Category Archives: Celebrities and Entertainment

Dictionary

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Dictionary

An excerpt from a dictionary:
fact (fakt) – noun
1. A thing that is known or proven to be true.

  • Dictionaries are typically a collection or book of words that usually give the definition, pronunciation, etymologies and/or phonetics of words.
  • Dictionaries are often dedicated to one or two particular languages of words and are generally alphabetically arranged.
  • The oldest dictionaries known to have existed were on stone tablets from the Semitic empire, around 2300 BC, which were discovered in Syria, West Asia, and were lists of words in both Akkadian and Sumerian languages.
  • The term ‘dictionary’ came from the word ‘dictionarius’ with the Latin meaning ‘of words’, which is believed to have been invented in 1220 by John of Garland (also known as Johannes de Garlandia), and English philologist.
  • The first reliable and significantly influential dictionary in English was called ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’ and also known as ‘Johnson’s Dictionary’, by writer Samuel Johnson of Great Britain, in 1755, who took nine years to complete the task single-handedly.

Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, Words, Words, Book, Ten Random Facts, Open

  • It wasn’t until 1884 that the next great dictionary was written and released in sections, known as the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ by Oxford University Press, which took until 1928 to be completed, and was then published in 12 volumes, that continues to be updated every three months, and is still considered to be the most comprehensive source on words in English.
  • Dictionaries are traditionally printed in book form but more recently are available digitally and via the internet.
  • There are two main types of dictionaries, specialised and defining, with the first a dictionary of technical words and the latter of simple, generally used words.
  • ‘Dictionaries’ are also known as ‘lexicons’, and ‘lexicography’ is the activity of compiling or writing a dictionary.
  • Comprehensive dictionaries generally contain all or most words in use in the language, however, most printed forms of a dictionary contain only the most generally used words to keep the book size and cost manageable, as comprehensive ones like the Oxford English Dictionary contain over 21, pages.
Bibliography:
Dictionary, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary
Our modern age has dictionaries of all kinds and sizes, 2014, Wyzant, http://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/english/etymology/words-mod-dictionaries

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Shirley Temple

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Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple: a very young star of the depression era.

  • Shirley Temple, born on 23 April, 1928, in Santa Monica, in the USA’s California, was a juvenile actress from three years old.
  • Shirley Temple married first in 1945 to John Agar, had a daughter, and divorced a few years later, and remarried in 1950 to Charles Black whom she was married to for 54 years until he died, the marriage of which produced a daughter and a son.
  • Shirley Temple was the ‘world’s number one box-office star’ for four years in a row; the first juvenile actress to win an Oscar (Juvenile Oscar), an award she received in 1935 for ‘outstanding contributions to screen entertainment’; and she also won other notable awards.
  • Shirley Temple is known for her star role in the film ‘The Little Princess’, in 1939, which was her first Technicolour movie, and she featured in at least 40 films in her 19 years as an actress.
  • Shirley Temple retired from acting in 1950 after starring in a number of consecutive low profit films, and after losing an acting spot in ‘Peter Pan’.

Young, juvenile actress, Black and White, Shirley Temple Black, Kid, Ten Random Facts, Flickr

Young Temple
Image courtesy of Gushi Soda/Flickr
  • Shirley Temple ventured into the political industry in 1967, and was the first Chief of Protocol of the United States to be female in gender, from 1976 to 1977.
  • Shirley Temple was one of the first famous women to announce their breast cancer to the public, being diagnosed in 1972 and announced in 1973.
  • Shirley Temple died from natural causes on 10 February, 2014, in California, at 85 years of age.
  • As an adult, Shirley Temple became a diplomat, which included work as a United States ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
  • As an actress, Shirley Temple generally worked for 20th Century Fox, as well as Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros studios.
Bibliography:
Shirley Temple, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Temple
Brumfield B, Famed former child actress Shirley Temple dies, 2014, CNN, http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/11/showbiz/hollywood-shirley-temple-death/
Shirley Temple: the superstar who had her childhood destroyed by Hollywood, 2008, Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-560626/Shirley-Temple-superstar-childhood-destroyed-Hollywood.html

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Nikola Tesla

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Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was an inventor of many ideas and less inventions.

