There were over 1,000,000 Muslims residing in Canada as of 2011; only 10,000 or so lived in Saskatchewan. In a 2016 Environics poll, 83% of Muslims were “very proud” to be Canadian, compared with 73% of non-Muslim Canadians who said the same thing. Canadian Muslims reported “Canada’s freedom and democracy” as the greatest source of pride, and “multiculturalism and diversity” as the second greatest. 94% of Canadian Muslims reported a “strong” or “very strong” sense of belonging to Canada.
Islam is practiced by 3.2% of the Canadian population, and it is the second-largest religion in the country. The largest, Christianity, is practiced by 67.2%. People having no religion make up 23.9% of the population.
The Episcopal Church is a Protestant mainline denomination of Christianity. The presiding bishop of the church, the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, delivered the homily at the royal wedding of Prince Henry of Wales and Miss Meghan Markle, now Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in Windsor, England, UK yesterday.
The county seat of Otsego County, NY USA, is the village of Cooperstown, and Cooperstown is where the National Baseball Hall of Fame has been located since it was dedicated in 1939. Former residents of Otsego County include Elizabeth Murray, of Cherry Valley NY.
According to the Chamber of Commerce history page at merkleIndiana.com, in 1836, Elizabeth and her husband Elias Murray laid out the plat that became what is now the village of Markle, Indiana, located some 100 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
“The Earl of Mansfield” is a bagpipe tune named after William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, who was Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench for 32 years, from 1756 to 1788.
He was probably the greatest British judge of the 18th century. He gave the decision in Somerset v Stewart, a leading case on the abolition of slavery in Britain.
Somerset was an African slave, held by Stewart under Massachusetts law. When Stewart brought Somerset to England, Somerset escaped and was taken in by some English abolitionists. Stewart found him and captured him, putting him on a ship bound for Jamaica, where he would be sold.
Somersett’s abolitionist friends brought an application habeas corpus, arguing that Stewart’s detention of Somersett was unlawful. Somersett countered that as the owner of a slave, he had the right of detention.
Lord Mansfield gave the decision for the Court. He rejected Stewart’s argument. He held that chattel slavery had never been part of the common law of England, nor was there any British statute creating chattel slavery. Stewart had no right to detain Somersett.
His judgment ended: “… therefore the black must be discharged.”
Mansfield is the county seat of Richland County, Ohio. Mansfield’s official nickname is “The Fun Center of Ohio”, but it is also known as “Carousel Capital of Ohio,” “Danger City,” and “Racing Capital of Ohio”.
Jane Austen is often regarded as a prim spinster; however, her novel Mansfield Park contains a dirty joke, about sodomy in the Royal Navy of the 1800s. One of her characters, Mary Crawford, says: “my home at my uncle’s brought me acquainted with a circle of admirals. Of Rears and Vices, I saw enough. Now, do not be suspecting me of a pun, I entreat."
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is said to have remarked, when advised by an admiral during World War II that a planned operation “was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Royal Navy,” that “the only traditions of the Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash.”
Cowboy movie star Alfred “Lash” LaRue taught Harrison Ford how to use a bullwhip for the Indiana Jones movies. LaRue gained movie fame for his bullwhip skills earlier when he played singing cowboy Eddie Dean’s sidekick, the Cheyenne Kid.
One legend about King Alfred the Great is that at one low point in his battles with the Danes he was on the run, incognito. He took shelter with a supporter, who didn’t tell his family who their guest was. His wife eventually scolded Alfred for not noticing that the cakes of bread she was making were burning when she had gone out to attend to other matters.
Edit: Ninja’ed! NM
Alfred Drake’s 1964 stage performance as Claudius in the Richard Burton Hamlet (who was a Dane) was filmed live on the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, using a “quickie” process called Electronovision, and shown in movie theatres in a very limited engagement. It was also recorded on LP.
The Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate was inspired by the off-stage and sometimes on-stage bickering between Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in a 1935 production of The Taming of the Shrew.
Cole Porter’s lyrics to Brush Up Your Shakespeare in Kiss Me Kate are considered the work of an absolute poetic lyric writing genius.
Cole Porter is the most famous Yale student to have performed as a member of its a capella group, the Whiffenpoofs. He also composed several fight songs for the Yale Bulldogs football team.
The oldest continuing all-female college a capella group in the USA is the Victory 8s of Mount Holyoke College, founded by 8 women in 1942; their name also reflects their World War II origins. Since the late 1970s they have started every concert with “The Mount Holyoke Drinking Song”, which begins
Tired of books and boring classes,
drop your books, pick up your glasses,
a toast to those who boast
of mixing Greek and Latin with a cool Manhattan
Mount Holyoke’s founder, Mary Lyon, is considered by many scholars to have been an innovator in the area of women’s education. Prior to founding Mount Holyoke, Lyon contributed to the development of both Hartford Female Seminary and Ipswich Female Seminary. She was also involved in the creation of Wheaton Female Seminary (now Wheaton College, Massachusetts) in 1834.
The Seven Sisters is a series of white chalk cliffs west of Dover, England, that can be seen from land in England. The typical white chalk cliffs of Dover are not easily seen from land, but from either aboard ship in the English Channel or from the air.
The Seven Sisters is also a name given to seven all-women liberal arts college. Mount Holyoke College was the first member of the Seven Sisters. Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Smith College, and Wellesley College remain all-female. Vassar College has been co-ed since 1969. Radcliffe College has been fully merged with co-ed Harvard University since 1999.
The Strait of Dover is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel. The shortest distance across the strait is 20.7 miles, which is the most popular route for cross-channel swimmers.
On a clear day, it is possible to see the opposite coastline of England from France and vice versa with the naked eye, with the most famous sight being the white cliffs of Dover from the French coastline and shoreline buildings on both coastlines, as well as lights on either coastline at night.
“Drake’s Drum” is a poem by Sir Henry Newbold. It’s theme is that even though Sir Francis Drake died in the West Indies and was buried at sea, his spirit still looks after England. He told his men to take his drum home with him, leading to the stanza:
“Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore /
Strike et when your powder’s running low. /
If the Dons sight Devon, I’ll quit the port o’heaven /
An’ drum then up the Channel as I drummed them long ago.”