In the 1630s, England’s infamous “Star Chamber” (sort of a politically-oriented version of the Spanish Inquisition) banned the printing or sale of “any seditious, scismaticall, or offensive Bookes or Pamphlets.”…
“She was the people’s princess” (but not the first) . . .
In 1995, after she was separated from but still married to Britain’s Prince Charles, Princess Diana said in a BBC television interview: “I’d like to be a queen in people’s…
Bring me the head of John the Baptist – and Alfredo Garcia…
Director Sam Peckinpah’s 1974 film Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, starring Warren Oates, is one of my favorite movies from the Seventies. The film’s title comes from a…
“Yonder lies the castle of my fodder.” The famous movie “quote” that Tony Curtis didn’t say…
When actor Tony Curtis died at age 85, in September 2010, many obituaries and tributes mentioned what is widely believed to be one of his most famous movie lines. In…
“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
On May 24, 1995, five days after its official premiere in Los Angeles, Braveheart was released to theaters nationwide in the USA. The movie stars Mel Gibson as the 13th…
“Never play cards with a man called Doc” — and other advice from Nelson Algren…
The copyright record for the novel A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren says it was copyrighted on May 18, 1956. Traditionally, the copyright date is also a…
“It’s not that I’m afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
Most people prefer not to think a lot about death. But that subject has always loomed large in the mind and works of comedian, writer, actor and director Woody Allen,…
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
On May 2, 1908, Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer registered the copyright for the new song about baseball they’d written together. Naturally, they hoped it would become popular. But…
“The answer to everything…Life, the Universe, and Everything…is…”
In 2001, the brilliant British writer Douglas Adams left us Earthlings behind. Before he left, however, he kindly informed us of the answer to the Ultimate Question — more specifically,…