  • Nikola Tesla was a Serbian American who was a renowned inventor for his AC (alternating current) electrical system, and he was also an engineer, physicist, futurist and author.
  • Nikola Tesla was born on 10 July, 1856 in Smiljan in the Austrian Empire, now Croatia, in Europe, and died quietly on 7 January 1943 in America’s New York, but was not discovered dead until the next day, by a maid.
  • Nikola Tesla was to be a priest, like his father, but when Tesla caught life-threatening cholera; his father promised he could go to an engineering university.
  • Nikola Tesla spent much of his life in the United States, and became a citizen of the country in 1891 at age 35, originally working for future rival Thomas Edison in the 1880s, but later working for himself.
  • Nikola Tesla had at least 278 official patents for some of his inventions, with many being improvements to technology, in areas of radio, magnetism and, particularly electricity, and he also experimented significantly with x-rays.

Nikola Tesla, Greyscale, Painting, Ten Random Facts, Inventor, Flickr

Tesla
Image courtesy of Theirry Ehrmann/Flickr

  • The SI unit (System of Units) of measurement for the strength of a magnetic field was named after Nikola Tesla, and is known as a ‘tesla’.
  • Although Nikola Tesla earned much money from his patents, Tesla experienced bankruptcy and died in debt, since much of his money was spent on new experiments.
  • Nikola Tesla was primarily 1.88 metres (6 feet 2 inch) in height, 64 kilograms (142 pounds) in weight, had a liking for pigeons, did not generally sleep longer than two hours a night, is believed to have had obsessive-compulsive disorder and a photographic memory, and died unmarried.
  • Nikola Tesla has a planet, ‘2244 Tesla’, and a crater named after him, and he also a number of other honours and memorials, including a monument that was unveiled in September 2013 in New York.
  • Nikola Tesla Memorial Centre opened in 2006, in his hometown in Croatia, featuring Tesla’s inventions, innovations, statues and even his ashes.
Bibliography:Nikola Tesla, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla
Vujovic L, Tesla’s Biography, 1998, Tesla Memorial Society of New York, http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm

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Play School (Australia)

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Play School (Australia)

“Open wide, … it’s Play School.”

  • Play School is an award winning television program, that has educational and entertainment content targeted at children in the preschool years, and is broadcasted at least once every weekday on multiple ABC, Australian Broadcasting Company channels.
  • The first Australian version of Play School was produced and broadcasted on 18 July, 1966, and was based on the same-named British program that began in 1964.
  • Play School generally features games, activities like craft and cooking, and songs, as well as telling the time, naming the day of the week, and looking through the window into ‘reality’.
  • In 2000, Play School commenced major changes to its set, such as making it more colourful and changing features such as the clock and the windows.
  • Play School won Logie’s Most Outstanding Children’s Program, in 1998, appeared in the Logie Hall Of Fame in 2006, and won Aria’s award for Best Children’s Album in 1997.

Play School, Graphic, Come and Play, Blocks, Logo, Little Ted, Jemimah, Cartoon, Ten Ranom Facts, ABC Australian TV Program

Logo
Image Courtesy of Play School
  • Play School have released 17 albums containing many popular songs, with many more featured on the program.
  • Play School is typically presented by two people, and has had more than 100 people featured as presenters on the program during its history.
  • Play School has a repertoire of over 4,500 episodes in over 45 years and 46 seasons, and is the second longest running children’s television show in the English-speaking world.
  • Play School features many different toys, with the main toys named Big Ted, Little Ted, Jemima and Humpty.
  • In a week, Play School, on estimate, is viewed by 4 out of 5 children under the age of six, at least once during that time.
Bibliography:
Play School (Australian TV Series), 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_School_(Australian_TV_series)
Taylor R, Play Schooling for 45 Years, 2011, Television.au, http://televisionau.com/2011/07/play-schooling-for-45-years.html

