Anne Archer, the Scientologist actress best known for Fatal Attraction, is the daughter of Make Room for Daddy actress Marjorie Lord.
Queen Elizabeth II is the elder daughter of King George VI. He was the last to hold the titles Emperor of India and King of Pakistan.
The future George VI was originally named Albert Frederick Arthur George, and thus was known as Prince Albert while a boy and young man.
Albert, Prince of Wales became the first heir to the British throne to visit the former British colonies when he toured Canada and the U.S.A. in 1860. His entourage was so large and the White House so cramped that President Buchanan had to sleep on a cot in his office for three days. The visit to the White House was considered a diplomatic disaster by society journalists because the house was in such disrepair (Mary Lincoln would infamously redecorate it soon after), though the prince (who was much later coronated as King Edward VII) was said to be very gracious.
Irish fraternal groups and state militia units in New York City very ostentatiously stayed away from public events at which the Prince of Wales appeared while in town. The Prince became King Edward VII upon the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, in 1901.
Catherine Woodville used her influence as wife of Edward IV and mother of the future Edward V to place her relatives in important posts in the government, creating what was known as “The Woodville Faction.” It is probable that Richard III seized power after the death of his brother because he feared what they would do to him.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was born in Swansea, South Wales. In 2000 she married actor Michael Douglas, with whom she has had two children. She and her husband share a birthday; he is exactly 25 years older than her.
New South Wales is the most populous state in Australia. The name was bestowed by Captain James Cook in his 1770 expedition. It includes Botany Bay, the destination for the First Fleet of convicts in 1788, although they quickly relocated their colony to Sydney.
Botany Bay is the name of the starship Khan Noonien Singh and his followers used to escape Earth in the Star Trek episode, “Space Seed.” It makes a reappearance, on the “wrong” planet, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Professional golfer Vijay Singh, winner of 3 major championships, is from Fiji.
Fiji, or the Republic of the Fiji Islands, got its independence from the United Kingdom in 1970. Although it has a president and prime minister, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom remains its “paramount chief.” There have been four coups since independence.
In the TV show Red Dwarf, Fiji is under four feet of water. Dave Lister still dreams of living there.
The Fiji Mermaid was an exhibit by Barnum said to be the mummified remains of a half-human/half-fish. In fact it was made by a taxidermist from the upper half of a small monkey and the bottom half of a large fish and it was obvious what it was, but it became so popular many replicas were made and exhibited at sideshows across the world.
Upon Jumbo the Elephant’s death in a railroad accident in 1889, P.T. Barnum donated the taxidermied body to Tufts University in Medford, MA, where it remained on display until destroyed by fire in 1975. The ashes remain in a Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter jar in the Tufts athletic director’s office. The Tufts athletic teams are still nicknamed “Jumbos”.
P.T. Barnum has long been given credit for the phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute”; however, his biographer has never been able to track down when/where Barnum said this. On the other hand, Barnum never denied making the quote when it was attributed to him by a rival in a newspaper interview, and thanked his rival for the publicity.
Barnum was a musical with a book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman. It was based on the life of the flamboyant showman, covering the period from 1835 through 1880. The original Broadway production ran for more than 800 performances and was followed by runs in London and Madrid, among others.
Joe Coleman and his son Joe Coleman were both named to American League All-Star teams in their baseball career. They are the only father and son combination in baseball with the same first and last names, but were not a Junior and Senior. (The father was Joseph Patrick Coleman and the son Joseph Howard Coleman).
In most of Tim Dorsey’s novels, Serge Storms main companion is named Coleman who dies in one of the early novels and then comes back to life with no explanation in a later one.
Among other things, John Cleese plays Tim the Enchanter in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He warns King Arthur and the other Knights of the Round Table about a particularly dangerous rabbit (since dubbed the “vorpal bunny” by Python fans), but they merely scoff.
Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York takes its name from the Dutch Conyne Eylandt; “Rabbit Island,” so named for the large rabbit population that lived there.