The Cuban government annually refuses to accept the U.S. government’s payment of rent for the Guantanamo naval base.
Johnathan Larson’s musical Rent is a modern retelling of the opera La Boheme, set in then-contemporary New York City. The final fate of the character of Angel, however, is strikingly similar to to the fate of Wanda in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman story, “A Game of You.”
The New York City Draft Riots of July 1863 are considered by most historians to be the worst and most violent civil unrest in American history. The riots are loosely depicted in the movie The Gangs of New York.
Ed McBain’s novel “Downtown” takes place in New York City during the week of Christmas, yet it is not a Christmas story, and is not part of either of his detective series. It is, however, one of his best.
Tony Hatch was still working on “Downtown”, which he planned to give to the Drifters, when Petula Clark told him she would be interested in recording it. She did and became the first female British vocalist to top the US charts in over a decade.
The Drifters were originally formed as a backup vocal group for Clyde McPhatter. As singers came and went, several other groups were formed using the name “Drifters,” “Orignal Drifters,” “Ben E. King and the Drifters,” “Charlie Thomas’ Drifters” and others. Rolling Stone magazine calculated there have been 60 singers in the “genuine” Drifters, not counting re-assembled groups.
J. Edgar Hoover’s right-hand man Clyde Tolson was whispered to be the FBI Director’s gay lover. Although they were truly inseparable (even in death: they’re buried near each other), there is no actual evidence that the two were anything other than very close male friends.
Oops! Wrong thread. :o
The other common rumor about J. Edgar Hoover- that he was a transvestite- is based on rumors started in the 1960s by Susan Rosenstiel, ex wife of a gangster who was broke and peddling a “tell all” memoir. The rumors were spread by Rosenstiel’s friend Truman Capote. There is no evidence to this though it’s accepted as fact, as is a heavily doctored photo of Hoover in drag.
Harry S. Truman has no middle name; the S was used to honor two grandfathers with names beginning with the letter. Though it is not an initial, Truman usually put a period after the letter and that is the official style of writing it.
Until about the earlyu 19th century, lowercase “s” was rarely used except at the end of words (and that usage only came about a few centuries before.) For whatever reason the lower case S was instead represented by the so-called “long f” symbol.
The S actually comes from a Phoenician letter than looked like a W; its equivalents in modern Semitic languages often still look like a W.
The two Presidents named George Bush are not actually Sr. and Jr. The older is George Herbert Walker Bush; his son is George Walker Bush (nicknamed “Dubya” or “W.”). Although the father was born in Massachusetts and the son in Connecticut, both rose to political prominence in Texas.
Ditto for the only other father-and-son presidents John Adams (his full name) and John Quincy (prnounced kwin-ZEE, like the Massachusetts town named after him) Adams.
Thomas Adams was the inventor of chewing gum, most famously for Chiclets, small pieces of gum with a candy coating.
Gettysburg, site of the famous July 1863 Civil War battle and President Abraham Lincoln’s subsequent Nov. 1863 Address, is in Adams County, Penna.
Jean Stapleton (best known as Edith Bunker in All in the Family) and her late husband co-managed a community theatre called The Totem Pole Playhouse just outside of Gettysburg for many years; Jean continued to star in shows there while on hiatus from the sitcom to help them raise money.
Infielder Dave Stapleton is best remembered as the guy the Red Sox should have used as a late-inning defensive replacement for Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Manager John McNamara’s failure to make the change led to the Red Sox blowing a lead when Mookie Wilson’s grounder went through Buckner’s legs in the tenth inning. The Mets tied the Series at three games-all, and went on to triumph in the decisive seventh contest.
George Harrison mention two UK Prime Ministers – Harold Wilson and Edward Heath – in his song “Taxman.”
British Prime Minister Harold Wilson became convinced late in his time at 10 Downing Street that the Security Service, MI5, was spying on him.
Woodrow Wilson is the only US President to date to have earned a PhD.
Sadly, Wilson, who was born in Virginia and grew up in Georgia, was an
unreconstructed bigot who introduced racial segregation within the Federal
governement, and conspicuously in the nation’s capital itself.