Pulitzer Prize for Photography, 1950

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Continuing the list of the winners of

• the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, from inception in 1942; and
• the World Press Photograph of the Year, from inception in 1955:

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Year:

1950

Award:

Pulitzer Prize for Photography

Photographer:

Bill Crouch, Oklahoma Tribune

Photograph:

“Near Collision at Air Show.”

Comments:

In front of 60,000 air show fans Chet Derby was performing stunts in a biplane. For the final stunt Derby was carrying out an upside down loop-the-loop, leaving a smoke trail which 3 B-29 Superfortresses were supposed to fly through.

Derby was an accomplished pilot having trained countless Army Air Corp pilots. At the time he was a crop duster and flew air shows for extra cash. He would do all sorts of stunts including a wing-walker.

His stunt on that day came 5 feet (2 metres) shy of ending his life as the B-29’s came in too early.

Bill Crouch was also a pilot and and an off duty attendee at the show. Crouch worked for The Oakland Tribune at the time and was taking pictures of the aerobatics. He was trying to get an artistic shot of the stunt plane Derby was flying.  He thought the smoke circles against the blue sky were interesting and wanted to include the plane. Crouch composed the shot as best he could when the B-29’s came screaming across the sky with their four engines each roaring at full power. With little time to spare he recomposed and took the above shot as Derby flew upside down and missed the wing of a B-29 by 5 feet.

The photo of the close call would be featured in Life Magazine and newspapers around the globe.

That photo won Crouch the 1950 Pulitzer Prize and Derby a reputation as an ace stunt pilot.

Derby would later say that the close call was not his closest. In a 1979 interview, he said that he was fortunate never to have had a bad accident.

John Henryism

Tonight, as part of last week’s Fathers Day gifts, my lads took me to the movies to see The Expendables 2.  That, however, is not the point of my comments. 

My oldest son, Thomas, was driving.  He had Hugh Laurie’s album Let Them Talk playing.  For those not familiar with Hugh Laurie, or for those who only know him as the actor who plays Dr House in the American TV hospital drama House, he is English, is a writer, actor and a talented muso.  Let Them Talk is a collection of blues classics and Laurie plays piano, guitar and sings lead vocals.  As an example, see and hear him sing and play Swanee River by clicking on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-qv87vXQzo

But that is also not the point of my post today.  One of the tracks playing was John Henry, or more correctly The Ballad of John Henry.  Hear/see Hugh Laurie’s version , with Irma Thomas, at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld2prmXsv1Q

That prompted me to tell Thomas that I had prepared a post some time ago about a syndrome known as John Henryism, but that I hadn’t gotten around to actually posting it on Bytes.  This, in turn, led to us discussing John Henry, so I said that I would post the item as the next Bytes item.

Here it is . . .

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In looking up something, I don’t remember what I was looking up, I became sidetracked by another item.  That’s one of the problems of the information super highway, becoming distracted by other items of interest, of travelling side roads off the super highway that take you to more and more side roads, diversion upon diversion that impact on time and productivity.

Which seems appropriate to the item which detoured me tonight.

Ever heard of John Henryism? I hadn’t, until I came across the term by accident.

Who is John Henry?

John Henry is an American folk hero, the subject of a song written by Woody Guthrie.  In the song John Henry, a steel driving man working for the railroad, is to be replaced by a steam powered machine that will in future drive the steel spikes securing the rails.  To save his job and those of his fellow workers, John Henry competes against the machine, beating the machine but dying in the process.

Hear the Johnny Cash version at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PI-t_-3fVI&feature=related

Part of the lyrics:

The captain said to John Henry
"Gonna bring that steam drill 'round.
Gonna bring that steam drill out on the job.
Gonna whop that steel on down. Down, Down.
Whop that steel on down."

John Henry told his captain,
"A man ain't nothin' but a man,
But before I let your steam drill beat me down,
I'd die with a hammer in my hand. Lord, Lord.
I'd dies with a hammer in my hand."

John Henry said to his shaker,
"Shaker, why don't you sing?
I'm throwin' thirty pounds from my hips on down.
Just listen to that cold steel ring. Lord, Lord.
Listen to that cold steel ring."

The man that invented the stream drill
Thought he was mighty fine,
But John Henry made fifteen feet;
The steam drill only made nine. Lord, Lord.
The steam drill only made nine.

John Henry hammered in the mountain
His hammer was striking fire.
But he worked so hard, he broke his poor heart.
He laid down his hammer and he died. Lord, Lord.
He laid down his hammer and he died.

