English As She Is Spoke is a Portuguese-to-English phrasebook written in 1855. Translator Pedro Carolino wanted to create a phrasebook on his own, but not knowing English, he took José da Fonseca’s French-to-English phrasebook and then used a Portuguese-to-French phrasebook to translate that. This resulted in unintentionally ridiculous phrases such as “I am catched cold in the brain”, “You hear the bird’s gurgling? Which pleasure! which charm! The field has by me a thousand charms,” and “These apricots and these peaches make me and to come water in mouth.”
Mark Twain wrote a glowing introduction to the first English edition, printed in 1883: “Whatsoever is perfect in its kind, in literature, is imperishable: nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect, it must and will stand alone: its immortality is secure. … One cannot open this book anywhere and not find richness.”
'Mark Twain wrote a glowing introduction to the first English edition, printed in 1883: “Whatsoever is perfect in its kind, in literature, is imperishable: nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect, it must and will stand alone: its immortality is secure. … One cannot open this book anywhere and not find richness.” ’
Shania Twain
Daniel Seraphine, rock drummer with Chicago
David Soul, American-British actor (Starsky & Hutch)
Ian Campbell, 12th duke of Argyll
Ben Gazzara, American actor
Donald O’Connor, American dancer and actor
Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychoanalyst
Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia
Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish writer
Jack Black, American actor
Mary McCartney, daughter of Beatle Paul and Linda McCartney
Scott Hamilton, American figure ice skater (Olympic gold 1984)
and
Taichang Emperor [Zhu Changluo], 14th Emperor of the Ming dynasty of China
One of David Soul’s first acting roles was as Makora, one of the primitive, pink-skinned inhabitants of Gamma Trianguli VI, in the Star Trek episode “The Apple.”
Soul had originally set out to be a singer, before he became an actor. During his run on Starsky & Hutch, his song, “Don’t Give Up On Us,” hit #1 on both the U.S. and U.K. pop charts.
David Soul has lived in the United Kingdom since the 1990s, and has often acted on the British stage. He and Rob Lowe both, many years apart, played Ben Mears, a troubled novelist, in TV miniseries based on Stephen King’s vampire novel 'Salem’s Lot.
Georgie Woods, a Philadelphia radio DJ, is thought to have coined the term “blue-eyed soul” in 1964, initially to describe The Righteous Brothers, then white artists in general who received airplay on rhythm and blues radio stations. The Righteous Brothers in turn named their 1964 LP Some Blue-Eyed Soul. According to Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers, R&B radio stations who played their songs were surprised to find them to be white when they turned up for interviews, and one DJ in Philadelphia (unnamed, but probably Woods) started saying “Here’s my blue-eyed soul brothers”, and it became a code to signal to the audience that they were white singers.
“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” is a suite of short songs written by Stephen Stills and performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN). It appeared on the group’s self-titled debut album in 1969 and was released as a single, reaching #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. “Judy” was Stephen Stills’ then-girlfriend, Judy Collins.
Wayfair, Inc. is an American e-commerce company that sells home goods. Formerly known as CSN Stores (which came from the ititials of the founders Niraj Shah and Steve Conine) the company was founded in 2002 and now sells many home furnishings and décor items and over ten million products.
Prior to the formation of Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN), each member of the band had belonged to another musical group. David Crosby played guitar, sang and wrote songs with The Byrds. Stephen Stills was a guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter in the band Buffalo Springfield. Graham Nash was a guitarist, singer and songwriter with The Hollies.
Neil Young, who later joined the group, was also a member of Buffalo Springfield.
Some fans of the very popular Patrick O’Brian books of Napoleonic naval warfare complained that Paul Bettany, cast in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, was much too good-looking to play Dr. Stephen Maturin, friend of and ship’s surgeon to Capt. John “Lucky Jack” Aubrey, played by Russell Crowe.
Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company was the manufacturer of road building machinery and equipment. The company was a merger of the Kelley-Springfield Tire Company and Buffalo Steam Roller Company. The band took its name from this.
Paul Bettany portrayed J.A.R.V.I.S. (an artificial intelligence designed by Tony Stark), which later was integrated into The Vision (an intelligent, human-shaped piece of machinery) in several of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including Iron Man and Avengers: Infinity War.
(And, thus, the last two posts have been integrated, as well. )
Actor Paul Giamatti is the son of former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti. Bart Giamatti was MLB Commissioner for only five months before dying suddenly of a heart attack (Apr-Aug 1989). He is the shortest-tenured baseball commissioner in baseball‘s history and the only holder of the office not to preside over a full Major League Baseball season. Bart Giamatti negotiated the agreement resolving the Pete Rose betting scandal by permitting Rose to voluntarily withdraw from the sport to avoid further punishment.
Far Side cartoon: Scientists speaking to a guy sitting behind an enormous desk in a palatial room with an ornate portrait of himself on the wall: “Sorry, Your Highness, but you’re really not the dictator of Ithuvania, a small European republic. In fact, there is no Ithuvania. The hordes of admirers, the military parades, this office – we faked it all as an experiment in human psychology. In fact, Your Highness, your real name is Edward Belcher, you’re from Long Island, New York, and it’s time to go home, Eddie.”
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball. The office was established in 1920, in the wake of the Black Sox scandal a year earlier. The first commissioner was Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, who served from 1920-1944; this is the longest tenure of any MLB commissioner. The current commissioner is Rob Manfred; he is the tenth person to hold the position.
Fred Frick was the MLB commissioner in 1962, which was the year that the New York Mets were founded.
(And, once more, the last two posts have been tied together.)
In 1984, “Weird Al” Yankovic released a parody version of the Greg Kihn Band hit “Jeopardy,” entitled “I Lost On Jeopardy.” Yankovic’s video for the song included cameos from Art Fleming and Don Pardo (who had been on the original run of the Jeopardy! game show), and featured Yankovic losing badly on the show.
Ironically, the song was released just months before the revival of the show, with Alex Trebek as host.
Also much too tall; Stephen is described in the books as “small” while Bettany is 6’3"!
In play:
Alex Trebek started his career in broadcasting at age 20. As a student at the University of Ottawa he worked part-time at the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). According to Trebek, “I went to school in the mornings and worked at nights; I did everything, at one time replacing every announcer in every possible job”. He would eventually read the national news and cover a wide range of special events for the CBC’s radio and television divisions, including curling and horse racing.
The Black Bonspeil of Wullie MacCrimmon is a play by Saskatchewan author W.O. Mitchell. Set in Alberta in the Dirty Thirties, it is a Faust-like tale, where Wullie bets his soul against the Devil to win the Brier, the Canadian curling championship.
Wullie’s team is composed of himself and three friends. The Devil’s teammates are Judas Iscariot, Macbeth and Guy Fawkes.
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