Sunday, November 24, 2024
MORE MISCELLANEOUS FACTS
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For many years, the lovely Rita Thunderbird thrilled audiences around the United Kingdom with her gold lamé bikini and her "human cannonball" routine. On at least two occasions, however, she remained inside the cannon despite being compelled by gunpowder to do otherwise. On one of these, at Battersea in 1977, fans were not completely disappointed. Miss Thunderbird remained lodged in the cannon but her gold lamé bikini top was fired across the River Thames!
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In 2002 television presenter Jamie Theakston visited a brothel. Some of the staff took unauthorised photographs of him and there was blackmail in the air. He sued to prevent publication of the story and accompanying photographs. He failed on the first limb but succeeded on the second. Mr Justice Ouseley at para [22] of his judgment in Theakston v MGN Ltd (2002) EWHC 137 (QB) said: ‘It is surprising that it was not apparent to the claimant on his first arrival that he was in a brothel and that that only became apparent, on his later return and after he had engaged in sexual activities.’ It was shortly after this that the superinjunction emerged. The ‘super’ element restrained publication of the fact that an injunction had even been secured.
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When police raided the home of Cynthia Payne in Streatham they found an orderly queue of gentlemen waiting to pay a visit to three prostitutes upstairs. The guests included a barrister, a member of the House of Lords, three accountants, and a vicar. She was convicted of running a disorderly house in 1980 and served four months in Holloway.
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Raymond McCray, in January 1983, was appearing in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on stage in the West End. Police officers stormed on stage to arrest Mr McCray, who stood 1.06m tall. His forte was robbing banks because his stature rendered him out of sight of the security cameras.
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Ruth Rendell, author of the Inspector Wexford stories, started her working life as a reporter on The Chigwell Times. She was required to write up a sporting dinner but could not be bothered to attend, so she looked at the guest list and conjured up a commentary. Sadly, her account omitted the slight detail that the after-dinner speaker had dropped dead part way through his oration. She was forced to resign.
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In English and Australian civil litigation, offers are made ‘without prejudice save as to costs’. The trial judge is not to be told about offers until the litigation is concluded. The financial consequences of a well-pitched offer can be vast. What happens when there is inadvertent disclosure of sensitive or privileged material and details of an offer are put into the trial bundle (documents relied upon in the trial by the parties) and are seen at the outset of trial by the judge? In the Court of Appeal case of Garratt v Saxby [2004] EWCA Civ 341, a judge ordered himself to forget what he had seen and was commended! The alternative would have meant abandoning the trial with resulting delay and expense.
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Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, was known for her love of a good party and regularly let loose when she was in her Caribbean holiday home of Mustique.
In the 1970s, it's alleged she had a fling with London gangster John Bindon, nicknamed ‘ Big John’, who entertained her by hanging five half-pint beer tankards from his penis. The short-lived romance is supposed to have taken place after Bindon spent three weeks at her home in Mustique.
The story comes from to John Bindon’s ex, Vicki Hodge, who incidentally also dated Prince Andrew, and was with John on the trip.
Princess Margaret poses in Mustique with Bindon, who is wearing a T-shirt with the slogan 'Enjoy Cocaine'
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Orson Welles was working on a scene (from 1944's Jane Eyre) in which he was about to be broiled to death in a fire and said “I now know what Joan of Arc endured!” Fellow actress Joan Fontaine replied, “Keep your spirits up, we'll let you know if we get the odour of burning ham.”
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Errol Flynn had it out with columnist Jimmy Fidler over the death of his beloved dog, Arno. The dog had leapt to his death from the Flynn yacht and the Coast Guard found the body. Flynn was asked if he wanted it, but he could only stand to accept the dog's collar and didn't want to be confronted with his faithful friend's corpse. Fidler wrongly interpreted this act as Flynn not caring enough to collect the body and printed such. Flynn soon saw him in a restaurant and beati him up but was stabbed in the ear by Fidler's wife! A lawsuit came soon after, but it was settled out of court and the men later became friends. Flynn remarked to Fidler, “Your wife has good table manners. She used the right fork.”
