Softball pitcher Jennie Finch of the University of Arizona (1999-2002) set the NCAA record by winning 60 straight decisions during a career that featured a national championship in 2001, a season in which she went 32-0 for the Wildcats.
In 1985, as an April Fool’s joke, Sports Illustrated published a piece by George Plimpton about a non-existent pitching phenom named Siddhartha “Sidd” Finch, who used Eastern mysticism to throw the ball 103 miles per hour
The cover for the Sports Illustrated dated September 24, 2001 featured a photograph of a bunch of empty seats in the dark, with one illuminated and drapped with an American flag.
The headline was The Week That Sports Stood Still
The Great Fire of London broke out on September 2, 1666.
According to the titular protagonist in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, “There’s a hole in this world like a deep, dark pit, and it’s filled with people who are filled with shit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it, and it goes by the name of London.”
For centuries, surgery in Europe was performed by barbers, rather than by medical doctors. For this reason, until quite recently, even the most highly skilled and educated surgeons in England were typically addressed as “Mister,” rather than as “Doctor.”
The traditional barber pole, with diagonal red stripes on a white cylinder, represents bloody bandages on an arm or leg. It was a sign of the trade, as other signs represented other trades, for illiterates to know where to go for a particular service. Unlike some, it has remained as a tradition.
The traditional symbol for a pawnbroker, three golden balls, was attributed to the House of Medici and one of their ventures, a bank in the Italian province of Lombardy.
The Pawnbroker was the first film under the Hollywood Production Code to show bare breasts.
The 1933 German-language Czech film *Ecstasy *is best remembered for 20-year-old Hedy Lamarr’s bare breasts, and long-distance nude scenes. It is also considered the first non-porn film to show orgasms, although they were facial closeups only.
One of Hedy Lamarr’s husbands was Teddy Stauffer, a Swiss-born bandleader and restaurateur who was considered Germany’s version of America’s “King of Swing”, Benny Goodman.
It’s the policy of the Swiss government to remain neutral in every war, and Switzerland has never been conquered by an opposing force. Even Nazi Germany realized they were too heavily fortified. In recognition of this, Switzerland is an unconquerable territory in the board game “Risk”.
The Nazis hardly ever called themselves “Nazis.” The term – an abbreviation for National Socialist – was developed by the German press. Hitler disliked it intensely, and it was rarely used within the party itself.
In the Broadway production of The Producers, during the “Springtime for Hitler” number, one of the dancers lip-synchs to a recording of Mel Brooks saying, “Don’t be stupid, be a smartie- come and join the Nazi Party.”
Adolf Hitler won the Iron Cross for heroism while serving in a Bavarian infantry regiment during World War I.
He’s seated on the right here: File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1974-082-44, Adolf Hitler im Ersten Weltkrieg.jpg - Wikipedia
WWE wrestler Triple H (Paul Levesque) has made a variation of the Iron Cross his logo since the early part of the 2000s; the symbol appears six times on his wrestling attire (front and back of trunks, on both elbow pads and on the sides of his boots).
Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson is an experienced pilot, and has flown the band from England to India, Australia and South America in a converted Boeing 757 that they named “Ed Force One,” in honor of “Eddie,” the band’s zombie mascot.
Boeing developed the 757 and 767 simultaneously and in such a way as to allow for a common type rating - a pilot rated to fly one is rated to fly the other. To achieve this, the 757 cockpit is placed a step up from the main cabin floor, while the 767 cockpit is a step down - this puts the pilots’ eyes at the same distance above the landing gear during landing.
Campo 44 was an unsold pilot starring Vito Scotti about life in an Italian prisoner of war camp (obviously influenced by Hogan’s Heroes). The show was never picked up, even though it did OK in the ratings when it aired (once). Word at the time was that the executives loved the show and the pilot was screamingly funny, but they didn’t go with it because they feared it couldn’t keep up the quality.
Former defensive coordinator Dave Campo replaced Barry Switzer as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.