Some more stuff about John Henry:

The legend of John Henry embodies a number of symbolic meanings:  the strength of the working class man, the struggle of man v machine, the exploitation of African Americans and the heroic individual who refuses to give up.

According to one writer:

“John Henry is a symbol of physical strength and endurance, of exploited labor, of the dignity of a human being against the degradations of the machine age, and of racial pride and solidarity. During World War II his image was used in U.S. government propaganda as a symbol of social tolerance and diversity.”

It has been claimed that the John Henry competition against the steam hammer took place during the construction of Big Bend tunnel near Talcott, West Virginia between 1869 and 1871.   Talcott holds a yearly festival named for Henry and a statue and memorial plaque have been placed along a highway south of Talcott as it crosses over the Big Bend tunnel:

The John Henry Memorial atop Big Bend Mountain at Talcott, West Virginia

So what is John Henrysim?

The term John Henryism, aka The John Henry Hypothesis, was coined by Sherman James in 1983.

According to one definition, it is a strategy for coping with prolonged exposure to stresses such as social discrimination by expending high levels of effort.  This then results in accumulating physiological costs.   

A simpler explanation is that it is what happens when you respond to social stresses by working extra hard. If, despite your hard work, those same stresses keep you from succeeding, then the effect can feed back into itself, pushing you to work even harder.   It then sets up a negative cycle.

Let’s make it even simpler.  Each of us have stresses and difficulties in our lives some more than others.  Most of us also believe that we have it within ourselves to overcome the stresses and difficulties by hard work and determination.

The problem is that not everyone has the means or resources to carry out that determination.  This can then make the person want to try even harder.

Some studies have found that African Americans with a strong desire to improve and overcome difficulties often found themselves frustrated by lower education levels.  It was theorised that this then caused medical ailments such as high blood pressure and hypertension.  Not all studies have backed this up and the John Henry Hypothesis has its critics as well as its supporters.

Sherman James developed a scale for measuring John Henryism based on rating agreement with a series of statements such as "When things don't go the way I want them to, that just makes me work even harder." Men who score higher on this scale generally have higher blood pressure than men with lower scores. This effect is strongest in those who are poorest.

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"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important."

-- Bertrand Russell

Funny Friday

  

Byter Charles sent me an email which included an item “Swearing at Work’.   Shortly thereafter my father in law, Noel, who has been mentioned in the last two Funny Fridays, rang me to offer another item he thought might be useful in the future, the Indian naming joke, a classic oldie but goodie.  That was enough of a sign for me, the Universe was telling me that this week’s theme should be ‘swearing’.  But be warned, risqué language and content follows:

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Dear Employees:

It has been brought to management's attention that some individuals throughout the company have been using foul language during the course of normal conversation with their colleagues.

Due to complaints received from some employees who may be easily offended, this type of language will no longer be tolerated.

We do, however, realise the critical importance of being able to accurately express your feelings when communicating with colleagues.

Therefore, a list of 13 new and innovative 'TRY SAYING' phrases have been provided so that proper exchange of ideas and information can continue in an effective manner.

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A Native American lad asks the tribe’s chief how he names the tribe’s children.  “When a papoose is born,” says the chief, “I enter the teepee and hold the child in my arms, then I walk outside and the first thing I see is what I name that child.  That is why your brother is named Lone Eagle and your sister is Moonlight on Water.  Why do you ask, Two Dogs Fucking?”

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A 5 year old is taken to school daily by her grandad. One day when he wasn’t feeling very well his wife took her. That night she told her parents that the ride to school with granny was very different. “What made it different?” asked her parents. “Well, gran and I didn’t see a single tosser, blind bastard, dick head, prick or wanker anywhere on the way to school today.”

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Corn Corner:

The little boy was caught swearing by his teacher.

"Johnny," she said, "you shouldn't use that kind of language. Where did you hear it?" 

"My daddy said it." Johnny responded. 

"Well, that doesn't matter," she explained, "you don't know what it means." 

"I do, too." Johnny corrected. "It means the car won't start."

Iconic Images

  

Self-portrait by Robert Cornelius, 1839.  

The above photograph by Robert Cornelius may look unremarkable but it is an iconic image, the first photographic portrait of a person to ever be made.

The photograph was taken outside his family business in Philadelphia.

Cornelius was a lamp maker, chemist, metallurgist, scientist, businessman and ventriloquist.  He was also an early experimenter in photography.