Saturday, November 23, 2024
WALT DISNEY FACTS
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Walter Elias Disney (1901 – 1966) - American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur – was born in Chicago but hos forbears go back to France, notably to Isigny sur Mer, a small town in Normandy. The town is famous for its dairy farms, the cows there being known for producing the richest, creamiest butter and cheese. When the Dupont family established the Dupont d’Isigny confectionary company, it began producing its signature d’Isigny caramels.
In 1066, William the Conqueror awarded the title “Lords of Isigny” to the French father-and-son duo Robert and Hugues Suhard, as a thank you for helping him conquer England. They became Robert and Hugues d’Isigny, and settled in England, where d’Isigny became the anglicized Disney. A branch of the family eventually moved away to Ireland — Walt Disney’s ancestors.
D’Isignyland wouldn’t have been the same.
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Disney’s first visit to Normandy, the home of his ancestors, was in 1918. Aged 17, he was too young to fight in the Great War, so had doctored his birth certificate so he could serve as a driver in the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in France. He drew cartoons on the side of his ambulance for decoration and had some of his work published in the army newspaper Stars and Stripes.
The war ended not long after Disney arrived, so he was able to then visit Normandy. It was said that he was constantly sketching during his time there, and that he always looked back on that first trip with fond memories. Not long after he returned to the US, Disney opened his first studio in Kansas City.
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Disney’s research into his family tree resulted in the creation of a Disney family crest inspired by the original d’Isigny coat of arms, which is emblazoned above the gates to both the Sleeping Beauty and Cindrella castles at Disneyland.
The Disney Family Crest on Sleeping Beauty Castle
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Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was racist or antisemitic, they have been contradicted by many who knew him.
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In 1927, just before the transition to sound in motion pictures, Disney and experimented with a new character—a cheerful, energetic, and mischievous mouse called Mickey. They had planned two shorts to introduce Mickey Mouse when The Jazz Singer, a motion picture with the popular singer Al Jolson, brought the novelty of sound to the movies. Recognising the possibilities for sound in animated-cartoon films, Disney quickly produced a third Mickey Mouse cartoon equipped with voices and music, entitled Steamboat Willie, and cast aside the other two soundless cartoon films. When it appeared in 1928, Steamboat Willie was a sensation.
It's rumoured that Walt Disney had a phobia of mice. While this is hard to prove, it is a fact that his big-eared creation was named 'Mortimer', until his wife persuaded him that 'Mickey' had a better ring to it…
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Disney had long thought of producing feature-length animated films in addition to the shorts. In 1934 he began work on a version of the classic fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While he actively engaged in all phases of creation in his films, he functioned chiefly as coordinator and final decision maker rather than as designer and artist. Snow White was widely acclaimed by critics and audiences alike as an amusing and sentimental romance. By animating substantially human figures in the characters of Snow White, the Prince, and the Wicked Queen and by forming caricatures of human figures in the seven dwarfs, Disney departed from the scope and techniques of the shorts and thus proved animation’s effectiveness as a vehicle for feature-length stories.
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Thereafter he developed a wide variety of full-length entertainment films, such as Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942). Disney also produced a totally unusual and exciting film—his multisegmented and stylised Fantasia (1940), in which cartoon figures and colour patterns were animated to the music of Igor Stravinsky, Paul Dukas, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and others.
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Quick Facts:
The sorcerer in Fantasia is called 'Yen Sid', Disney spelt backwards.
Lots of early Disney films are a mother-free zone: The Jungle Book, Pinocchio and - sob - Bambi. It's been suggested that this was because of their creator's guilt over the death of his own mother in 1938. Fresh from the success of Snow White, he had bought a home for his parents, but tragically a faulty heating system led to Flora Disney's death from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The rubbish-compactor, Wall-E, was named after WalterElias Disney
Disneyland, California, was built in the early 1950s, opening in 1955. Anxious to be on site as much as possible, Walt built an apartment for his family above the 'Fire Department' on Main Street. A lamp in the window signalled to staff that he was in residence, and this is now always alight in his honour.
