The Philadelphia Eagles will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. The Patriots will be making their 10th Super Bowl appearance, the most of any other teams. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, and Denver Broncos are tied with 8, the second most.
The term bronco comes from Spanish, meaning “rough”, which in Mexican usage also describes a horse. It was then borrowed and adapted in US cowboy lingo. Many other instances of cowboy jargon were similarly borrowed from Mexican cowboys, including words such lariat, chaps, and buckaroo, which are in turn corruptions of the Spanish la reata, chaparreras, and vaquero.
The first Macdonald government in Canada was brought down by a corruption scandal over the contract for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Macdonald lost on a confidence measure in the House and resigned. The Governor General appointed the Leader of the Opposition, Alexander Mackenzie, as Prime Minister. Mackenzie then advised an immediate election, which he won. However, he only had a term of four years, as Macdonald returned to office in the next election.
When Philip Wallach Blondheim III decided to record John Phillip’s song “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” he chose the name “McKenzie” from Phillip’s daughter’s Laura McKenzie’s middle name. She later went on to fame as actress McKenzie Phillips. And John Astin’s mother’s family name was also McKenzie, the name Patty Duke gave to their son.
American composer and conductor John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), known primarily for American military and patriotic marches, is known as the “American March King”. Among his best-known marches is “Semper Fidelis”, the Official March of the United States Marine Corps.
Sousa was enlisted in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868 at the young age of 13, and later served as its Director for 12 years. Under his leadership, the Marine Band became the premier military band in the United States. During his time with the Marine Band, Sousa composed several of his famous marches including The Washington Post, The Thunderer and Semper Fidelis which remain staples of marching bands to this day.
Sousa composed his most famous march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, entirely in his head on Christmas Day, 1896, during a transatlantic voyage. Upon docking in New York, he immediately bought music paper and wrote it all down with full orchestration and rarely-performed lyrics, never changing a note or a word.
In the 1896 presidential election, William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryant. Bryant was only 36 years old at the time, making him the youngest major party presidential nominee in U.S. history. He would also win the Democratic nomination in 1900 and 1908, but was defeated in both of those elections as well. Bryant is perhaps best known for his participation in the 1925 Scopes trial, where he was part of the legal team that argued to ban the teaching of evolution in Tennessee public schools. Bryant died 5 days after the conclusion of the trial.
(Bryan, not Bryant)
Patti Page’s 1950 recording of “Tennessee Waltz” was still the top-selling song in Japanese history as of 1974. Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, and the rest of the Golden West Cowboys were on their way to Nashville “close to Christmas in 1946” when King and Stewart, who were riding in a truck carrying the group’s equipment, heard Bill Monroe’s new “Kentucky Waltz” on the radio. Stewart had an idea to write a song, a Tennessee waltz using the melody of King’s theme song, “No Name Waltz,” and wrote the lyrics on a matchbox as he and King thought up the words.
Sam Houston is the only man to be elected Governor of two different U.S. states — Tennessee and Texas. He also served as U.S. Senator and President of a foreign country.
The New York City neighborhood of Soho is not named for the one in London, but for its location, South of Houston Street. The street is pronounced HOW-sten, not HEW-sten, unlike the city and early Texas leader.
The New York Public Library has a Map Room that holds and displays historic maps of the city and its neighborhoods. It is free to take a tour of the library, and the Map Room is included on that tour.
Comment: and it’s fascinating too.
The two lions that guard the main entrance to the New York Public Library, which houses the real Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, and Tigger dolls, are named Patience and Fortitude.
The lions on the steps of the New York Public Library appear in the opening scenes of the 1984 supernatural comedy Ghostbusters. Filming for the movie temporarily closed several streets around the apartment building of famed sf author Isaac Asimov, a lifelong New Yorker, who complained to police.
“Native New Yorker” is a disco song written by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell. It was first recorded in 1977 by Frankie Valli and released on his album “Lady Put The Light Out”. Later in 1977 the song became a hit single for the soul dance band Odyssey, which reached No. 3 on the U.S. disco chart.
“Disco Duck” is a disco parody written by DJ Rick Dees. Rolling Stone readers voted it the worst song of the 1970s. It reached Number One on the Hot 100 in 1976. The song was a hit everywhere in America except for Memphis, where Rick’s own station refused to play it, and where other radio stations didn’t want to promote a rival.
Howard the Duck is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. While the film adaptation (in 1986) was considered a flop, the character has appeared in a cameo role in both of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
William Davis Merry Howard and Agnes Poett Howard were the first to build a large estate on the mid-Peninsula area south of San Francisco. It stretched from Sanchez Avenue in modern-day Burlingame to San Mateo Creek near downtown San Mateo, and from the San Francisco Bay to present-day Interstate 280.
San Francisco’s Howard Street, south of Market St, and Howard Avenue in Burlingame were named after WDM Howard.
The Howard brothers are two of the most successful curlers in history.
Older brother Russ has won the men’s world championship twice. He’s competed in the Brier (Canada’s oldest and most prestigious national curling competition) 14 times, winning it twice, and numerous other competitions.
Younger brother Glenn had won the world championship four times. He’s competed in the Brier 15 times, winning it four times, and has played 218 games in the Brier, more than any other player. He won the Ontario championship 8 times in a row.
The only major competition the Howards haven’t won is the Olympics .
In his poem “The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet”, Tennyson describes a famous 1591 sea battle, the last stand of the English galleon Revenge against 53 Spanish ships. Sir Thomas Howard, the Admiral of the fleet, retreated to safety, but Sir Richard Grenville and his crew fought the fifty three in a three-day running battle. Many Spanish ships were sunk or so badly damaged that they had to retire from the battle. The Revenge was boarded three times and each time the boarders were seen off. Grenville wanted to blow up his ship rather than give up the fight; his crew refused and forced him to surrender. He died of his wounds two days later.
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, statesman, and humanist. He was also an adviser to King Henry VIII, and held the post of Lord High Chancellor of England for several years. He refused to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. He was convicted of treason and beheaded.
A 1966 movie about the final years of More, ‘A Man for All Seasons’, won six Oscars, including Best Picture.