resting he followed his editor’s advice to get the book ready for publication as quickly as possible.
The Jurassic period is named after the Jura Mountains within the European Alps, where limestone strata from the period were first identified. By the beginning of the Jurassic, the supercontinent Pangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. This created more coastlines and shifted the continental climate from dry to humid, and many of the arid deserts of the Triassic were replaced by lush rain forests. On land, the fauna transitioned from the Triassic fauna, dominated by both dinosauromorph and crocodylomorph archosaurs, to one dominated by dinosaurs alone. The first birds also appeared during the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs.
The Isle of Jura is mainly owned by absentee landlords. It is rumored that the step-father of former Prime Minister David Cameron’s wife owns one of the estates, but it is impossible to check, as the estate is owned by a holding company from the Caribbean. It is known that Cameron and his wife have visited Jura several times.