Two time US Open (Golf) Curtis Strange has a twin brother Allen who also played the PGAtour. (with little success.)
Actor Glenn Strange played Frankenstein’s monster in three films – The Mad Monster, House of Frankenstein, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
“Strange Fruit” was written by Abel Meropool and recorded by Billie Holliday and many others. The title refers to black lynching victims hanging from trees.
“The Reviewers” was a 1930s nightclub act that gave a start to Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Judy Holliday. Comden and Green went on to write the script to Singin’ in the Rain and were the basis for Lester and Lily Marton in The Band Wagon, while Holliday won an Oscar for Born Yesterday, beating out Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson (for Sunset Boulevard.
Lester Bowles Pearson was Canada’s 14th Prime Minister. He never had a majority government, but brought in the Canada Pension Plan and the Canadian flag, in addition to previously winning a Nobel Peace Prize and being a WWI vet. His nickname was Mike.
Queen Elizabeth II’s first British prime minister was Winston Churchill, who, contemporaries observed, was a bit smitten with her. The night before he retired, she unprecedentedly attended a dinner at 10 Downing Street in his honor.
The name of the cat in Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary was Winston Churchill, called Church. The name of the young child was Gage Creed.
Note how King made the subtle religious references in a tale about raising the dead.
Winston Cigarettes were the most popular brand in the US in the 1950s and early 60s. Named after the headquarters city of R. J. Reynolds of Winston-Salem, NC, they were popularized by the slogan “Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.” The slogan was criticized for being poor grammar, so, just before cigarette advertising was banned on TV, Winston had a final campaign with the slogan, “What do you want? Good grammar or good taste?” Robert Klein commented at the time that, in US TV, you were lucky to get either.
Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh took the iconic photo of Winston Churchill in the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, when Churchill was visiting during WWII. He is said to have got the Chirchill’s brooding, determined expression by taking away Churchill’s cigar!
Four U.S. states (Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, and Oklahoma) each have an Ottawa County.
Ohio has 88 counties in all. Columbus, the state capital, is in Franklin County, named after statesman, diplomat, postmaster, inventor, writer and publisher Benjamin Franklin.
The state of Franklin was a short-lived attempt for one of the western territories to join the United Colonies in 1785. The request was defeated by two votes. Franklin tried a run as an independent nation for a few years before becoming part of Tennessee.
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore failed to carry his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 election. Had he done so, as virtually every presidential candidate had before him, he would not have needed the much-disputed Electoral College votes of Florida and would have been elected.
A gore is a piece of land that has been inadvertently left off of a survey, between two areas of surveyed land. Gores are often irregularly shaped.
Leslie Gore’s biggest hit, “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To”, was produced by musical renaissance man Quincy Jones.
The Scots-born naval hero John Paul Jones served Catherine the Great as a rear admiral of the Russian Navy after winning glory with the Continental Navy during the American Revolution.
The word “admiral” is ultimately derived from the Arabic term, “Amir-ar-rahl”, meaning “chief of the transport.”
In The Big Store (1941), Wolf J. Flywheel’s car had a banner on the rear saying, “Welcome Admiral Dewey, Hero of Manilla.” Dewey had died in 1917, giving some hint as to the age of his car.
George Dewey, a native of Montpelier, Vt., is the highest-ranked naval officer in U.S. history, as he is the only person ever named “Admiral of the Navy.” Even the five-star grade of fleet admiral is junior to Dewey’s rank.
James Madison’s home was named Montpelier.