Disney World, Florida, opened in 1971, long after after the original Disneyland in California. Walt was unsettled by the sight of costumed characters having to run through the 'wrong' lands to get to their allotted spots, spoiling the magic at the first site. He came up with an elaborate tunnel system which runs beneath Disney World, and allows actors to put on their costumes and appear in the appropriate land without shattering the illusion. The entire park is built on a gentle incline to accommodate these.
Main Street is based on 1910 America, while Tomorrowland was designed to represent 1986 - both were chosen because they were Halley's Comet years.
Bruce, the 'vegetarian' great white shark of Finding Nemo, was named after the mechanical shark used in Jaws, which, in turn, was named after Steven Spielberg's lawyer!
Walt's final words - written rather than spoken - were, rather cryptically 'Kurt Russell'. No one has any idea why.
Mickey Mouse was the first animated character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Contrary to rumours, Disney's daughter has assured he wasn't cryogenically frozen. “There is absolutely no truth that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen," Disney's daughter, Diane, wrote in her 1972 biography. "I doubt that my father had ever heard of cryonics.”55
A saucy detail was hidden in the Rescuers, where a photo of a nude lady was sneaked into the background. Disney admitted to this one and had to recall 3.4 million videos!
In 1957, President Harry Truman (a Democrat) took a trip to Disneyland and refused to ride the Dumbo ride because elephants are the symbol of the Republican party.
Though commonly referred to as seven 'dwarves', the films actual title is Snow White and the Seven 'Dwarfs'. This is because in 1938 when the film was released, 'dwarfs' was the accepted plural. Blame JRR Tolkien for the change.
The Lion King was originally called 'King of the Jungle', before someone noted that lions don't tend to inhabit jungles.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was make-or-break for Disney, costing his studios $1.4m to make. It was widely derided as Disney's Ruin, by people subsequently proved non-psychic. Adjusted for inflation, it's one of the ten highest-grossing films of all time.
Disney had been a heavy smoker since World War I. He did not use cigarettes with filters and had smoked a pipe as a young man. In early November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was treated with cobalt therapy. On November 30, he felt unwell and was taken by ambulance from his home to St. Joseph Hospital where, on December 15, at age 65, he died of circulatory collapse caused by the cancer.
Friday, November 22, 2024
SYDNEY SUBURBS – DOVER HEIGHTS
DOVER HEIGHTS
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Location:
Dover Heights is an affluent, cliffside, eastern suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, 9 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district. It forms part of the local government area of Waverley Council and Its postcode, 2030, is shared with Vaucluse and Watsons Bay.
Clifftop homes in Dover Heights, Sydney.
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Name origin:
Dover Heights is believed to have been named for its cliffs along the Pacific Ocean which resembled those found at Dover, in Kent, England. Dover Heights is named after Dover Road, which was thought to be named after the English white cliffs of Dover.
The first mention of Dover Heights appeared in municipal records in 1886.
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About:
Dover Heights borders Vaucluse to its north, North Bondi to its south and Rose Bay to its west and has the Pacific Ocean to its east. It is a mainly residential suburb and many of the suburb's properties have views of Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Some properties have both harbour and ocean views.
The Dover Heights Coastal Reserves are part of the Bondi to Watsons Bay Cliff Walk and have stunning ocean views.
The suburb is considered to be the most affluent within the Waverly Local Government Area and amongst the most affluent suburbs in Australia. This is reflected in property prices - like nearby suburbs Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill, median house prices are above A$6.4 million.The ATO's 2014-2015 taxation statistics listed Dover Height's postcode, 2030 as the second richest in Australia with an average taxable income of $185,684.
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History:
Settlement of the area dates from the 1830s, with land used mainly for market gardens. Population was minimal until the 1860s, with more substantial growth from the 1880s. Expansion continued into the early 1900s and then resumed in the post-war years. The population has been relatively stable since the early 1990s, a result of little change in dwelling stock and the average number of persons living in each dwelling.
During the Second World War, Rodney Reserve, at the Dover Heights clifftop, was used by the Royal Australian Air Force for coastal defence radar.