Cornelius's photograph was taken one year after the first photograph which contained a person,  that photo having been the subject of a previous Bytes post.  The earlier photograph (taken in Paris by Louis Daguerre) is a landscape which includes a man having his shoes shined, bottom left corner:

Cornelius took his photograph in the back of his father’s gas lamp importing business in Philadelphia by taking off the lens cap and sprinting to his seat, then remaining motionless for over a minute before covering the lens.

Cornelius would later operate two of the earliest photographic studios in the US, between 1841 and 1843, but as the popularity of photography grew and more photographers opened studios, Cornelius either lost interest or realised that he could make more money at the family gas and lighting company.

One of the oldest known photographic portraits of a female.  

The subject is Dorothy Catherine Draper, sister of NYU professor John Draper and model for the first US daguerreotype portrait of a woman.  It dates from 1839. In that year Draper, a professor of chemistry, built his own camera and made what may be the first human portrait taken in the United States, after a 65-second exposure. The sitter, his sister Dorothy Catherine Draper, had her face powdered with flour in an early attempt to accentuate contrasts.  (I have not been able to find any earlier photographic female portraits outside the US or any information about any such photographs).

Serjeant Sullivan

Another one for the lawyers. . .

In 1983 the House of Lords was debating the Occupier’s Liability Bill, which sought to provide that a duty of care was owed to trespassers in certain situations.  One of the Lords who spoke on the Bill was Lord Mishcon.  In his speech he referred to Serjeant Sullivan.

The Serjeants-at-Law were an order of barristers that were the oldest in England.  Dating back to 1300, the order was formally created by Henry 11 but their numbers began to decrease when Elizabeth 1 created the position of Queen’s Counsel.  No more Serjeants were created from 1873 when the Judicature Act came into force.  Lord Lindley (1828-1921) was the last English Serjeant-at-Law; A M Sullivan (1871-1959) was the last Irish Serjeant.

 A M Sullivan

From Lord Mishcon’s speech from Hansard:

Volenti non fit injuria is a maxim of our common law well known to lawyers. "If you voluntarily take a risk you cannot complain about an injury resulting from it", is a rough and ready translation. But there is also a maxim which clearly applies to the criminal trespasser (if I may so call him) and that is ex turpi causa non oritur action - ...  "no right of action stems from a wicked cause". These maxims, so beloved of lawyers, sometimes lead my profession into the pompous belief that the layman of necessity knows of them and understands them.

If I may digress, there is a classic and, I think, lovely story ascribed to the last of the great Irish Serjeants, Serjeant Sullivan, who was undaunted by any court before whom he appeared. On this occasion he was appearing in the Court of Appeal for an appellant workman in a workman's injury case. Said one of the learned Lord Justices: "Has your client never heard of the maxim, 'Volenti non fit injuria'?"—to which came the immediate reply in lovely Irish tones: "My Lord, in the small village in Antrim from which my client comes, it forms the sole topic of conversation."

A rose by any other name

  

As you can tell from the above, I am able to post pics again.  The problem was not with me or with my computer but with Blogger, the blog service provided by Google.  Apparently bloggers have been discussing the problem in various forums, it has been causing quite a few headaches. 

To make up for the lack of images I am going to reprint a further item from a recent Daily Mail,  it has some quite amusing pics to go with the story.  Enjoy . . .

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Welcome to the hilariously-named villages locals insist are lovelier than they sound

14 August 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188441/Shitterton-comes-list-Britains-worst-place-names-including-Pratts-Bottom-Crapstone-Slag-Lane--live-insist-lovely-place-live.html

The towns and idyllic hamlets of rural Britain have gone head to head in a new survey - to find the UK's most unfortunate place name. 

There were many contenders, but the tiny collection of homes known as Shitterton on the edge of the village of Bere Regis , has come out on top.

The tiny settlement between Dorchester and Poole beat the nearby valley of Scratchy Bottom, near Durdle Door in Dorset and Brokenwind in Aberdeenshire in the survey by www.findmypast.co.uk.

Britain's worst place name: Shitterton in Dorset has been voted the UK's most embarrassing place name

Fighting for the top spot: Shitterton even beat off competition from Crapstone in Devon

Picturesque: Sandy Balls, situated in the New Forest, was named after the dome-shaped gravel and known as Sandyballas during the reign of Henry VII

Shitterton is a very literal English translation of the village name recorded in Norman French in the 11th century Domesday Book as Scatera or Scetra which means a little town that is on the stream of a midden or sewer.

