The death of John Ross Clemens led to one of the most famous Mark Twain quotes: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” John Ross was a cousin of his. The original statement was a misquote of “this report of my death was an exaggeration.”
The major league record for most strikeouts in a game is 20, jointly held by Roger Clemens (twice, for the Red Sox, 4/29/86 vs. Seattle and 9/18/96 at Detroit) and Kerry Wood (for the Cubs, 5/6/98 vs. Houston with 0 walks).
When Sam Clemens was working as a printer’s assistant laying type he once had trouble putting all of the words of a sermon in the space allotted so he substituted JC for Jesus Christ to make it fit. When this caused an uproar by people who called it disrespectful, he replaced JC with “Jesus H. Christ” in the next column to give it more dignity he said. (This is a possibly apocryphal story but appears in *The Autobiography of Mark Twain *nonetheless.)
Jesus Alou was the youngest of the three Alou brothers (along with Felipe and Matty), all of whom were successful major-league baseball players. Despite being considered the most talented of the three, Jesus never really lived up to his potential, and finished his career with the lowest batting average of the three.
Actually, Edward VII – Edward VIII was the son of the Duke (later King George V, who preceded Edward VIII on the throne) and Duchess (who had been known as Princess Victoria Mary of Teck) of York. Edward VII was the grandfather of Edward VIII.
Playing off kenobi 65’s post:
Felipe Alou’s son Moises was also a longtime Major League outfielder. During the 2008 season, Felipe and Moises were one of the four father-son combinations including a then-active player to each have at least one 20-homer season in the bigs. The other such twosomes were Cecil and Prince Fielder, the Ken Griffeys, and Gary and Daryle Ward.
Lee Majors, best known for his role as The Six Million Dollar Man and as the lead on The Fall Guy, was born Harvey Lee Yeary. He changed his name somewhere around 1963 or so.
Linda Evans, best known for her work in the TV show Dynasty, co-starred with Lee Majors in the 1960’s western The Big Valley on ABC.
Though the name Linda did exist before the movie, the release of the film Holiday starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant rocketed it to popularity until it became the second most popular baby name in the 1940s. The British name of the film even had the name in the title – Unconventional Linda.
Right you are. :smack:
Ulysses S. Grant was preceded as President by Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who was impeached but not convicted by Congress, and followed by Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, who took office after the hotly-disputed election of 1876 was decided, along party lines, by an electoral commission established by Congress.
U.S. Grant’s daughter Nellie married Algernon Sartoris, an Anglo-Italian nobleman, during his presidency. Sartoris’s mother was Adelaide Kemble, an extraordinarily popular English opera diva who originated several classic roles of her era but who retired when she married at the height of her popularity, but the publicity of her son’s marriage coupled with some financial reversals of her husband’s briefly brought her out of retirement.
The movie Charly won a best actor Oscar for Cliff Robertson and was the first science fiction film to win an acting Oscar (some fantasies, like Harvey, won before). It was based upon Daniel Keyes sf classic story “Flowers for Algernon.”
According to statistics compiled by the American Library Association, Flowers For Algernon was the 43rd most challenged book in the United States in the 90s. The most challenged was Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories series.
The most challenged from 2000 to 2009 was the Harry Potter series, whereas the 43rd is Blubber by Judy Blume, who also wrote 3 of the other books on the list: #16, Forever; #87, Tiger Eyes; and #99, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margret.
The anthology The Science Fiction Hall of Fame was published in 1970. The stories in it were chosen by a vote of the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America and were supposed to be the best SF short stories published prior to 1965.
Only three authors whose stories were included in that collection are still alive: Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, and Daniel Keyes.
Ray Bradbury, 89, was born and raised in Waukegan, Illinois. Among his best-known works are The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Actress Kristin Chenoweth, who may be best-known for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked, has won both a Tony (for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown) and an Emmy (for Pushing Daisies).
Five actors have won an Oscar, a Tony, a Grammy, and an Emmy in competition: Rita Moreno, Helen Hayes, John Gielgud, Whoopi Goldberg, and Audrey Hepburn. Barbra Streisand and Liza Minelli have also won all four, but with one honorary award.
Five others have won all of them, but not as actors: Richard Rogers, Marvin Hamlisch, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, and Jonathan Tunick
Whoopi Goldberg, who had been inspired to go into acting by seeing Nichelle Nichols appear in the original Star Trek, had a recurring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation as the mysterious but friendly bartender Guinan.
Bobby Nichols, a pro golfer, was also struck by lightning at the 1975 Western Open along with Lee Trevino and Jerry Heard. Each golfer survived.
U.S. Park Service ranger Roy Sullivan holds the record for most times being struck by lightning – Sullivan was struck on seven different occasions, and survived all seven strikes. He died in 1983, not from a lightning strike, but from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
While the legend is that Elvis Presley was shot only from the waist up on The Ed Sullivan Show because his gyrations were too suggestive, those involved in the production said the decision was made when, in rehearsals, Elvis kept putting a beer bottle in his crotch. The producers didn’t want to risk him doing it in the show, so they limited what viewers could see.