In Monty Python’s Bookshop Sketch, customer Graham Chapman asks proprietor John Cleese for copies of ‘David Coperfield’ with one P, ‘Grate Expectations’, ‘Knickerless Knickleby’, ‘Khristmas Karol’, and 'A Sale of Two Titties", all by Edmund Wells, and ‘Rarnaby Budge’ by Charles Dikkens. Tragically, the store has none of those titles, not even the final request, ‘Ethel the Aardvark goes Quantity Surveying’.
John Newbery, after whom the Newbery Award for children’s fiction is named, owned a bookstore.
The Phantom Tollbooth is ostensibly a work of children’s fiction, by Norton Juster. In actuality, it’s equally fun for adults, really, and is still my favorite book.
Quite correct. I should have written “the Labrador region of the modern-day Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.” Mea culpa.
The Phantom of the Opera’s name is Erik.
The FH Phantom (H denoting the McDonnell aircraft company in the system in use at the time) was a twin-engined jet fighter designed and first flown during WWII. It was the first purely jet-powered airplane to land on a USN aircraft carrier and the first jet deployed by the USMC. It was a front-line fighter for only two years, 1947–49. Its immediate successor, the F2H Banshee, went on to serve in the Korean War.
Sean “Banshee” Cassidy, formerly a policeman from Ireland, was a member of the X-Men
He’s a huge fan of American country singer Merle Haggard.
American country singer Billy Ray Cyrus hit it big with 1992’s single “Achy Breaky Heart”. Weird Al Yankovic soon parodied it with “Achy Breaky Song.”
“Don’t play that song/That achy breaky song/The most annoying song I know/And if you play that song/That irritating song/I might blow up my radio, oooooooooh!”
Alfred Matthew “Weird Al” Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist.
Weird Al’s top songs include:
1984: Eat It
2006: White and Nerdy
1985: Like a Surgeon
1996: Amish Paradise
1999: The Saga Begins
1989: Money for Nothing / Beverly Hillbillies
1983: My Bologna
1992: Smells Like Nirvana
1988: Fat
1984: I Lost on Jeopardy
The protagonist of Valis by Philip K. Dick is “Horselover Fat,” a play on Dick’s name. “Philip” in Greek means “Lover of Horses,” while “Dick” is German for “fat.”
Popular films based on the works of Philip K. Dick include Total Recall, Minority Report, and Blade Runner.
Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle has not yet had a big-budget movie adaptation. It is about an alternate world in which the U.S. has lost World War II after the assassination of FDR, and has been divided up by Nazi Germany (undergoing a leadership struggle) and Imperial Japan.
The Philippines are named after King Philip II of Spain, who was also responsible for the Armada’s disastrous attempt to invade England.
The ships of the Spanish Armada that survived the invasion attempt headed for Catholic Ireland, where were convinced they would get help and supplies. They were wrong. The Armada harbored in what is now called Armada Bay, south of Galway, and the sailors who went ashore were attacked and killed. Catholic or not, the Irish saw the Spanish as invaders.
Off-game:
Awesome.
On-game:
The deuteragonist of The Princess Bride was a Spaniard, Inigo Montoya, who was originally against protagonist Westley, as he was in the employ of villain Vizzini. However, Montoya was only working for Vizzini “to pay the bills”, and became a good guy fully after Westley was killed, helping to bring him back.
Another deuteragonist of The Princess Bride was the giant character named Fezzik and played by André René Roussimoff (19 May 1946 – 27 January 1993) who was best known as “André the Giant”. André René Roussimoff was a French and American professional wrestler and actor of Bulgarian and Polish descent. His best remembered acting role was that of Fezzik.
Polish people marry the youngest within the EU – age 24 for women and 26.5 for men on average.
A well known fact is that in previous history, people married very young, simply because we didn’t live that long. During the 1800’s it was not uncommon for people to marry in their mid-teens; in the 1400’s you got married as young as 12 ( A boy was considered a man, a girl was a woman as soon as she had her first menstrual cycle), something that was extremely common but would be viewed as scandalous in America today. (Currently, Muslim girls can marry at age 12.) Over 50 countries allow marriage at 16, including the United States. Some states require parental permission while others do not.
Hmmm, I’m not sure a “well-known fact” counts as trivia. :dubious:
Anyway: A Sufi is a Muslim mystic. His clothes are traditionally made of wool. In fact, the word sufi actually means “wool.”
Wool is a great insulator ~ it has been used for thousands of years in the walls of homes, as clothing, as rugs and as bedding.