Ewan McGregor played the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star War’s episodes I, II and III. His uncle Denis Lawson played the fighter pilot Wedge in the first three Star Wars movies.
(Book – Empire Building: The Remarkable Real Life story of Star Wars – Gary Jenkins)
The L. Frank Baum story ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is really an allegory of the 1896 US Presidential election. The Tin Woodsman is the Industrial worker, the Scarecrow is the farmer, the Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan and the Wizard is William McKinley. There are several interesting web sites that deal with more of the “who’s who” and “why” of the story. VERY interesting.
(The Great Courses – The History of the United States)
Only 51% of parents say they have an ‘amicable’ relationship with their adult children.
(Magazine – Smithsonian October 2013)
Richard the Lionheart’s parents were Henry II (of Thomas Beckett fame or infamy) and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard spent most of his youth in Aquitaine (France) with his mother overseeing her estates. Henry II also ruled 2/3 of what is today modern France. Even though Richard would eventually be King of England he never learned English well enough to speak it.
(Book – Richard LionHeart – James A. Brundage)
Wasps feed mainly on other animals. About 100 million years ago bees evolved from wasps so that they take advantage of plants as a food source.
(The Great Courses – Major Transitions in Evolution)
At the beginning of the 21st century there were two elderly widows who married elderly Civil War veterans when they were very young and they were still collecting pensions from the Civil War.
(The Great Courses – The History of the United States)
During the Civil War when General McClellan’s northern troops make camp while they were in they south they automatically became the second largest city in the South. Only New Orleans had more people.
(The Great Courses – The History of the United States)
Slavery was gradually ended in the United States during the Civil War. At first Congress ended slavery in the US territories. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation only ended slavery in the Confederacy. It did not affect slavery in the border states which remained in the Union. Kentucky was an example of one of these states in which slavery was allowed to continue. The complete end of slavery did not occur in the United States until the ratification of the 13th amendment after the Civil War.
(The Great Courses – The History of the United States)
In the election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln didn’t get any votes in many southern states because he wasn’t even on the ballot but he still got 40% of the total vote and easily won the electoral vote because he carried almost every northern state.
(The Great Courses – The History of the United States)
Kenny Baker was the actor who was in the R2-D2 costume. Unfortunately it was so hard to control from the inside that many times it was just pulled along.
Perter Mayhew was C3PO and was constantly annoyed that people didn’t realize that it was a real actor and not just a robot. Lucas had intended on dubbing his lines with another actor but in the end kept his voice.
Dave Prowse was Darth Vadar and he did not realize that his character would be masked. He was also very unhappy when Lucas chose someone else (James Earl Jones) to say his lines. *** spoiler alert *** Lucas was so secretive about the surprise of Darth Vadar announcing that he was Luke’s father in The Empire Strikes Back that Dave did not find out until the movie premiered in the United States. He was NOT happy. (I also read somewhere else that James Earl Jones was surprised and shocked when he was given his lines for that scene).
(Book – Empire Building: The Remarkable Real Life story of Star Wars – Gary Jenkins)