The CSIRO further used the site for pioneering experimentation in radio astronomy related to galactic radio emissions, with a team including John Gatenby Bolton first observing solar emissions in 1945.
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Notable houses:
With both cliff top and city views, Dover Heights has a number of homes of architectural interest which have received awards:
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The Butterfly House:
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The Moebius House:
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The Lighthouse:
(and see below).
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The Cliff Houe:
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Holman House:
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Vintage Pics:
Shore defence radar equipment, Dover Heights c1940
The first prototype of the Light Weight Air Warning radar (LW/AW) being assembled, Dover Heights 1942
RPL field station, Army Reserve, Dover Heights 18 February 1943
Barracluff's Ostrich Farm Auction Sale - Farm in Dover Heights where ostriches were reared to provide feathers for the fashion industry.
FUNNY FRIDAY
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Hello Byters.
Time is tight this time so all the humour is from the vault. Hope you find it enjoyable.
A caution: sa lot of risqué content included.
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A man received a notice from the tax office that he was being audited.
He asked his accountant what he should wear to the meeting with the tax office representative. The accountant said, "Wear your shabbiest clothing. Let them think you're poor."
The man asked his lawyer the same question. The lawyer said “No. No. Show them you're a successful professional. Wear your best suit and tie."
Confused, the man went to his rabbi and asked for advice.
"Let me tell you a story," the rabbi said.
"Last week I was to marry a young woman. She came to me and asked what she should wear to bed on her wedding night. Her mother had told her 'Wear a long flannel nightgown that goes right up to your neck. Make him realise how virtuous you are.' But her best friend said, 'Wear a sexy negligee.' My son, I am going to give you the same advice that I gave to her: ‘It doesn’t matter what you wear, you’re going to get fucked.’ “
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A small, elderly man slowly shuffled into an ice cream parlor and carefully pulled himself onto a stool at the counter, wincing the whole time.
After a moment of catching his breath and wiping his brow, he ordered a hot fudge sundae. Writing down his order, the waitress asked, "Crushed nuts?"
"No," he breathed wearily. "Rheumatism."
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A man attends confession and tells the priest that he used profane language while playing golf.
The priest asks him to explain the situation so he can decide on his punishment.
The man says “I sliced my drive badly into the trees”.
The priest says “And that’s when you swore.”
The man: “No, a rabbit picked up my ball and bounded away with it.”
Priest: “And that’s when you swore?”
Man: “No. An eagle swooped down, caught the rabbit and started flying away.”
Priest: “And that’s when you swore?”
Man: “No, Father, because the rabbit dropped the ball, it landed on the green and finished six inches from the hole."
Priest: “Don’t tell me you missed the fucking putt!!!”
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Two nuns are driving through the country when a little devil pops up and jumps on their bonnet.
One of the nuns is really nervous but the other says “Don't worry, wind down the window and show him your cross.”
So the nun winds down the window and calls out “Hey, shithead, get the fuck off my car!”
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Moses went back up the mountain and called to God: “Excuse me God. I just want to get this straight. The Arabs get the oil and we get to cut the ends off our what ??”
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A man was telling his neighbour, "I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art. It's perfect."
"Really," answered the neighbour. "What kind is it?"
"Twelve thirty."
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Sophia just got married, and being a traditional Italian was still a virgin. On her wedding night, staying at her mother's house, she was nervous. But mother reassured her. "Don't worry, Sophia. Luigi's a good man. Go upstairs, and he'll take care of you."
So up she went. When she got upstairs, Luigi took off his shirt and exposed his hairy chest. Sophia ran downstairs to her mother and says, "Mama, Mama, Luigi's got a big hairy chest."
"Don't worry, Sophia", says the mother, "All good men have hairy chests. Go upstairs. He'll take good care of you."
So, up she went again. When she got up in the bedroom, Luigi took off his pants exposing his hairy legs. Again Sophia ran downstairs to her mother. "Mama, Mama, Luigi took off his pants, and he's got hairy legs!"
