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Soon after I set out to blog about famous people born on January 1, I began questioning the reliability of numerous websites. How could so many warriors including Atilla, William the Conqueror, Sitting Bull, and Joan of Arc all have New Year’s birthdays? What a coincidence that three of Henry VIII” s wives were born on January 1 – not to mention John Smith’s beloved bride, Pocahontas. These people came from tribal background’s where records were non-existent.  My mood brightened when I saw that Johannes Guttenberg, the inventor of the printing press was born on January 1,1400. Ah, if any people maintained good records, it would be those uber-organized Germans. However, further research found that Guttenberg’s birth date was circa 1394-1406. Out goes my meticulous German theory. I submit that none of those individuals were born on January 1.    Less flashy than Joan of Arc or Pocahontas are three Americans who legitimately have New Year’s birthdays: Hank Greenburg, JD Salinger, and J. Edgar Hoover.  Greenberg Hyman Greenberg was born on January 1,1911 in Greenwich Village. The son of Romanian Orthodox Jewish parents, “Hank” would become a prolific home run hitter for the Detroit Tigers. In 1938, “The Hebrew Hammer” led the league with 58 homers, the single season record for a right-handed batter. The record stood for 66 years before it was broken by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.  In 1940, Greenberg became the first American League player to register for America’s first peacetime draft. In 1942, he became the first player to volunteer for service in the Army Air Forces.  After a long career with Detroit, Greenberg played his final season (1947) with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That year he became one of the few players to publicly welcome Jackie Robinson to the majors. Robinson credited Greenberg with helping him through a very challenging first season. Greenberg later became a successful baseball front office executive and then an investment banker. Salinger Jerome David Salinger was born on January 1, 1919, in Manhattan. J.D. struggled to fit in at several high schools and his experiences became the basis for what has been called “the classic novel of adolescent rebellion”. After dropping out of Ursinus College and Columbia, he enlisted in the Army. He landed at Utah Beach on D-Day and saw action during the Battle of The Bulge. He became a very proficient interrogator of German prisoners due to his considerable foreign language skills.  Salinger’s masterwork “The Catcher in the Rye” was published in 1951 and still captivates readers worldwide. The story of young Holden Caufield has sold an estimated 50M copies. A 1979 study proclaimed that the book not only was the most censored book in America but simultaneously was the second most widely taught novel in public high schools (only topped by Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”). In the 1960s. Salinger moved to New Hampshire and lived a reclusive life until his 2010 death at the age of 91. There is speculation that he left voluminous unreleased material, but his estate has no comment thus far.  Hoover John Edgar Hoover was born on January 1, 1895. After graduating from George Washington University Law School, he was recruited by the Justice Department and served in the department’s Alien Enemy Bureau. In 1924, he was appointed Director of The Bureau of Investigation which would add the appellation “Federal” in 1935.  Hoover is credited with continually upgrading the FBI’s fingerprinting system and building essential partnerships with law enforcement agencies across America. He actively participated in the Bureau’s pursuit of notorious criminals such as John Dillinger and Al Capone.  Hoover frequently bragged about his dalliance with actress Dorothy Lamour, and he also had a romantic relationship with Ginger Roger’s mother. But there was always speculation about his relationship with FBI Associate Director, Clyde Tolson. The pair lunched together daily., vacationed together and even wore matching suits. Their relationship did not go unnoticed by the Mafia and that may be why Hoover mysteriously refused to recognize the existence of organized crime. Meanwhile, Hoover compiled dossiers on over 430,000 Americans including Marylin Monroe, Hellen Keller, The Grateful Dead, and Colonel Sanders.  Colonel Sanders?   Hope you have a great New Year.          .

