William Styron wrote the novel Sophie’s Choice thinking of Ursula Andress for the title role; Andress was best known for her roles in the James Bond films Dr.No and Casino Royale. However, Meryl Streep was very determined to get the role. After obtaining a bootlegged copy of the script, she went after director Alan Pakula and threw herself on the ground, begging him to give her the part.
Streep has appeared in many films set in New York City, including Sophie’s Choice, Manhattan and Kramer vs. Kramer
Ursula K. Le Guin was an American novelist, mostly in the Science fiction and fantasy fields, but who also authored children’s books, short stories, poetry, and essays. She won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, each more than once.
She died on January 22, 2018, at her home in Portland, Oregon. All SF fandom mourned (OK, I can’t prove this last sentence, but I’m pretty damn sure it’s right).
Ursula Andress, the first Bond Girl, was born in Switzerland, to a German father who disappeared in WWII after being expelled from Switzerland. I could never resist spoonerizing her name to Arsula Undress.
(Not in play: I am a resident of the NYC suburban area, and while I do not represent all SF fandom, I also mourn Ursula LeGuin’s death.)
Christopher Columbus named the Virgin islands archipelago after Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. According to a 4th- or 5th-century inscription from St. Ursula’s Church, Cologne, an ancient basilica had been restored on the site where some holy virgins were killed. Apparently, in the original story, Ursula was a 3rd Century princess. She and 11 companions were martyred by the Huns, and a misinterpretation of the inscription led to a medieval belief in 11,000 of them.
Ursula Buffy and her twin sister Phoebe were the result of a sexual relationship between Phoebe Abbott, Frank Buffay and Lily Buffay. A scared Phoebe Abbott wasn’t ready to be a mother, so she gave them to Lily after giving birth. Lily adopted both twins and she and Frank raised them together. Later Frank abandoned Lily and the twins and Lily married another man. Then Lily’s husband went to prison, and Lily committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Ursula went into care while Phoebe ended up on the streets. Ursula, after a stint as a porn actress using her sister’s name, later became a waitress on Mad About You, and Phoebe, a main character on Friends. Both of them were portrayed by Lisa Kudrow.
Ursula from Disney’s California Adventure theme park ride was recently beheaded, accidentally, and her dangling head scared riders on the “Little Mermaid” ride.
“Old” London Bridge, which spanned the Thames from 1209 to 1831, had spikes at its southern gatehouse upon which were displayed the severed heads of traitors, dipped in tar and boiled to preserve them against the elements. The head of William Wallace was the first to appear on the gate, in 1305, starting a tradition that was to continue for another 355 years. Other famous heads on pikes included those of Jack Cade in 1450, Thomas More in 1535, Bishop John Fisher in the same year, and Thomas Cromwell in 1540. In 1598, a German visitor to London, Paul Hentzner, counted over 30 heads on the bridge.
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, served as chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540. He was beheaded due to the failure of Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves, which he had arranged. Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell was the great-grandson of Richard Cromwell, Thomas Cromwell’s nephew, and in a change from his long-dead relative, had the King of England (Charles I) beheaded.
“I’m Henery the Eighth, I Am” is a 1910 British music hall song. It was revived by the group Herman’s Hermits in 1965 and quickly rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, displacing ‘Satisfaction’ by the Rolling Stones as the #1 hit. The song stayed at #1 for just one week, when it was replaced by ‘I Got You Babe’, by Sonny and Cher.
In the movie Ghost, Sam (Patrick Swayze) sings the song continually all night long in an effort to convince Oda Mae (Whoopi Goldberg) to help him.
Benjamin Disraeli, several times British Prime Minister in the late 1800s, was known for the assiduous attention he paid to his monarch, Queen Victoria. He once remarked, “Everyone likes flattery, and with royalty you must lay it on with a trowel.”
It has often been affirmed that young Princess Victoria never knew for years that she would one day be Queen, and did not understand why men stared at her in the Park, sweeping off their hats and bowing. If so, there could well be a good deal of truth in the oft-told story of her governess, Fraulein Lehzen, slipping a family tree of the royal dynasty into the child’s history book in 1830: when Victoria realised the significance of her own place in the royal family, she pondered “I am nearer to the throne than I thought.” Then she said the memorable words, “I will be good.”
“Abdul Abulbul Amir” is the most common name for a music-hall song written in 1877 (during the Russo-Turkish War) under the title “Abdulla Bulbul Ameer” by Percy French, and subsequently altered and popularized by a variety of other writers and performers. It tells the story of two valiant heroes—the titular Abdulla, fighting for the Turks, and his foe (originally named Ivan Potschjinsky Skidar in French’s version), a Russian warrior—who encounter one another, engage in verbal boasting, and are drawn into a duel in which both perish.
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Brothers”, the character Lore is heard singing verses of the song as he murders Noonien Soong, commenting “I’ve always loved that old ditty”.
The Battle of Shipka Pass consisted of four battles that were fought between the Russian Empire, aided by Bulgarian volunteers known as Opalchentsi, and the Ottoman Empire for control over the vital Shipka Pass during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). in the end, the Russian-Bulgarian forces pushed the Ottomans out of the pass and threatened to take Constantinope before the war came to it’s close.
On the 80 mile drive along Route 97, the six largest town encountered all begin with the letter O:
Okanagan Falls BC
Oliver BC
Osoyoos BC
Oroville WA
Omak WA
Okanogan WA
Note that the first and last are not spelled the same.
There is no town on the highway names Opalchentsi or Ottoman .
Omak Rock is a glacial erratic that is also a balancing rock in Washington state. Omak Rock is located about 130 miles NW of Spokane (gMaps: Google Maps).
(Missed edit window to include Yeager Rock, another glacial erratic) Omak Rock is a glacial erratic that is also a balancing rock in Washington state. Omak Rock is located about 130 miles NW of Spokane (gMaps: https://goo.gl/SK3HqV).
gMap, 80 miles from Yeager Rock to Omak Rock: Google Maps
Comment: I have been to Yeager Rock but not yet to Omak Rock — but I will! Glacial erratics are cool. Yeager Rock and Omak Rock are about 900 miles N of San Francisco (gMap, https://goo.gl/d9Y8Sh).
Plymouth Rock, perhaps the least impressive National Monument in the US, is a glacial erratic, determined to have originated in the area of the town of Dedham, southwest of Boston. It appeared prominently in the SyFy Channel film Stonados (a production by The Asylum, of course), in yet another freak weather event, this time one in which storms pick up boulders and pummel Boston with them.