"Don't worry. All good men have hairy legs. Luigi's a good man. Go upstairs, and he'll take good care of you."
So, up she went again. When she got up there, Luigi took off his socks, and on his left foot he was missing three toes. When Sophia saw this, she ran downstairs. "Mama, Mama, Luigi's got a foot and a half!"
"Stay here and stir the pasta", says the mother. "This is a job for Mama!"
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One day in Sunday school, the teacher was talking about Jesus to the kids.
"Bobby, where is Jesus?" asked the teacher.
"Jesus is in heaven." replied Bobby.
"Very good!" said the teacher.
The teacher then asked a little girl," Where is Jesus, Emily?"
Emily said innocently, "Jesus is in my heart!"
The teacher beamed at little Emily and said, "How very sweet."
The teacher now asked Timmy, "Timmy, where is Jesus?"
"Jesus is in my bathroom" he said assuredly.
"Please elaborate, Timmy” the teacher said.
Timmy then replied, "Well, every morning my Dad gets up, bangs on the bathroom door and yells ‘Jesus Christ, are you still in there?!!’ ”
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What is the difference between a wife and a girlfriend?
About 45 pounds.
What's the difference between a husband and a boyfriend?
45 minutes.
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My doctor wrote me a prescription for "dailysex"...
But the wife had to break it to me that it was actually for "dyslexia".
Did you hear about the dyslexic insomniac agnostic?
He stayed up all night wondering if there really is a dog.
What does DNA stand for?
National Dyslexics Association
Dyslexics of the world: UNTIE!
I came home from work tonight to find a note from my girlfriend which said, "I'm leaving you because you're so stupid and bigoted."
Well I'm not stupid, I'm just dyslexic.
And I can't help it if I have big toes.
Have you heard about the dyslexic devil worshipper who sold his soul to Santa?
I saw my friend stood outside the Doctor's today. He looked really worried and upset so I asked him, "What's the matter?"
He replied, "I've got the big C."
I was shocked. "What, cancer?" I asked.
"No, dyslexia."
These jokes are the property of the National Dyslexic Association.
All rights reversed.
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Some wordplay limericks . . .
An old couple living in Gloucester
Had a beautiful girl, but they loucester;
She fell from a yacht,
And never the spacht
Could be found where the cold waves had toucester.
A young man of Gloucester named Foucester,
Had a wife who ran off with a coucester.
He traced her to Leicester,
And tried to arreicester,
But in spite of these efforts he loucester.
"Worcester" is prounounced "Wooster":
There was a young lady of Worcester,
Who dreamt that a rooster seduced her.
She woke with a scream,
But 'twas only a dream,
A lump in the mattress had gorcester.
"Leicester" is pronounced "Lester":
At the bar in the old inn at Leicester
Was a beautiful bar-maid named Heicester;
She gave to each guest
Only what was the buest,
And they all, with one accord, bleicester.
"Salisbury" is also called "Sarem", the way that many people pronounce “Salisbury.” “Hants” is to the Brits a familiar abbreviation of "Hampshire":
There was a young vicar from Salisbury
Whose manners were quite halisbury-scalisbury.
He went around Hampshire
without any pampshire
'til his bishop compelled him to walisbury.
A Belgian place name "Bruges" is pronounced to rhyme with "huge".
There once was a duchess from Bruges
Whose vag was amazingly huge.
Said the King to this dame
As he thunderously came,
“Mon Dieu! Apres moi, le deluge!”
The phrase “Après moi, le déluge” (“After me, the deluge" or "After me, the flood!") is attributed to the King of France Louis XV (1710-1774).
There are two interpretations as to its meaning:
“After me the deluge will come”, meaning “After my reign, the nation will be plunged into chaos and destruction.”
“After me, let the deluge come (it can come, but it makes no difference to me).” In this second case, the speaker asserts that nothing that happens after his disappearance matters to him.
Classical scholars favour the second interpretation.
Fifteen years after the King’s death, the French Revolution (1789-1799) took place, which cost the life of his grandson and successor, Louis XVI.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
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