Henry VIII was not the primary heir to the throne of England under Henry VII; his older brother Arthur was ahead of him in line, and even married Catherine of Aragon. Arthur died before becoming king and Henry married his widow, despite the fact it was considered (at the time) to be incestuous. The Pope gave a special dispensation, which later became part of the rationale for Henry’s leaving the church.
Prior to his older brother’s death, Henry VIII was Duke of York, as the second son of Henry VII. Since the title became a customary royal dukedom, none of the Dukes of York have passed the title on to their son, either because they became king, or died without male issue. The current Duke of York, Prince Edward, is likely to continue this pattern, having no legitimate male issue at this time.
Off-game:
What is a “strip”?
ETA: missed the edit window: Should be Prince Andrew, Duke of York, of course, not Prince Edward.
Herman’s Hermits topped the American Billboard charts twice in 1965, with “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” and “I’m Henry VIII, I Am.”
“Mrs Brown” was the name of a film about Queen Victoria’s relationship with a servant on her Scottish estate, John Brown.
The song “John Brown’s Body” (about a different John Brown) was given different lyrics by Julia Ward Howe: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
John Brown (the same one) grew up in the same household as Ulysses S. Grant’s father.
Jim Croce named the main character of his biggest hit “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” after a guy he’d known briefly in the Army. Croce said the original Leroy Brown was a deserter who got arrested by the MPs after foolishly coming back to his base to collect his pay!
Jim Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise, has been played by William Shatner, John Belushi (in a Saturday Night Live skit) and Chris Pine.
The word “kirk” means “church” in both Scottish and Flemish. Hence, any geographical locale in Scotland or the Low Countries that contains the word “kirk” (Falkirk, Dunkirk, et al.) was probably named for a nearby church.
One historic royal Scottish flag is the cross of St. Andrew, a white X on a blue field.
According to a theatrical superstition, called “the Scottish curse”, speaking the name Macbeth inside a theatre will cause disaster. The Shakespeare play is referred to as “the Scottish play”. When the name of the play is spoken in a theatre, tradition requires the person who spoke it to leave, perform traditional cleansing rituals, including turning three times, spitting over one’s left shoulder, swearing, or reciting a line from another of Shakespeare’s plays.
American President Woodrow Wilson once said, “Every line of strength in American history is a line colored with Scottish blood.”
The traditional song “Flower of Scotland” and the Robert Burns poem, turned into a song, “Scots Wha Hae” refer to the Scottish victory against superior numbers of Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314 against King Edward II and his English forces.
Rats, too late! Let’s see if i can salvage this…
On the campy Sixties ***Batman ***TV series, Bruce Wayne’s young ward Dick Grayson (Robin) was a student at Woodrow Roosevelt High School. In one episode, the Joker tried to get the Woodrow Roosevelt basketball team framed for academic cheating, so that he could bet heavily on their crosstown rivals at Disco Tech.
Purdue is a state-funded land-grant (as well as space-grant and sea-grant) institution. I should know, as I live in the county in which the university is located.
In play: Dave Grayson holds (apparently in perpetuity, as the league is defunct) the AFL records for longest interception return (99 yards) and interceptions (47).
Bob Grayson led the search party that caught Confederate veteran Tom Dooley, who was on the run (mpt yet with his head hanging down) after murdering Laura Foster, a girl who wouldn’t marry him. Grayson, perhaps not incidentally, wanted Laura for himself. Dooley reputedly laughed and played his banjo while riding on top of his coffin on the way to the gallows. But we’d never know or care about the case if not for The Kingston Trio’s song.
Dooley Wilson played “Sam” in Casablanca
Sam Hughes was Canada’s Minister of Militia at the beginning of World War I. He was not a success, being hostile to French-Canadians, a strong supporter of the poorly designed Canadian-made Ross rifle, and an incessant medeller in promotions of officers serving in the CEF, usually for partisan or personal reasons. He was dismissed from Cabinet in 1916, sparking a steady improvement in the quality of the CEF as a fighting force.
Off-game:
Minor nit-pick, Elendil’s Heir: The cross of St. Andrew is the Scottish national flag, not a royal flag. The Lion Standard is the Scottish royal flag.
That is true today, but I stand by what I wrote - it is a “historic royal Scottish flag”: Flag of Scotland - Wikipedia
In play:
Howard Hughes was described by his caretakers during his reclusive period as watching the movie Ice Station Zebra over and over and over again.