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On December 19, 1999, Desmond Llewelyn was driving to a book signing in East Sussex, England when he swung out to the opposite lane to pass another car. The world famous “Q” from the James Bond movie franchise collided with an oncoming vehicle and died shortly after the crash. I remember the news story and thought “why would an 85-year-old man drive so recklessly”. We still don’t have an answer but luckily, we can always turn on a James Bond movie and see Q, the eccentric gadget man. The longest-recurring actor in the 007 franchise was born in South Wales In 1914. Llewelyn’s dreams of a law enforcement career were dashed when he failed the police exam. After considering a life in the clergy, he decided to try acting and was accepted to the Royal Academy for the Dramatic Arts. With the outbreak of World War II, he was commissioned as an officer in the British army and sent to France.  After a particularly savage battle, Llewelyn was captured by the Germans. He spent five years as a prisoner of war. After the war, Llewelyn returned to London and revived his career, eventually being cast as Q in 1963’s “From Russia with Love”. He performed in every Bond movie until 1973’s “Live and Let Die”. The producers wanted to get away from the franchise’s gadget orientation, however the public made such a fuss that Q was brought back for 1974’s “The Man with The Golden Gun”. In real life, Llewlyn was no Q, claiming: “I am hopeless with gadgets.  I can’t even get a ticket to work in one of those confounded machines on the London Underground. And I can hardly put on a kettle, let alone set a video”. Moneypenny Lois Maxwell’s brilliant portrayal as Miss Moneypenny made her a Bond fixture throughout the Sean Connery and Roger Moore eras. When she was fourteen, Lois left her home In Kitchener, Ontario and moved to England with the Canadian Army’s Entertainment Corps. She enrolled in The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she began a lifelong friendship with Roger Moore. Maxwell is second only to Llewelyn for the number of Bond appearances. She appeared in fourteen of the films, although her total combined screen time is roughly only seventeen minutes. Llewelyn appeared in 17 Bond films, yet his on-screen time is just over 30 minutes. And who does Lois think is the better Bond? “I always said I’d have Roger for a husband but Sean for a weekend lover”. Odd Job.   Few would argue that “Odd Job” is the greatest henchman of the Bond series. Born in Hawaii of Japanese descent, Toshiyuki Sakata won a Silver Medal in weightlifting at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Sakata become a professional wrestler, appearing under the name “Tosh Togo”. He came to the attention of Bond producers when they were casting for the key role of the mute Asian villain. Despite having no acting experience, Sakata’s steely gaze and powerful physique made him perfect for the role.  Favorite Bond Girls Urrsula Andress, the original “Bond Girl” left her home in Switzerland at age 17 and became a model in Rome. She began an affair with actor/director John Derek who left his family to marry the young beauty. He would eventually leave her for Linda Evens and then go on to marry Mary Cathleen Collins better known as Bo Derek. Andress’ only child was Dimitri, fathered by her longtime lover, Harry Hamlin. Dimitri’s godfather is Sean Connery. When “Goldfinger” producers cast Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore at age 39, she became the oldest actress to play the main Bond girl. Honor had been an original star of “The Avengers” and honed her martial arts skills on that classic show. Her judo expertise helped Blackman land the iconic role.  After flipping Connery in “Goldfinger” she authored a self-defense guide for women.   Oh, in case you were wondering, ‘Q” is short for quartermaster.    Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year. If you need a great gift for your favorite trivia buff, you’ll find direct links to buy my book “Get Smarter- Be Amazed” at www.tedcurtinstories.com

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December 6 is not only the birthday of my twin sisters Jan and Jody but is also the 70th birthday of the extremely unique comedian, Steven Wright. Although Jody and Jan can be very funny, I’m going to focus today on Monsieur Wright.  Steven got his start along with some other great comedians in the early 1980s at the Ding Ho Chinese Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Ding was an unlikely venue for comedy to thrive, but it became a hot spot for people who wanted a few laughs. Within just a few years the Ding launched the careers of Lenny Clarke, Jimmy Tingle, Bobcat Goldthwait, Denis Leary, Paula Poundstone and Steve Sweeney. In 1982, a producer for the Johhny Carson discovered Steven Wright at The Ding and booked him for the Tonight Show. Carson was absolutely floored by Wright’s nonsensical one-liners delivered in his classic deadpan style. Steven had many reengagements on the Tonight Show before he moved on to acting gigs, production ventures and God knows what else. Here are some of Steven’s classic observations: I intend to live forever – so far, so good. Change is inevitable except from vending machines. If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving isn’t for you.  