The final words of Union General “Uncle John” Sedgwick at the Battle of Spotsylvania were allegedly “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist …”.
The character Captain Phantastic in Jasper Fforde’s novel One of Our Thursdays is Missing is a talking elephant.
The British propaganda film One of Our Aircraft is Missing, about a shot-down Wellington crew working together to successfully escape through the Netherlands, is a sequel of sorts to 49th Parallel, where a German U-boat crew falls apart while trying to escape to the neutral US through Canada.
The best-named actress ever, Googie Withers, played the Dutchwoman who had the best line, about the bombers overhead:
n/m
The Supreme Court of Canada and the Parliament buildings are both located on Wellington Street, named after the Duke.
The Pontiac-built Iron Duke engine was a 2.5 liter four-cylinder that was almost literally one half of the 301 cubic inch V8. It was used in almost all GM and American Motors compacts 1977-1992.
The Duke of Wellington opposed parliamentary reform. After the first election under the Great Reform Act, he watched the new MP’s filing into Parliament and commented that he’d never seen so many bad hats in his life.
Gen. Winfield Scott had proposed an “anaconda plan” for strangling the Confederacy as early as May 1861.
In play:
The Duke of Wellington appears as a character in Susanna Clarke’s novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, about the return of magic to Regency England.
The world’s largest second-hand book market can be found in Hay-on-Wye, a small village on the border of England and Wales. The village is also famous for proclaiming itself independent from the UK in 1977.
The National Scout Jamboree was held in the summer of 1977 in Moraine State Park in western Pennsylvania. Due to heavy precipitation, Scouts referred to it as “More Rain State Park” (and I was there).
Many characters complain about Philadelphia’s extremely hot weather in the musical 1776.
Article 1776 of the Civil Code of Lower Canada provided that if a person loaned something to another person, and the thing had a defect which injured the borrower, the lender was liable if the lender knew of the defect.
In the episode “The Producer” of “Gilligan’s Island”, the castaways stage a musical version of Hamlet for crash-landed Broadway producer Harold Hecuba (Phil Silvers), to showcase Ginger’s talent for him. Their version of Polonius’ monologue about thrift, when given the tune of the Toreador Song from Georges Bizet’s Carmen, becomes:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
Do not forget: stay out of debt.
Think twice, and take this good advice from me:
Guard that old solvency!
There’s just one other thing you ought to do.
To thine own self be true.
Harold Ramis wrote four of the American Film Institute’s 100 Funniest Movies: Ghostbusters (1984) at #28, Groundhog Day (1993) at #34, Animal House (1978) at #36 and Caddyshack (1980) at #71. Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981) and Back to School (1986) were also nominated but didn’t make the list.
Noted science fiction author Isaac Asimov complained when the production crew of Ghostbusters snarled traffic near his Manhattan apartment.
Isaac Hayes’ performance as Chef in the TV series South Park was supposed to be a one-time event, but audience reaction was so positive that Chef became a regular character.
Sir Isaac Isaacs was Chief Justice of Australia and then the first Australian born Governor General of Australia. It us not known if his parents lacked imagination in naming him, or were just playing a joke on him.
The Australian movie The Dish was the top grossing movie in Australia in 2000.
(and if you haven’t seen, I recommend it)
The first reports of a mechanical dishwashing device are of an 1830 patent in the United States by Joel Houghton for a hand-powered good device. This device was made of wood and was cranked by hand while water sprayed onto the dishes. This device was both slow and unreliable. Another patent was granted to L.A. Alexander in 1865 that was similar to the first but featured a hand-cranked rack system. Neither device was practical or widely accepted.
(I agree with echo7tango. I also recommend the movie The Dish. It’s good!)
Joel Grey was the first Mystery Guest on the syndicated revival of What’s My Line? in 1968.