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             Playschool CDs

Michael W. Smith

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Michael W. Smith

“Change your world” – Michael W. Smith

  • Michael W. Smith is a singer-songwriter musician, who performs and writes popular Christian music, and he also plays piano, keyboard and guitar.
  • Michael W. Smith’s full name is Michael Whitaker Smith, and he was born on 7 October, 1957, in Kenova, West Virginia, United States.
  • Michael W. Smith has earned three Grammy Awards, 36 Dove Awards, 16 gold albums and six platinum albums.
  • Of Michael W. Smith’s albums, over 17 million have been sold, with 31 songs featured as number one on the Christian radio charts, and nine in the top 25 on the mainstream charts.
  • After high school, Michael W. Smith became addicted to alcohol and drugs, but he renewed is faith in 1979, and shook off the addictions during a tour with band ‘Higher Ground’.

Michael W Smith, Church Big Day Out, Sing, Ten Random Facts, Christan, Flickr

Michael W. Smith
Image courtesy of Paul Williams/Flickr
  • Michael W. Smith has written popular songs for Sandi Patty, Kathy Troccoli, Bill Gaither and Amy Grant, particularly in 1981 when he worked as a song writer.
  • Michael W. Smith produced his first album in 1983, and has released at least 23 more albums, including instrumental and worship albums.
  • Michael W. Smith founded the Rocketown club for teens, has been a member of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, a spokesperson in Compassion International and starred in the movie ‘The Second Chance’.
  • Michael W. Smith was married in 1981 to Deborah Davis and has five children by the names of Ryan, Whitney, Tyler, Anna and Emily.
  • Michael W. Smith has released ten videos and written thirteen books, and also contributed to a number of other works.
Bibliography:
Biography, n.d, Michael W. Smith, http://www.michaelwsmith.com/bio.html
Biography, n.d, Michael W. Smith.net, http://www.michaelwsmith.net/biography.html
Michael W. Smith, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Smith

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Michael W. Smith Songs

FOXTEL

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FOXTEL

“See something, feel something” – Slogan of FOXTEL

  • FOXTEL is a company that supplies customers with a payed television channel service; broadcasting in many Australian cities and towns.
  • FOXTEL is owned equally by Telstra and News Corp Australia, telecommunication and mass media companies respectively.
  • The name ‘FOXTEL’, was derived from a blend of ‘Fox’, from the original News Corporation’s Fox Broadcasting Company, and ‘tel’, from Telstra.
  • The most popular entertainment program broadcasted with FOXTEL is ‘The Simpsons’, with approximately 110,000 people watching the show each week night.
  • FOXTEL is the current holder of the record of the most views of a single program in one day on paid television, and set the record in 2007, 2011, and, most recently, with nearly 950,000 viewers, for the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

FOXTEL, Logo, Orange, 2012, copyright, Television, Ten Random Facts

Logo
Image courtesy of Foxtel
  • FOXTEL was formed in 1995, with 20 channels, broadcasted by Telstra, while the connections and channel negotiations were organised by News Corp.
  • In 2012, FOXTEL had over 1.68 million people subscribed to its service and 70% of homes in Australia would have been able to access the network once they had paid for the service.
  • FOXTEL was not permitted to include advertising during programs for the first two years of broadcasting, and still can not earn over 50% of its income via advertising.
  • FOXTEL broadcasts hundreds of different programs, and popular channels include entertainment, sport, documentaries and news.
  • In the 2009 to 2010 financial year, FOXTEL boasted an income of AUD$2.2 billion and a profit of AUD$258 million.
Bibliography:
Foxtel announces integration progress and earnings growth, 2012, FOXTEL, http://www.foxtel.com.au/about-foxtel/communications/foxtel-announces-progress-on-austar-integration-and-solid-ea-194907.htm
Foxtel, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxtel

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