Richard M. Nixon and Herbert Hoover, both Republicans who served as President of the United States, were also both nominally Quakers.
Only five Presidentials have had families consisting of only two daughters, anf four of the six have been two sets of modern day Presidents who served one right after the other: Lyndon Johnson (Lynda and Luci), and Richard Nixon (Julie & Trisha); and George W. Bush (twins Barbara & Jenna) and Barack Obama (Malia & Sasha).
The other one was James Monroe, and both of his daughters died in infancy.
The highest single-season batting average for a MLB pitcher (min. 100 plate appearances) was .433 by Walter Johnson of the Senators in 1925.
The son of actor Walter Koenig, who played Chekov on Star Trek and Bester on Babylon 5, committed suicide last year.
SNL’s Charles Rocket, best known for the “Who Shot J.R>” sketch where he said “Oh, man, it’s the first time I’ve ever been shot in my life. I’d like to know who the fuck did it”. That improvised line got him fired.
He later commited suicide by going to a graveyard at night and slitting his own throat.
His Royal Highness the Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, was the Royal Family’s representative at the turnover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China on July 1, 1997, officially ending 156 years of British colonial rule.
Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury (later 3rd Earl of Clarendon) was a first cousin of Queen Mary II whose husband, King William III, appointed him colonial governor of New York and New Jersey from 1701-1708 and was by all accounts inept, corrupt, and stupid, but he is best remembered for the rumors that he was a transvestite. This is rumored to be a portrait of him dressed in the style of his first cousin Queen Anne.
ETA: SD on Lord Cornbury
Dr. Henry Jekyll was a kindly physician who developed a formula to bring out the dark urges in a man. He alter ego after he took the formula took the name of Edward Hyde.
Quakers are not related to “Shakers”.
The Shakers were a ca. early 19th century American sect
which believed not only that sexual intercourse was satanically
inspired, but that it was unnecessary for procreation!- Babies
were the result of spontaneous generation.
The name of of the sect arose from its central ritual, where
men and women would congregate on opposite sides of a room
and sort of gyrate around while chanting “Shake, shake, shake
the Devil out of me!”
It should not take a genius to figure out why there are no
Shakers around today.
Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia near the Florida line was a popular resort in the late 19th/early 20th century. While not on par with Newport RI as far as lavishness it did have a large rambling Victorian hotel (turrets and verandas and the like) that’s still in operation and some large mostly frame cottages owned by rich northern families including the Pulitzers, Carnegies (the family of Andrew’s brother), Frick, Gould, and others, some of whom visited these vacation homes only a few days per year.
Jekyll Island is named for Sir Joseph Jekyll, who provided the money that allowed his friend James Oglethorpe to fund a settlement on the island as part of Oglethorpe’s Georgia colony.
James T. Kirk served aboard the USS Republic and the USS Farragut (surviving the attack of an alien which killed most of the rest of the crew of the latter ship, including Captain Garrovick) before taking command of the USS Enterprise.
In 1962, DeForest Kelley appeared in the Bonanza episode entitled “The Decision”, as a doctor sentenced to hang for the murder of a journalist. The judge in this episode was portrayed by John Hoyt, who later portrayed Dr. Phillip John Boyce, on the Star Trek pilot “The Cage”. In another episode Kelley played “drinking” cavalry doctor with Leonard Nimoy as his patient (Nimoy’s character did not survive)
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart teamed up to write such varied songs as (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone, Last Train to Clarksville, and the Days of our Lives theme.
When the Who were recording their rock opera Tommy, they sent some of the early tapes to UK rock critic Nic Cohn, who was not enthusiastic. Cohn suggested that, to lighten the album, they have Tommy playing some sort of sport. Townsend knew that Cohn was a fan of pinball, and quickly wrote and recorded “Pinball Wizard” for the album. When the album was released (with “Pinball Wizard”), Cohn called it a masterpiece.
Anti-communist lawyer Roy Cohn was an important aide to the Red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wisc.). A closeted gay man, he died of complications from AIDS and is a featured character in Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America.
The Los Angeles Angels were founded in 1961, an American League expansion team owned by former cowboy star Gener Autrey. They took their name from the former minor league franchise owned, ironically, by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers were originally known as the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers (in 1891) because their field was bordered by trolley tracks and New yorkers called Brooklynites “trolley dodgers” because of the many trolley tracks in Brooklyn.
Baseball catcher Harold Dominic “Muddy” Ruel played for the New York Yankees and Washington Senators, and later served as manager of the St. Louis Browns, and general manager of the Detroit Tigers.
Ruel had a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, was admitted to argue before the Supreme Court, and served as legal counsel to the commissioner’s office, but he is best remembered for nicknaming the heavy protective equipment a catcher must wear “the tools of ignorance”.
The phrase “Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise” was written by the 18th Century English poet Thomas Gray, who is best known for his “Elegy Written While in a Country Churchyard.”