Sherlock Holmes fans have debated for years as to whether the great detective attended Oxford or Cambridge, the two major British universities. Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not definitively state which school, one way or the other, and there are just enough tantalizing clues buried in the dozens of Holmes stories to semi-plausibly support either theory.
Asked an an early Beatles press conference what he called his mop-top hairstyle, George Harrison replied “Arthur!”
Harrison Schmitt was the last man to join the list of those who set foot on the moon, the only moonwalker who never served in the United States military, and a one-term U.S. Senator from New Mexico.
Although Moonraker is considered by many critics and fans to be among the worst films in the James Bond series, it was the highest-grossing of the Bond films until the release of the Pierce Brosnan Bond film GoldenEye.
Michael Jackson is credited with popularizing the “moonwalk” dance step in a 1983 TV special in which he sang “Billie Jean”, although Cab Calloway was doing it in his nightclub act back in the 1930’s, Marcel Marceau used it as a regular part of his mime act pretending to be blown by the wind, and numerous other performers had done it as well.
ETA: Those others may have included Pierce Brosnan, but never in a James Bond film.
In the 1976 Mel Brooks film Silent Movie, Marcel Marceau (playing himself) is the only character who speaks.
Mary Brooks is the chief judge at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which I’m watching right now.
Comedian Foster Brooks, who was ubiquitous on TV and movies during the 1970s, playing his “lovable drunk” character, actually rarely drank, having given up alcohol on a bet in 1964.
Alan Dean Foster has written novelizations to such notable sf films as Star Wars, The Abyss, Alien and Aliens, as well as many books and short stories of his own, perhaps most notably the Icerigger and Humanx Commonwealth series.
Harry Dean Stanton, most visible in recent years as the villainous polygamist patriarch Roman Grant on Big Love (in real life he’s a lifelong bachelor, though he does have children), appeared in the movie The Green Mile but not as the guard whose name was, in the book and the movie, Dean Stanton.
President Harry S. Truman survived an assassination attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists while he was living temporarily in Blair House, across the street from the White House (the executive mansion was undergoing extensive renovations at the time). A uniformed Secret Service agent was killed fighting the assassins. Truman overruled Service advice and delivered a previously-scheduled speech at Arlington National Cemetery later that afternoon.
Warren G. Harding presided at the interment of the Unknown Soldier from World War I at Arlington National Cemetery in 1921.
Like James M. Cox, the Democratic nominee he defeated in 1920, Warren G. Harding was an Ohio newspaperman for many years. When he was elected President, Harding sold his Marion Star to a consortium that included my great-grandfather. Harding died on a West Coast trip in 1923 under somewhat suspicious circumstances; some theorized that his wife killed him after she discovered he had been cheating on her, but most historians now believe he died of natural causes.
[Off Topic, please disregard in terms of dominoes]Correction: The novelization of *The Abyss *was by Orson Scott Card.[/Off Topic]
Ah, right you are. I misremembered. In fact, I now recall that director James Cameron shared what Card had written about the three major characters’ backstories with the actors playing them. Thanks for the correction.
Looking closely … no, that doesn’t say “internment”. Phew!
The massive Harding Icefield in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, west of the cruise ship port of Seward, was named after the President based solely on his promise to visit it someday. It was not crossed on foot until 1968.
On a ship, left and right were originally designated as “larboard” and “starboard.” The potential for confusion caused sailors to use the the term “port” for “larboard.”
[del]Harding University is located in Searcy, Arkansas. It was named after James A. Harding, an influential Church of Christ leader.[/del]
The Duke of Wellington was also the Marquess of Douro, which is the name of the valley in Portugal where port wine comes from.
The musical *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang *is responsible for the false folklore that the word “posh” stands for “port out, starboard home” - the idea was that the nicer cabins on the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company’s Britain-India runs were on the shady side.