Although the British monarchy relinquished its claims to continental Normandy and other French territory in 1801, the Channel Islands (except for Chausey under French sovereignty) remain Crown dependencies. Among her other titles, Queen Elizabeth II is Duke (not Duchess) of Normandy.
Two of the Channel Islands, Jersey and Guernsey, each give their name to well-known breeds of cattle.
A number of USAAF aircraft in WW2 were nicknamed “Jersey Bounce”, after a big-band tune by Tiny Bradshaw, Eddie Johnson and Bobby Plater with lyrics by Buddy Feyne. Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, and Shep Fields all charted with it in 1942, with Goodman getting it to #1.
It started on Journal Square
And somebody heard it there
They put it right on the air
And now you’ll hear it everywhere…
In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Sulu (George Takei) tells a rude Starfleet Security officer, “Don’t call me ‘Tiny’.”
The wedding of Tiny Tim (Herbert Khaury) and “Miss Viki” Budinger on *The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson * was seen by more than 21 million viewers, an unprecedented audience at the time for a late-night TV show.
Tiny Township was a constitutional decision by the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council, on appeal from Canada. The JCPC ruled that the constitutional guarantee for public finding of Roman Catholic separate schools did not include high schools. In 1987 the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the JCPC decision and ruled that the constitutional guarantee include funding for Roman Catholic high schools.
The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) is still the only western film produced with all-dwarf cast. Starring Billy Curtis, it portrayed actors, many of whom later played Munchkins as members of Singer’s Midgets, walking into saloons under the swinging doors, and riding Shetland ponies.
Peter Bogdanovich’s film Targets is about an old horror movie actor being confronted with a real modern horror. It starred Boris Karloff and the climax was set in a drive-in movie where his character was making a personal appearance. The film within the film scenes were taken from an earlier Karloff film, The Terror, and you can spot Jack Nicholson on the screen in clips from that.
Peter Bogdanovich dated Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten for several years before she was murdered by her ex-husband. Bogdanovich later married her younger sister.
When Eric Clapton was in love with Pattie Boyd, who was still married to George Harrison, he had an affair with her younger sister Paula. He admits he saw her as a “Pattie substitute.”
Pattie Boyd claims to have inspired the songs “Something” (written by George Harrison) and “Bell Bottom Blues” (an Eric Clapton composition). Apparently not in dispute is the fact that Clapton wrote “Wonderful Tonight” as a tribute to her.
The first line of George Harrison’s “Something” was taken from the James Taylor song “Something In the Way She Moves.” Taylor was recording for Apple Records at the time. The tunes are otherwise unrelated.
James T. Kirk was not given his middle name “Tiberius” as official Star Trek canon until an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, later confirmed in Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
USS Reuben James (DD-245)—a post-World War I, four-funnel Clemson-class destroyer—was the first United States Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II and the first named for Boatswain’s Mate Reuben James (c.1776–1838), who distinguished himself fighting in the Barbary Wars.
In 1838, Lord Durham was appointed Governor-General of British North America. He had a short time actually in British North America, conducting detailed research into the causes of the 1837 rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada, and then departed to write his famous Report, which (amongst other things) was the first summary of the doctrine of responsible government by an official of the British government.
Although Durham is known for being the site of Duke University, it is also home to the historically black North Carolina Central University.
Hunter S. Thompson’s Raoul Duke persona was first seen in the author’s 1966 book Hell’s Angels, where he is described as an outlaw who does not break the law in an offensive way to society but a way that in fact makes him more acceptable. Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury character Uncle Duke is based on Thompson’s Raoul Duke. Although the Doonsbury character is usually referred to only as Duke, various other names for him have appeared over the years, including having the first name Raoul.
Three different Dukes have served as Governor-General of Canada since Confederation: the Duke of Argyll (when he was Marquess of Lorne), H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, and the Duke of Devonshire. Other than those three, we’ve slummed with barons and the occasional Earl: but as Uncle Fred once commented, when you get to an Earl, you’ve got something.
“Devonshire cream tea” is tea served with clotted cream, scones, and jam.
Kathleen Kennedy, daughter of Joe and Rose Kennedy, married the Marquess of Hartington, eldest son and heir to the 10th Duke of Devonshire, during World War II. However, her husband died in action, so she never became Duchess of Devonshire.