In 2009, North Carolina beat Michigan State for the NCAA Division I men’s basketball title. About a month later, Desmond Tutu spoke at Michigan State’s spring undergraduate convocation. Two days later, Tutu received an honorary doctorate of divinity from UNC in Chapel Hill. The churchman was aware of the coincidence.
The flag of North Carolina has two dates on it: May 20, 1775 and April 12, 1776. The first is the date of the Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence, supposedly the first declaration of independence in the colonies. However, most historians believe that the Declaration didn’t really exist, and was a conflation with the Mecklenberg Resolves (i.e., resolutions), which did not declare independence. The second date is that of the Halifax Resolves, which instructed delegates from North Carolina to vote in favor of independence if the Continental Congress put it up for a vote; these are not disputed.
In North Carolina in 2008 an incumbent female US Senator (Elizabeth Dole, R)
was for the first time unseated by a challenger who was also female (Kay Hagan, D).
The pineapple maze at the Dole Plantation on the Hawaiian island of Oahu is the world’s largest maze.
Dole Pineapple founder Sanford B. Dole was, like many Hawaiian millionaires, the son of missionaries to the island and partly inspired the fictional character of Micah Hale in James Michener’s novel Hawaii.
A statue of Nathan Hale, the patriot spy hanged by the British during the American Revolution, stands outside of Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va.
Nathan’s Hot Dogs acquired the chicken chain Kenny Rogers’ Roasters, which ceased operations in the U.S. but continues to expand into Asia.
A reporter once asked actor Nathan Lane if he was gay; he replied, “I’m 40, single and work in the musical theater. You do the math.” When he told his mother he was gay, she replied, “I’d rather you were dead,” to which he replied, “I knew you’d understand.”
Agnes Moorehead – best known these days as Endora on Bewitched – was the original voice of Margo Lane on The Shadow radio show.
Though there’s no evidence she actually bewitched anybody, Scottish self proclaimed psychic Helen “Hellish Nell” Duncan became the last person tried (and convicted) under the British Witchcraft Act of 1735, serving 9 months in prison in 1944-45. Shortly after the law was repealed and a new one specific to making money through fraudulent supernatural claims enacted in its place.
Perky actress/dancer Sandy Duncan, known primarily for her portrayal of Peter Pan, lost the sight in her left eye after having a benign tumor removed from it at the age of 25.
Sandy Duncan starred in a sitcom famous for having 4 names during it’s 5 year run. It began as Valerie (starring Valerie Harper), became Valerie’s Family when Harper left the show in a contract dispute and Duncan took over, aired as Valerie’s Family: The Hogans for a few episodes then became The Hogan Family for it’s last couple of seasons.
The PGA’s “satellite tour” was named the Ben Hogan Tour when it began in 1980. It has subsequently been known as the Nike Tour, the Buy.com Tour, and (currently) the Nationwide Tour (as Nationwide Insurance is the “naming rights” sponsor).
Neither Mercury nor Venus, the two innermost planets of the Solar System, have any natural satellites.
In the 1920s, August Derleth wrote to Arthur Conan Doyle, asking permission to write more Sherlock Holmes stores. Conan Doyle declined, so Derleth began writing a very successful series of Holmes pastiches, starring the detective Solar Pons.
Sir A. Conan Doyle wasn’t knighted for writing the Sherlock Holmes stories, but for his services as a volunteer Army surgeon (he was old enough to have been long retired) during the Boer War.
David Doyle, who played Bosley on the Charlie’s Angels TV series, was a Nebraska native and a classmate of Johnny Carson at the University of Nebraska. He apeared frequently as a guest on his buddy’s show. Expected by his family to become a lawyer like several generations before him, Doyle actually scored the sixth highest in the state on his bar examine, but acting called him.
[del]The first modern use of concentration camps, to target an entire nation’s civilian population, was by the British in the Boer War. The tactic, along with their “Scorched Earth” policy, was decided upon by Herbert Kitchener (“Lord Kitchener of Khartoum”) as a way to remove supplies and support from Dutch guerrillas in the Orange Free State and Transvaal.[/del]
In the new remake series “Charlie’s Angels”, Bosley will be played by Ramon Rodriguez, who previously was Leo Spitz in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The angels will be Annie Ilonzeh, Minka Kelly, and Rachael Taylor.
In August 1994, R. Kelly illegally married the then fifteen year old Aaliyah. Her underage marriage was annulled in February 1995 by her parents. Since then, he has faced charges twice of having sex with minors.
Henry VIII never divorced any of his wives. His marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves were both annulled, Catherine on the basis of incest (She was his brother’s widow, which was considered incestuous back then) and Anne on the basis of nonconsummation (Henry hadn’t met her before the marriage and thought her too plain; he was careful not to consummate).