Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. He died while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family in Stabiae from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption would not allow his ship to leave the shore, and Pliny probably died during this event.
A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 450 mph and reach temperatures of about 1,830 °F. The cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy, for example, were engulfed by pyroclastic surges in August 24, 79 AD.
President John F. Kennedy suggested that his aides read Barbara Tuchman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Guns of August, about the leadup to World War I, to better understand how events can spin out of control during an international crisis.
The Whales of August is a 1987 American drama film based on the play of the same name by David Berry and starring Bette Davis and Lillian Gish as elderly sisters. Also in the cast were Ann Sothern as one of their friends, and Vincent Price as a peripheral member of the former Russian aristocracy.
The film was shot on location on Maine’s Cliff Island. The house still stands and is a popular subject of artists on the island. This was the final film directed by Lindsay Anderson and the final film roles by Lillian Gish and Ann Sothern.
Botanically, the eggplant is a berry, and so is the cucumber and banana. But strawberries and raspberries do not meet the criteria for berry-hood.
On “The Flip Wilson Show”, Wilson once told a story:
Wilson Square is the chief square of northern Warsaw’s Żoliborz district. It is also one of the Polish capital’s main transport hubs, with several bus and streetcars stops. Named for U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, after World War II it was renamed Paris Commune Square. In 1991 the original name was restored.
Boston Massachusetts’s nickname of “The Hub” is a shortened form of a phrase recorded by writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, who called it The Hub of the Solar System.This has since developed into The Hub of the Universe
Boxing champion Larry Holmes won his first 48 professional bouts, 1 short of Rocky Marciano’s heavyweight record, before losing to Michael Spinks, and again in the rematch. He was unsuccessful in three further attempts (against Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Oliver McCall) to regain the heavyweight title.
The name Evander comes from classical antiquity; its Greek meaning, Evandros, means strong man. In Virgil’s Aeneid Evander is King of Pallanteum, a region of Arcadia, in Italy. He is a sworn enemy of the Latins, and Aeneas befriends him and secures his assistance in the battles against Turnus, ruler of the Rutulians and suitor of Lavinia, daughter of Latinus, King of the Latins.
Poet John Homes’ widow, Doris Homes Eyges, has a biography of her husband online which includes this paragraph:
ETA: The name Evander is less common than the name Holmes.
The instrumentalists in the British folk rock group Mumford & Sons - Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall, and Ted Dwane - are not the sons of lead singer Marcus Mumford. The name was selected to present the image of an antiquated family business.
Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called “Five Good Emperors”, namely Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. They presided over the Roman Empire at its height, which Gibbon identified as the best period in human existence.
Richard Harris played Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the 2000 Roman epic Gladiator. He is shown murdered by his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who succeeded him as Emperor. There is no historical evidence that Commodus actually murdered his father (as may be said of many other things in that movie).
The movie Gladiator does have some aspects that are supported by this Wiki quote:
The Meditations of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius were not written for publication; they consist of his journals where he recorded his philosophical reflections. Containing lines such as “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts” and “You have power over your mind; not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”, the Meditations has been called the first self-help book.
The *Meditations *of Marcus Aurelius were first published in 1558 by Wilhelm Xylander at Heidelberg University. Bill Clinton says the book (in English, I would assume) is his favorite book.
E. Gordon Gee served as president of Ohio State University twice. His second tenure was cut short when he made, over the span of several years, what were widely seen as insensitive and insulting jokes about Polish people, Catholics and football rivals of OSU. Gee, who has served as president of more American universities than any other person, is now president of West Virginia University.
Author Don Robertson is best known for his trio of novels featuring Morris Bird III: The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread, The Sum and Total of Now, and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened, all set in the fictional town of Paradise Falls, Ohio… A movie adaptation of The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened aired on NBC in 1977, starring Jimmie Walker and James Earl Jones.
James Earl Jones’ first film role was as one of Slim Pickens’ B-52 crewmen in Doctor Strangelove. His breakout role was as the black boxing champion, based on Jack Johnson, in The Great White Hope.