But Ian Ventham, chairman of Bere Regis Parish Council and proud Shitterton resident, said he does not find the name of the hamlet, with its long history, embarrassing.  The retired RNLI director added: 'It is a perfect rural hamlet with thatched cottages and idyllic Dorset countryside.  Those of us who live here are not the least bit embarrassed by it.'

Shitterton came above the nearby valley of Scratchy Bottom, named after the rugged and rough hollow, which was used as a location for the 1967 film

Rude place names: Slag Lane in Haydock , Merseyside, was also on the list. The name simply refers to the slag heaps that were formerly a characteristic of the area.

A small village in Kent called Pratts Bottom - Pratt coming from the Latin word Pratum meaning Meadow- was also in list

Shitterton hit the headlines in 2010 when residents got so fed up with pranksters stealing the standard road signs displaying the name that they clubbed together and bought a £680 one-and-a-half-tonne Purbeck stone version set in concrete.

According to the website, the valley of Scratchy Bottom is thought to take its name from the fact that it is a rough and rugged hollow.

Brokenwind was known as 'Broken Wynd' in the 19th century, with wynd, the website said, a Scots word for a narrow path that snakes or winds between two larger roads.

Ancient names: The name of the Gloucestershire village of Old Sodbury comes from corrupted Old English that would have meant ' The fortified village of Soppa' referring to a Roman fort

Back Passage in the city of London, close to Smithfield market and the Barbican, derives its name from the fact that it is a passageway running around the back row of a number of buildings allowing access to their rear entrances

All in the saying: Ugley, in Essex, is commonly pronounced as 'Usley '

Crapstone, a picturesque village on the western edge of Dartmoor in Devon, came fourth in the survey of 1,773 people, ahead of Golden Balls in Oxfordshire, Ugley in Essex, Crackpot in North Yorkshire, Backside in Aberdeenshire, Great Snoring in Norfolk and Happy Bottom in Dorset.

'If there were an Olympics for unlikely place names, Britain would surely be good for a medal, if not the gold', said Debra Chatfield, a family historian at findmypast.co.uk.  'In the course of researching their family history, people can discover that their ancestors came from somewhere with an unlikely, unfortunate or downright embarrassing name. Some people are unsettled to discover that their forebears came from somewhere called, say, Crackpot, Ugley or Happy Bottom.'

The town of North Piddle, in rural Worcestershire, got its name from the old English word piddle referring to a marsh or fen, which, overtime lent its name to the nearby stream Piddle Brook

Hooker Road in Norwich was named after William Jackson Hooker - a Botanist whose career eventually led him becoming Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew - who was born in Norwich in 1785

City Names: Sydney

SYDNEY

The City:

Sydney is the capital of the State of New South Wales.  The most populous city in Australia with a population of 4.6m as at June 2010, it is located around Sydney Harbour where the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are prominent landmarks.

The Founding:

In 1770 Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay at Kurnell.  It is not true that it was named after his exclamation “Far Kurnell”, although it is true that a trivia team of which I was a member used the words as its team name.  Cook claimed the country for England and the King, notably King George 111 (1738-1820) (as in “The Madness of King George”).  Cook also shot one of the local indigenous inhabitants during the visit:

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/australianacook-shoots-local.html

Eighteen years later King George sent Captain Arthur Phillip to Oz with 11 ships loaded with just over 1,000 soldiers and convicts (778 convicts - 192 women and 586 men) with the intention of turning the country into a penal dumping ground, the prisons and the rotting prison ship hulks in England having no room left. 

The Name:

Philip had been authorised to establish the intended penal colony by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Lord Sydney.  In reliance upon advice by botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who had accompanied Cook in 1770 (and after whom Botany Bay was named), Sydney had recommended that the colony be established at Botany Bay.  Phillip landed in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788 but found the soil poor and fresh water scarce.  He therefore went to the next inlet, Port Jackson, on 25 January 1788, the date now celebrated nationally as Australia Day and vilified by indigenous Australians as Invasion Day.  Phillip wrote to the Secretary of State: “I fixed on a cove that had the best spring of water and in which the ships can anchor… close to the shore… This cove I honoured with the name of Sydney.” Phillip originally named the colony New Albion, after the archaic and oldest name for Great Britain, but that was quickly abandoned when the names “Sydney” and “Sydney Cove” continued to be used to refer to the colony as well as the Cove.  Philip himself used those terms to head his official despatches to London.