The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.  Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.  I went to a restaurant that serves “breakfast at any time. So, I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance. A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking. I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn’t park anywhere near the place. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks. I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder. I almost had a psychic girlfriend, but she left me before we met. Drugs may lead to nowhere, but at least it’s the scenic route. How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink? The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard. It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it. If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong? Since light travels faster than sound, isn’t that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak? Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks? When I was in school the teachers told me practice makes perfect; then they told me nobody’s perfect, so I stopped practicing. What happens if you get scared half to death twice? There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.” Whose cruel idea was it for the word “lisp” to have an “s” in it? If it’s zero degrees outside today and it’s supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be? What’s another word for Thesaurus?” I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums. I saw a subliminal advertising executive, but only for a second. OK, so what’s the speed of dark. A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I’m afraid of widths. I got on this chairlift with this guy I didn’t know. We went halfway up the mountain without saying a word. Then he turned to me and said, “You know, this is the first time I’ve gone skiing in ten years.” I said, “Why did you take such a long time off?” He said, “I was in prison. Want to know why?” I said, “Not really.” He said, “I pushed a total stranger off a Ferris wheel.”    Have a great weekend. My book, “Get Smarter-Be Amazed” includes more words of wisdom from Steven Wright as well as George Carlin, Henny Youngman, Yogi Berra, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx and others. Go to www.tedcurtinstories.com to read reviews and connect to online booksellers. It’s a wonderful gift that will be embraced by its recipients.

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Once again as a public service I am providing useless factoids for the Thanksgiving table to keep the discussions uncontroversial. So, when you start hearing words like Trump or Zohran you can jump in and say “I read this interesting tidbit, the other day” The First Thanksgiving The Mayflower covered the 2750 journey from Southampton England to Plymouth at the tortuously slow speed of 2 MPH. The 101 passengers lived on the ship’s cramped 2,000 square foot/ 5.5-foot-high lower deck. The Pilgrims might have been Randy Newman’s inspiration for his 1970s hit, “Short People”. Over half of the voyage’s survivors died during the harsh 1620/1621 winter. In the Spring, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe met the surviving Pilgrims, most of whom were suffering from malnutrition. Squanto not only taught the settlers how to cultivate corn but also helped the Pilgrims forge an alliance with the Wampanoag tribe. As a sign of gratitude, the settlers invited the Native Americans to a three-day gathering that included hunting and fishing events.  Law of Compound Lineage  There are an estimated 35 million people worldwide who descended from the 101 Pilgrims. Mayflower scions include patricians like John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt and the two Presidents Bush. A less likely suspect is Clint Eastwood who is a descendant of Governor William Bradford. Alan Shephard, the first American in space, traced his roots to Richard Warren, one of the first settlers to encounter the local tribesmen. Norma Jeane Mortenson AKA Marilyn Monroe was a descendant of John Alden- yes that guy from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Courtship of Miles Standish”.  Random Food Facts The 736 million pounds of turkey that Americans eat on Thanksgiving approximates the weight of the Empire State Building. If you are feeling sluggish after finally pushing away from the table don’t blame the turkey. The tryptophan doesn’t really have an effect because it is countered by all the other amino acids contained in the meal. If you’re tired, it’s likely from all the preparation, socializing, and adult beverages Mageirocophobia is the fear of cooking  Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables  Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. The teabag was accidently invented by Thomas Sullivan in New York City in 1908. Efficiency-minded Americans quickly adopted the teabag, but they were not sold in Britain until the 1950s.  