The British stage actor Edmund Kean (1789-1833) was like the James Dean of his time. He gained celebrity and fame at a young age. His performances were fiery and highly…
Month: April 2024
“My man Friday.”
The book by Daniel Defoe that is usually referred to with the shortened name Robinson Crusoe became a bestseller soon after it was first published on April 25, 1719. The…
“The shot heard round the world”
The famous phrase “The shot heard round the world” was coined by American essayist, lecturer and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) in 1837. It’s the last line in the first…
“Houston, we have a problem” — and “failure is not an option”…
On June 30, 1995, the movie Apollo 13 was released to theaters in the US. This epic film about the near-disastrous Apollo 13 lunar mission in April 1970 was directed…
The story behind “Dixie,” the blackface minstrel song that may have been stolen from black musicians…
The American Civil War is bracketed by two songs with lyrics that are familiar to most people. The metaphorical end of that war has become associated with The Band’s 1969…