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Reader Comment

Byter Jon sent me an email as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ykWbu2Gl0  

Otto, here’s a link to the most famous “Hail Mary” pass in recent times- oddly enough, the team was another Roman Catholic college- Boston College.

Thanks, Jon

More Great Moments in Court

One for the lawyers . . .

____________________

STARKE J: This is an appeal from the Chief Justice, which was argued by this court over nine days, with some occasional assistance from the learned and experienced Counsel who appeared for the parties. The evidence was taken and the matter argued before the Chief Justice in two days. The case involves two questions of no transcendent importance, which are capable of brief statement, and could have been exhaustively argued by the learned Counsel in a few hours.

-Federal Commissioner of Taxation v S Hoffnung & Co Ltd (1928) 42 CLR 39.

 ____________________

A judicial discussion in Australia’s High Court:

CALLINAN J: Mr Jackson, it seems to me that clearly the people at the party, including Ms Joslyn and Mr Berryman, went out with the intention of getting drunk.

MR JACKSON: It would be a big night, your Honour, big night.

CALLINAN J: With the intention of getting drunk and they fulfilled that intention.

MR JACKSON: Well, your Honour, young people sometimes – - -

KIRBY J: I just think “drunk” is a label and I am a little worried about – it is not necessary to put that label. It is just that they were sufficiently affected by alcohol to affect their capacity to drive.

MR JACKSON: Yes.

KIRBY J: “A drunk” has all sorts of baggage with it.

HAYNE J: Perhaps “hammered” is the more modern expression, Mr Jackson, or “well and truly hammered”.

MR JACKSON: I am indebted to your Honour.

KIRBY J: I do not know any of these expressions.

McHUGH J: No, no. Justice Hayne must live a very different life to the sort of life we lead.

KIRBY J: I have never heard that word “hammered” before, never. Not before this very minute.

-Joslyn v Berryman S122/2002 [2002] HCATrans 573 (8 November 2002).

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Master Funduk:

"McDonald is a decision by the Supreme Court of Alberta, Trial Division, now the Court of Queen's Bench. I am bound by decisions of judges of this Court unless they have been overruled by our Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court of Canada, or unless there are contrary decisions by judges of this court, in which case I would face a dilemma (which I could probably "solve" by ordering a trial of an issue).

Any legal system which has a judicial appeals process inherently creates a pecking order for the judiciary regarding where judicial decisions stand on the legal ladder.

I am bound by decisions of Queen's Bench judges, by decisions of the Alberta Court of Appeal and by decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. Very simply, Masters in Chambers of a superior trial court occupy the bottom rung of the superior courts judicial ladder.

I do not overrule decisions of a judge of this Court. The judicial pecking order does not permit little peckers to overrule big peckers. It is the other way around.

South Side Woodwork (1979) Ltd. v. R. C. Contracting Ltd. (1989), 95 A.R. 161 (Master Funduk)

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In the following Canadian case, A had lent B money, B had agreed to repay that loan and to pay interest.  A and B agreed for the interest to be paid in ways that enabled A to avoid declaring the interest and therefore avoid paying tax thereon.  After payment of interest for a period of time and repayment of part of the principal, B ceased paying.  A sued for the remaining principal and the outstanding interest.  The claim was dismissed on the basis that it was an illegal arrangement and therefore unenforceable.  Some comments by the judge, Quinn J:

"In this action, the parties sought to shed the cloak of criminality that they wore comfortably for more than a decade, only to find the vestments of the virtuous to be ill-fitting."

"With the exception of MacDonald and White, I have approached the credibility of the witnesses with apprehension and caution, for they are people who are well acquainted with falsehoods. After more than ten years of casual criminality, why should I think that they found God in my courtroom?"

"There are numerous other examples of Mary's contradictory and otherwise vague evidence as to the uses made of the lines of credit. I am left with a mash of transactions described by a tainted witness who appeared to be composing her answers on the fly.”

“Is it necessary to unduly anguish over balancing the interests of a collection of criminals?”

"I suspect that, of the many line of credit transactions, some were a smokescreen for instances of personal enrichment: Mary had mastered the methods of financial obfuscation."

And the unexpected (for the litigants) final paragraph of the judgment:

“A copy of these Reasons will be forwarded to the Crown Attorney at St. Catharines for whatever attention they may merit.”