A can of tuna fish usually has a sell- by- date of 3 to 5 years but experts claim it will last much longer. They also claim a nine-year-old can shouldn’t go bad or even taste worse than one that is four years old. On the other hand, I suggest you occasionally check the sell-by-date on your mayonnaise jar.  If you put a can of Diet Coke in water, it will float but regular Coke will sink. Since the drinks’ formulas are a trade secret, we can only speculate that sugar causes the regular Coke to sink. Non-Food Trivia The cigarette lighter was invented in 1823  The match was invented three years later The female lion does ninety percent of the hunting. (I guess the males are too busy combing their manes) Amazing but ApparentlyTrue If you shuffle a pack of cards, it’s likely that the exact order has never existed before in the history of the universe. Cassandra Lee at McGill University explains “There are somewhere in the range of 8 x 1,067 ways to sort a deck of cards. To put that in perspective, even if someone could rearrange a deck of cards every second of the universe’s total existence, the universe would end before they would get even one billionth of the way to finding a repeat.” If that’s too much math to absorb, Ms. Lee has a more succinct explanation: “There are more ways to arrange a deck of cards than there are atoms on the earth.” Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. If you want an easy Christmas or Chanukah gift that will be greatly appreciated, order “Get Smarter-Be Amazed”. Go to www.tedcurtinstories.com for direct links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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November 7 marks the anniversary of the birth of Madame Marie Curie. Born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw in 1867, Maria graduated from high school at age fifteen but was denied admittance to Polish universities because of her gender. In 1891, Maria moved to Paris. After working as a governess, Mariia changed her name to the more French sounding, Marie and enrolled at The Sorbonne.  After earning top honors, she was awarded a scholarship. Having little money, Marie lived on bread, butter and tea and she was constantly fainting due to hunger.  Her poor eating habits and fainting episodes continued even after she became famous.   In 1895, Marie married fellow scientist Pierre Curie and the two began studies of the properties of uranium. The duo did not have a well-equipped laboratory but rather, a converted shed that was exposed to the elements. In 1898, in their dingy laboratory, Marie theorized that there must be another element causing uranium to be highly radioactive. The Curies extracted a black powder that was 330 times more radioactive than Uranium. Marie named the element Polonium in honor of her homeland. The couple soon became convinced that there was yet another substance that contributed to high levels of radioactivity.  After further experimentation, they discovered radium. These breakthroughs radically changed the understanding of the nature of matter and established the foundations of radioactivity. Marie coined the term “radioactivity” to describe the ability of certain elements to emit radiation without the need for an external source.  Their findings laid the foundation for the development of nuclear physics and the understanding of atomic structure. The Curies received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1903. A woman had never won the prize before, and the Nobel committee only agreed to honor Marie because her husband insisted. Three years later, Pierre suffered a gruesome death, after falling under the wheels of a horse drawn wagon. Marie refused a pension offered by the government but did accept The Sorbonne’s offer to take Pierre’s faculty position, thereby becoming the first woman professor at the university. In 1911, Marie was publicly shamed for carrying on a love affair with a fellow scientist and she fell into a deep depression. Albert Einstein who had met Marie at a scientific conference sent a letter of encouragement to her, writing “I have come to admire your intellect, your drive, and your honesty, and I consider myself lucky to have made your personal acquaintance”. World War I After observing the carnage on World War I battlefields, Marie designed mobile radiography units by installing Xray machines into cars. Twenty mobile units, all operated by women were deployed and 200 additional X-Ray machines were installed in field hospitals. It is estimated that one million lives were saved by this initiative. Marie also tried to sell her Nobel Prize and gold medals to help the war effort, but the French National Bank declined her offer. Radioactivity The Curies were driven by scientific advancement rather than money.  Accordingly, they did not patent the radium-isolation process.  Radium became such a hot commodity for traders and industrialists that the cost of a single gram grew to $100,000, preventing the Curies from buying the material for additional research. Still, Marie investigated the use of radiation to treat cancerous tumors. She and her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie laid the foundation for modern radiation therapy. They became the only mother-daughter pair to hold Nobel Prizes when Irene won the chemistry prize in 1935.  