The group Flash and the Pan had a minor hit with “Hey Saint Peter” in the late 70s. It was a part-time gig for its leaders Henry Vanda and George Young (both had been members of the Easybeats, who’s “Friday on My Mind” was a success). Young had already been successful as a music producer, involved with his younger brother Angus’s group, AC/DC.
Flash, by Queen, was the theme song for the 1980 movie, Flash Gordon.
Actor Craig T Nelson (uncredited) voiced the Great God Porno in the 1974 SF spoof Flesh Gordon. Also appearing in the movie were John Hoyt, who played Dr. Phillip Boyce in the first STAR TREK pilot, and porn star Candy Samples.
According to Patrick Robertson’s Film Facts, the earliest pornographic motion picture that can definitely be dated is A L’Ecu d’Or ou la Bonne auberge made in France in 1908. The plot depicts a weary soldier who has a tryst with a servant girl at an inn.
The Star Trek Pilot starred Jeffrey Hunter, Susan Oliver, Leonard Nimoy, Majel Barrett, John Hoyt, Phillip Duryea, and Laurel Goodwin. Only Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett were in the original series.
Mine was the next in play, so I’ll play off it:
Nearly 20% of the territory of France lies outside Europe. (These regions are known as “DOM-TOM” (overseas departments and territories), where over 2.5 million French citizens live.)
The two small islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland, are an overseas French departement. They are all that remains of France’s once huge North American empire. France argued to retain them because of the fishing rights, a request Britain agreed after the fall of New France.
Carla Bruni, wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the immediate past president of France, appeared as a tour guide in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris.
Before he was president of France, a 20-year-old Jacques Chirac worked as a soda jerk and dishwasher in a Howard Johnson’s restaurant in the US. Today, he still has a certificate of commendation from Howard Johnson’s for his artistry in making banana splits.
HoJo’s was founded byHoward Deering Johnson (February 2, 1897 – June 20, 1972). Johnson never attended high school, and started his chain from a soda shop he bought in Quincy MA in 1925. He started selling food there, and in 1929 he opened his second restaurant, also in Quincy.
During the Revolutionary War, a giant iron chain was stretched across the Hudson at West Point to prevent British warships from going further up the river. The British never tried to test the chain to see if it was truly an impediment.
When the Bastille was stormed by a mob of 5000-8000 during the French Revolution, they found a mere seven (7) prisoners inside – four forgers, two madmen and an Irish lord who had been incarcerated 30 years for debts.
The Marquis de Lafayette gave the key to the Bastille to George Washington. It’s at Mount Vernon.
George Washington was given the very first military decoration ever created by Congress, a gold medal in commemoration of his forcing the British to evacuate Boston in 1775.
In 1980 Rosie Ruiz was disqualified from the Boston Marathon when officials noticed she did not appear in race videotapes until near the end, and concluded that she had skipped almost all the race, blending into the crowd near the finish line.
In 1964, the Philadelphia Phillies held a 6 1/2-game lead in the standings with ten games to go. When facing the Cincinnati Reds on September 21, they lost the game 1-0 when Chico Ruiz stole home against pitcher Art Mahaffey. They went on to lose ten games in a row, not winning until they had fallen out of contention. Some say that Mauch was punishing Mahaffey for the loss, as he ran his other top pitchers on short rest when Mahaffey could have started and given them more rest.
Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, combined to form the town of Jim Thorpe, named after the famous athlete.
The story goes that President-elect Abraham Lincoln, warned by a Pennsylvania reformer against appointing Simon Cameron of that state to his Cabinet, asked, “Well, just how crooked is he?” The reformer thought for a moment and replied, “Well, he wouldn’t steal a hot stove…”
Tennessee Williams hated the 1958 film version of his Cat on a Hot Tin Roof so much that the story goes he told moviegoers: “This movie will set the industry back 50 years. Go home!”
One day after Tennessee beat the team from Petaluma, California 24-16 in the Little League World Series, the kids from Tennessee were finally beaten by the team from Japan in the World Championship game, 12-2.