(To explain – it was a mistaken obituary, based upon a false report about Nobel’s death).
Alfred Bester was the first SFWA Grandmaster to die, and he died before actually receiving the award (though he had been notified of the honor). (The rules actually prohibit posthumous awards).
Walter Koenig’s character in Babylon 5, the Psi Cop Alfred Bester, was named after the science fiction author Alfred Bester. J. Michael Straczynski (creator of B5) named the character after the author, since many of Bester’s (the author’s) works dealt with telepathy.
Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC was named for an Army surgeon who pioneered effective treatment and preventive measures for malaria, during the Spanish-American War.
In the Battle of Manilla, during the Spanish-American War, the Spanish set up their warships with the primary military objective of being sure that when they were sunk, the sailors could swim to safety, knowing from the start that they would lose the battle.
Theodore Roosevelt, at the time President William McKinley’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy, criticized his initial unwillingness to declare war on Spain, remarking in disgust to a friend, “McKinley has all the backbone of a chocolate eclair.”
The cacao plant is native to Mexico and Central America, and the word “chocolate” comes from the Aztec word “xocolatl.”
Mexico City is the highest city in North America, at 7400 feet (2250 meters) above sea level, about a mile and a half.
The Belmont Stakes, the final leg of America’s Triple Crown series for thoroughbreds, has been run since 1867, but has been run at the current distance of a mile and a half (a mile and four furlongs) only since 1927. It was run at a mile and five furlongs from 1867 to 1873; a mile and a quarter in 1890, 1891, 1892, 1895, 1904 and 1905; a mile and a furlong in 1893 and 1894; and a mile and three furlongs from 1896 to 1903 and from 1906 to 1925.
The America’s Cup is awarded to the winner of a sailing race first run in 1851, almost a half-century before the modern Olympics began. The Cup is currently back in American hands, after a win by the yacht BMW Oracle Racing last month off the coast of Spain.
Oracle is the current code name of Barbara Gordon, the first character to use the name Batgirl. (Though there was a Bat-Girl before her.)
The codename of Sterling Archer, the borderline-alcoholic, narcissistic secret agent in the very good FX spy spoof Archer, is “Duchess,” which also happens to be the name of his mother’s beloved late poodle.
Husband and wife Robert Sterling and Ann Jeffreys played George and Marion Kirby in the TV version of Topper, playing parts originated by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett.
Andrew Stevens (son of Stella Stevens) and his then wife Kate Jackson did a 1979 TV movie of TOPPER (featuring Jack Warden and Rue McLanahan as the Toppers) that was a pilot for a sitcom, but it never got picked up.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allen Poe, was published in 1841. The protagonist, C. Auguste Dupin, was the first true “detective” in fiction.
The Roman Senate named the month of July after Julius Caesar and the month of August after his grandnephew, Augustus Caesar.
Augustus Gloop was the very hungry young German boy who found a Golden Ticket to tour the Wonka factory in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Until the 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913, the members of the United States Senate were chosen by their state legislatures, not by the electorate as a whole.
Andrew Jackson, Samuel Tilden, Grover Cleveland and Al Gore all won the popular vote but lost on basis of the electoral vote (though Jackson and Cleveland both won the presidency later).
The Monster At The End of This Book was the protagonist, Grover, himself. (It’s a Sesame Street book, of course.)
The American punk band Anti-Flag’s song “This is the End (For You My Friend)” is featured in two EA Sports videogames, Madden NFL 07 and NHL 07.