Wojnarowski v Bomar Alarms Ltd 010 ONSC 273 (CanLII)

  ____________________

In 2006, Andrew McCormack, 20, was charged in Montana with burglary, having broken into premises and stolen a case of beer.  He pleaded guilty and, as part of the sentencing process, was asked to fill in a pre-sentence investigation report which included a question “Give your recommendation as to what you think the Court should do in this case.” McCormack cheekily replied “Like the Beetles say, ‘Let It Be.’”

District Court Judge Gregory Todd, 56, a Beatles fan, was not impressed.

He firstly corrected McCormack’s spelling:

“While I will not explore the epistemological or ontological overtones of your response, or even the syntactic of symbolic keys of your allusion, I will say Hey Jude, Do You Want to Know a Secret?  The greatest band in rock history spelled their name B-e-a-t-l-e-s.”

He then dealt with the sentencing:

“I interpret the meaning of your response to suggest that there should be no consequences for your actions and I should Let it Be so you can live in Strawberry Fields Forever.  Such reasoning is Here, There and Everywhere. It does not require a Magical Mystery Tour of interpretation to know The Word means leave it alone.  I trust we can all Come Together on that meaning.

If I were to overlook your actions and Let It Be, I would ignore that Day in the Life on April 21, 2006.  Evidently, earlier that night you said to yourself I Feel Fine while drinking beer.  Later, whether you wanted Money or were just trying to Act Naturally you became the Fool on the Hill on North 27th Street. As Mr Moonlight at 1.30am, you did not Think for Yourself but just focused on I, Me, Mine.  Because you didn't ask for Help, Wait for Something else or listen to your conscience saying Honey Don't, the victim later that day was Fixing a Hole in the glass door you broke.

After you stole the 18 pack of Old Milwaukee you decided it was time to Run For Your Life and Carry That Weight.  But when the witness said Baby it's You, the police responded I'll Get You and you had to admit that You Really Got a Hold on Me.  You were not able to Get Back home because of the Chains they put on you.  Although you hoped the police would say I Don't Want to Spoil the Party and We Can Work it Out, you were in Misery when they said you were a Bad Boy. When the police took you to jail, you experienced Something New as they said Hello Goodbye and you became a Nowhere Man.

Later when you thought about what you did you may have said I'll Cry Instead. Now you’re saying Let it Be instead of I'm a Loser.  As a result of your Hard Day's Night you are looking at a Ticket to Ride that Long and Winding Road to Deer Lodge.

Hopefully you can say both now and When I'm 64 that I Should Have Known Better."

______________________________________________________

Hail Mary Pass

 _______________________

 

I'm having trouble downloading pics again so this weekend will be a pics-free zone.  Sorry about that, as Maxwell Smart used to say, repeatedly.  I hope to have it fixed on Monday.

_______________________

 

Watching some past episodes of The Good Wife, I heard the term “Hail Mary Pass appeal” mentioned a few times.  This was in the context of the lawyers filing a last minute appeal to prevent one of their clients, who had been sentenced to death, being executed. They were racing against the clock so the Hail Mary aspect was obvious, a prayer for divine intervention.

I was intrigued enough by the term to look into it and discovered the following:

·      The term comes from American football where it refers to a long forward pass made in desperation near the end of the half or the end of the game, such pass having only a limited chance of success.

·      The expression dates back to 1922 when the Notre Dame team said Hail Mary prayers together before each of the three touchdowns scored.  After the game lineman Noble Kizer  exclaimed “Say, that Hail Mary is the best play we’ve got.”

·      Originally it referred to any desperation pass but gradually it came to mean a long desperation pass with little chance of success.

·      In 1940 the Daytona Beach Morning Journal used a headline “Orange Bowl: Hoyas Put Faith in ‘Hail Mary’ Pass’ ”..  The article explained that “A ‘Hail Mary’ pass, in the talk of the Washington eleven, is one that is thrown with a prayer because the odds against completion are big”

·      Although the term was originally used mainly within Catholic universities, particularly Notre Dame, it became more widespread in 1975 after Dallas Cowboy quarterback Rodger Staubach, a Roman Catholic, said of his game winning desperation pass at the end of the game “It was just a ‘Hail Mary’ pass; a very, very lucky play. ... I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary.”

·      The term "Hail Mary pass" has now become generalised to refer to any last-ditch effort with little chance of success.

·      In 1991 General Norman ("Stormin' Norman") Schwarzkopf, commander of Operation Desert Storm, likened his strategy of flanking Iraqi defenders (by sending his forces in a westward direction to get behind them) to a Hail Mary play. 

·       Senator Chuck Schumer referred to John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate in the 2008 presidential elections as a Hail Mary pass.

 

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