Pierre and Marie both died unaware that radioactive elements were damaging to their health. Their scientific papers are still radioactively contaminated and are preserved in lead-lined boxes. Marie actually kept a radium sample at her bedside as a nightlight.  Marie Curie, the only person to have won Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (Physics and Chemistry) died at the age of 67 from aplastic anemia caused by her prolonged exposure to radiation.  Einstein observed “she probably was the only person whom fame and money could not corrupt”. Have a great weekend. For a great holiday gift, check out my book, “Get Smarter-Be Amazed”. Go to www.tedcurtinstories.com for direct links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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“The Conqueror”, a big screen epic produced by Howard Hughes was released in 1957. It is considered one of the worst movies ever made, carrying a fantastically low IMDB rating of 3.4 on a 10-point scale.  What truly separates the movie from all others is that it was filmed in a location riddled with high levels of nuclear contamination. The unfortunate choice of locations may have resulted in the cancer deaths of 92 of the 220 people who worked on the set including Hollywood icons John Wayne and Susan Hayward.  Making a Bomb No, this paragraph isn’t about the construction of an atomic bomb but rather the crafting of a comically horrible movie. It was the story of a turbulent love affair between a Mongol warrior chief and the daughter of his worst enemy. The screenplay was written with Marlon Brando in mind for the lead. When John Wayne visited Dick Powell who had been assigned to direct “The Conqueror”, Powell expressed misgivings about the script. However, Wayne became enthralled with the story and despite Powell’s protestations said he wanted the lead role. Powell later said, “Who am I to turn down John Wayne?”. Years later, Wayne mused that the moral of the film was “not to make an ass of yourself trying to play parts you’re not suited for.” The Shooting  Hughes chose to film in St. George, Utah because its rustic scenery was thought to resemble Mongolia. St George was just over 100 miles downwind from the U.S. Military Nuclear Testing Site where eleven atomic bombs were exploded above ground in 1956. The average payload was between 30 to 45 kilotons, far more than the bomb that devastated Hiroshima. By the early 1950s it was known that nuclear blasts produce massive amounts of highly radioactive fallout. However, authorities labeled the area as safe even though abnormal levels of radiation had been detected. So, the show went on and when on-location filming wrapped up, Hughes shipped 60 tons of radioactive Utah dirt to his Hollywood studio so that reshoots would be realistic Fallout  Within a few years of filming “The Conqueror”, members of the cast and crew began experiencing various ailments. In 1963, Pedro Armendariz, a brilliant actor who appeared in over 100 films, was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer. Armendáriz promptly committed suicide at the age of 51.  That same year director Dick Powell succumbed to lymphatic cancer at the age of 53. The great Susan Hayward’s career ended in 1972 when she was diagnosed with skin, breast and uterine cancer. Three years later, she died of brain cancer at the age of 57.  That same year, two-time Golden Globe award winner, Agnes Moorehead died of uterine cancer at the age of 74. Costar and all-round badass Lee Van Cleef died of throat cancer in 1989 at the age of 72. Several hundred Shoshone Native Americans had been cast as Mongol warriors for “The Conqueror”. They were not included in the production’s cancer statistics however 1970s studies found that leukemia rates in the Shoshone Indians of the St. George area were five times higher than the rest of Utah.  John Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964 and had his left lung removed. This was about the time that the U.S. Surgeon General made the connection between cigarettes and cancer (although most people already suspected the link). Wayne was estimated to be a five pack a day man. As his “Conqueror” co-stars started to die, “The Duke” rejected the radiation theory and blamed his illness on cigarettes. He died of stomach cancer in 1979 at the age of 72. By the early 1970s, Howard Hughes became convinced that his decision to film in St. Geoge had resulted in the deaths of many innocent people. Racked by guilt, Hughes paid $12 million to buy all existing copies of the film. He then quit the film industry after a 30-year involvement.  Further Study If you are interested, a documentary about the infamous movie was released in 2023. The Conqueror-Hollywood Fallout has received excellent reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. It is available on Amazon Prime.  Have a great weekend.

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