Though most Americans* likely think that the premiership of the Soviet Union went right from Lenin to Stalin, in fact there’s a 17-year, two-premier gap in between the two. Though born in the Russian Empire, Stalin wasn’t born in modern-day Russia, but in Georgia.
*Including myself, incidentally, until I did the research for this trivia post!
Josef Stalin is referred to solely as Number One, in Arthur Koestler’s novel Darkness at Noon.
In 1956 Stalin’s successor Nikita Khrushchev denounced his legacy and initiated a process of de-Stalinization.
Again, I’m not sure that falls into the realm of “trivia,” as it’s rather well known. But anyway:
At the close of a business trip to Finland in 1965, Richard Nixon, then in private law practice, impulsively took a 20-hour train ride to Moscow. At 11 o’clock at night, he knocked on Khrushchev’s door. Khrushchev was not at home. Nixon had to satisfy himself with a deputy director of Moscow State University and a policeman who happened to be near Nixon on the street, both of whom he tried to debate. In 1967, for no apparent reason, he went to Moscow once again, visiting Sokolniki Park, the site of his famous “kitchen debate” with Khrushchev eight years before. Once more Khrushchev himself was unavailable, and Nixon had to entertain himself by debating with passersby.
From the OP:
Khrushchev’s famous quote, “We will bury you,” was taken completely out of context by Western media. What he actually said was, “Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will dig you in.” But he was referring to what he saw as the inevitable implosion of capitalism because of pressures by its own working class. He was not, as Sting implied in the nuclear war protest song “Russians”, literally making a threat against the United States.
Bilbo Baggins’ sword, Sting, glowed when Orcs were nearby.
Though World Championship Wrestling’s Starrcade '97 World Title match between Hollywood Hogan and Sting was a year in the making, highly-anticipated and was to be the culmination of a feud that had brought WCW to an unprecedented level of success, the match itself is widely considered to be an atrocious curb-stomping (and in the wrong direction, even) that ultimately proved to be the beginning of a dramatic downswing in WCW’s fortunes.
Sting nee Gordon Sumner became a teacher after studying at the University of Warwick.
Actress Holly Robinson Peete is the daughter of the original Gordon, from the first seasons of Sesame Street.
Singer Gordon Waller, best know as half of the 60’s pop group Peter & Gordon appeared in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Pharaoh in 1971,a performance that he reprised on the cast recording. He first performed “Joseph” at the Edinburgh Festival, and later reprised the role at the Albery Theatre in London’s West End.
Paul McCartney gave the future #1 hit song “World Without Love” to Peter and Gordon as a favor to Peter’s sister, Jane Asher, who was Paul’s steady girlfriend at the time.
Paul McCartney did a movie, Give My Regards to Broad Street, which features Paul (playing himself) trying to find a set of master tapes that have been stolen. All the while he has to go on with the rest of his day, and does tapings and such. The movie, while not critically acclaimed, had arguably the best versions of “Ballroom Dancing” and “Silly Love Songs” you’ll ever hear, especially when coupled with the bizarre circumstances in the visual portion. (A knife fight and fluorescent cats, respectively).
The Philadelphia Flyers won three consecutive Stanley Cups in the Seventies, under coach Fred “The Fog” Shero, using tough, physical tactics that earned them the nickname “The Broad Street Bullies.”
Members of the Philadelphia Flyers were on the rigged jury for Homer’s soul in a Simpsons Halloween episode. (The Devil–who looked like Ned Flanders–filled it with other “villainous” types as well.)
The Wright Brothers’ first successful airplane was named “The Flyer.”
On Magnum P.I., Thomas’ best friend Rick’s real name was Orville Wright. In the earliest episodes, his character tried to dress and talk like Rick Blaine, Humphrey Bogart’s character in Casablanca.
The playing of “La Marseillaise”, the French national anthem, in Casablanca is considered one of the most memorable and heartfelt scenes in the legendary movie. The filmmakers had hired actual French refugees to take part in the scene and sing the song. As the film was made in 1942, the passion you see on screen is real. These people really don’t know if they’ll ever see their home again.
While longstanding rumors that future U.S. President Ronald Reagan was originally offered the lead role in ***Casablanca ***are probably not true, it IS true that Casablanca means “White House.”
Ronald Reagan once worked as a lifeguard.