Louis Armstrong brought the old English folk song “The Unfortunate Rake”, about a young soldier who consorts with prostitutes and dies of syphilis, back into prominence in 1928 with his “St. James Infirmary Blues”, transposed into a minor key and played jazz-style with the site implied to be New Orleans. The infirmary of the original version was at the St. James Workhouse, Piccadilly, London.
Neil Armstrong’s first flight in a jet was in the Grumman F9F-2B Panther on 05 January 1951.
Neil Patrick Harris, who earned an Emmy for the all time best opening number for an awards show at the 2013 Tonys, won a Tony last night for his portrayal of the title character in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Danny Kaye sang the song Inch Worm in the movie, Hans Christian Andersen. The movie was about the Danish-Norwegian author who lived from 1805 to 1875. Andersen was born in Odense, Funen, Denmark–Norway and he died in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The full-rigged sailing ship Danmark, owned by the Danish Maritime Authority and used to train young sailors, happened to be in Jacksonville, FL when Denmark was taken over by the Nazis. Although much of her Danish crew quickly enlisted in the US Navy, the US Coast Guard accepted an offer from her captain to use her for training, and their success with what was then named *USCGS Danmark *induced them to take the SSS Horst Wessel, now USCGS Eagle, as postwar reparations to continue the function.
In 1865, Walter Moberley, a government surveyor for the colony of British Columbia, explored Eagle Pass in the Gold Range, which he found by following the flight of some eagles. He predicted that it would be the path for the Canadian trans-continental railway.
Twenty years later, in 1885, his prediction came true, when Sir Donald Smith drove the Last Spike for the CPR at Craigellachie, a few miles west of Eagle Pass.
The building of the CPR was the subject of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”, commissioned by the CBC for their New Year’s Day broadcast of 1967, the Centennial year. In the summer of 2004, the song was performed by that year’s “Canadian Idol” Top 6.
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a Lake Superior storm on 10 November 1975. To date, she remains the largest ship to have sunk in the Great Lakes.
The Ojibwe call Lake Superior gichigami, meaning “be a great sea.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the name as “Gitche Gumee” in The Song of Hiawatha, as did Gordon Lightfoot in his song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
In one episode of Corner Gas, Brent is paid a $100 bill by a customer. He’s dubious of its authenticity, and asks Wanda who the fellow is that’s pictured on the bill. Wanda tells him it’s Sir Robert Borden - former Prime Minister of Canada.
Reassured that the bill is authentic, Brent kisses it says, “Gordon, you and me are going places!” and heads for the bar.
Elmer’s Glue, made by Borden Dairy Company’s chemical products division, was named for the fictional cartoon bull “husband” of Elsie the Cow, their dairy products symbol. Elsie was only a cartoon as well until the 1939 New York World’s Fair, when a live cow named “You’ll Do, Lobelia” demonstrating Borden’s Rotolactor milking machine was insistently named Elsie by fairgoers.
The portraits on the Australian $100 note are those of Dame Nellie Melba, the singer and Sir John Monash, the WWI general.
Benjamin Franklin is on the obverse of the US $100 bill, and Independence Hall is on the reverse. The $100 bill is the largest denomination that has been printed since 13 July 1969, when the denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 were retired.
Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of State for the Confederacy, appeared on the $2 Confederate bill.
Judah Street in San Francisco is named adter Theodore Judah, an American railroad and civil engineer who was a central figure in the original promotion, establishment, and design of the first Transcontinental Railroad. He found investors for what became the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR). As chief engineer, he performed much of the land survey work to determine the best route for the railroad over the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The reputed spot where Judah P. Benjamin, top Confederate Cabinet officer and a confidante to President Jefferson Davis, fled the U.S. for England at the end of the Civil War is marked by a plaque in a Sarasota, Fla. park.
Judah. P. Benjamin was the first man professing the Jewish faith to be elected to the United States Senate, and the first Jew to hold a cabinet position in North America.
Director Richard Benjamin first came to wide public notice as an actor in the innovative TV sitcom He & She. His co-stars in this short-lived series included his wife Paula Prentiss, Jack Cassidy (father of teen idol David Cassidy) and folksinger and songwriter Hamilton Camp.
Jack Cassidy died at the young age of 49, in December 1976. He fell asleep while smoking a cigarette on his sofa. The cigarette ignited the sofa and he burned to death.
Judah Benjamin had a successful second career as a barrister in England after the Civil War. He appeared in some Canadian cases in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, arguing in favour of provincial power over federal power, and also wrote a book on the Law of Sales which, many editions and over a century later, is still one of the leading texts on the issue. He retired to Paris, where his daughters lived. After his death in 1884, he was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.
The Benjamin Moore Paints company is now owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The company was founded by the Moore brothers in Brooklyn, NY.
There was also an Episcopal bishop in New York named Benjamin Moore. But, there’s no relation. That Benjamin Moore was the second Episcopal bishop of New York, and his term was from 1801-1810.