In WWII the “Hell’s Angels” B-17 of the 303rd Bomb Group completed 25 combat missions on 13 May 1943, becoming the first B-17 to complete the feat, six days before the Memphis Belle did on 19 May.
The leader of the Canadian Green Party, Elizabeth May, is an American who emigrated to Canada.
Actor Bronson Alcott Pinchot was named after Bronson Alcott, father of author Louisa May Alcott. Louisa was born on her father’s 33rd birthday and died two days after he did.
Pitcher Bronson Arroyo, now with the Arizona Diamondbacks after previous stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, and Cincinnati Reds, is in his 15th major league season but has never spent even a day on the disabled list.
There are four types of venomous snakes indigenous to the United States – the rattlesnake (including two species of Diamondback Rattlesnake) which is widespread across America; plus the coral snake, copperhead, and cottonmouth, which are only found in the Southeast.
Canada does not have any general region with “south” in its description, such as “southeast”, “south” or “southwest.” Canada’s regions are normally described as variants of eastern, central, western, and of course, northern.
Before finding acclaim with The Sopranos, David Chase worked as a producer on Northern Exposure.
St David is the patron saint of Wales.
Around the world, St. Barbara is recognized as the patron saint of field artillerymen.
Barbara Billingsley, best known as June Cleaver on the 50’s TV show Leave it to Beaver, is also famous for her cameo role in Airplane!, in which she helps interpret a conversation between the stewardess and two young men who speak only in Jive.
Barbara Billingsley passed away on 16 Oct 2010 at the age of 94. She grew up in Los Angeles but as a young teen moved to New York City where her acting career took off. For all of the Leave It To Beaver reruns, she had one regret about the show’s lasting success: the residual payments for its actors ended after just six reruns in standard 1950s actors’ contracts.
Members of Parliament who have served at least six years in the Canadian House of Commons are entitled to a pension for life upon turning 55.
In 1974, in response to the energy crisis, the National Maximum Speed Law set a federally mandated speed limit of 55 mph on America’s roads. It was repealed in 1995.
The common nickname for the 55 mph speed limit was “double nickels.”
The word “asshole” was first broadcast on network TV during a showing of Annie Hall. Woody Allen insisted on no cuts, so the scene where Alvy meets Joey Nichols (Joey: “Just remember Joey Nickels – Joey Five cents” Alvy: “What an asshole.”) was aired. ABC, which ran the movie, had extra operators standing by to field complaints. Oddly most of the complaints were that the movie was being shown out of order; but the movie was designed out of order (the first line was “I broke up with Annie today.”)
When Woody Allen filed his court papers seeking custody of his three children with Mia Farrow, he made the following false claims:
- Satchel was born in September–wrong, he was born in December.
- Mia had filed for adoption of two more children–wrong, she had no adoptions pending at the time.
- Mia accused Woody of molesting Satchel–She vehemently denied this, and the idea was soon dropped.
Satchel has since taken the name Ronan Farrow. His mother, Mia Farrow, has acknowledged that he “may” be the son of her former husband, Frank Sinatra, but one look at his eyesare sufficient to answer any doubt.
A ronin is a samurai warrior without a lord. Many ronin became mercenaries or criminals.
The anime “Samurai 7” is based on the film “Seven Samurai”.
The seven deadly sins are Wrath, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Envy, and Gluttony.