Tag Archives: People

John F. Kennedy

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John F. Kennedy

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” – John F. Kennedy.

  • John F. Kennedy was the United States‘ 35th president, from January 1961 until his death in 1963.
  • ‘John F. Kennedy’ whose full name was ‘John Fitzgerald Kennedy’, was also known as ‘JFK’, ‘Jack’ and ‘Jack Kennedy’.
  • John F. Kennedy was born in the United States’ town Brookline, in Massachusetts, on 29 May, 1917, and was of Irish descent.
  • John F. Kennedy, as president, led the United States through the following events: Bay of Pigs Invasion, Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall construction, the Vietnam War, the African-American Civil Rights Movement and the Apollo Space Race.
  • John F. Kennedy came close to death a number of times during his life, contracted scarlet fever as a child, damaged a disk in his spine while playing football, had colitis, and during his time in office had Addison’s disease, hyperthyroidism and ongoing back pain.
John F Kennedy, Man, President, Male, United States, In Office, 1963, Oval Office, Colour, Ten Random Facts, Flickr
President John F Kennedy
Image courtesy of U.S. Embassy New Dehli /Flickr
  • John F. Kennedy worked in the US Navy from 1941, retiring as a lieutenant in 1945, and during that time he was in charge of a patrol torpedo boat that was split in two by a Japanese destroyer ramming into it, resulting in Kennedy earning a medal.
  • John F. Kennedy became involved in politics in 1946 after his politically orientated brother Joe was killed, first as a member for the United States House of Representatives, and later as a senator from 1953 to 1960.
  • John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas, in the United States, on 22 November, 1963, murdered by Lee Oswald, previously a US marine who had Soviet connections, who was then killed by Jack Ruby, an operator of a nightclub, two days later.
  • John F. Kennedy was a Pulitzer Prize winner, and at age 43, was the youngest US president to be elected, the first Catholic US president and the youngest US president to die at age 46.
  • John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953, and had four children, Arabella who was stillborn, Caroline who is still living, John who died in a plane crash in 1999 at age 38, and Patrick who died two days after birth.
Bibliography:
John F. Kennedy, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy
John F. Kennedy, n.d, The White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy

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The Beatles

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The Beatles

The Beatles are not insects, they’re humans.

  • The Beatles was a rock and pop band from England, active in 1960 to 1970.
  • The Beatles were also known as the ‘Fab Four’ and have been said to be the greatest band in the modern era.
  • It is believed that more than 600 million records of The Beatles have been sold, and they are the record holders for the ‘most number one hits on the Hot 100 chart’.
  • The Beatles have won 10 Grammy Awards, 15 Ivor Novello Awards and a Best Original Score Academy Award.
  • The Beatles started as a skiffle group with John Lennon in 1957, at age 16, and some of his schoolmates from Quarry Bank High School, who called themselves the ‘Quarrymen’, and included Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
The Beatles, Four, Signed, Picture, Square, Ten Random facts, Rock, Flickr
The Beatles
Image courtesy of IBiAFoddoAbbarad/Flickr
  • The group became ‘The Beatles’ in 1960, and underwent a series of name changes until their final name was settled upon, with some of the school members moving on and eventually Ringo Starr joining the group in 1962.
  • The Beatles became very popular from 1963 to 1966, singing on many tours and releasing many albums, starting with the single and debut album ‘Please, Please, Me’.
  • The Beatles stopped touring in 1966 due to a number of factors, that possibly included the criticism they received from the non-deliberate offensive comments and actions they made towards the United States and Philippines earlier in that year.
  • The Beatles where influenced by singers Little Richard and Elvis Presley, among others, who helped developed the band’s music and style.
  • The Beatles used guitar, voice and drums with sound effects, loops, vari-speeds and double tracking techniques to produce their music.
Bibliography:
The Beatles, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles
The Beatles, n.d, Last.fn, http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles

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Les Paul

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Les Paul

Ever heard of Les Paul?

  • Les Paul was a guitarist that worked particularly in the areas of jazz, blues and country, and invented some music related items.
  • Les Paul’s full name is Lester William Polsfuss and was born on 9 June, 1915, in Waukesha in USA’s Wisconsin.
  • Les Paul invented one of the first solid body electric guitars in 1940, and later had one named after him.
  • Les Paul is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and won two Grammy Awards in 2006.
  • Les Paul’s first instrument to learn was the harmonica, then the piano, followed by the guitar, and later he became a semi-professional guitarist, harmonica player and country singer by age thirteen.

Les Paul, Black, White, jazz, club, 2008, New York, Live, Ten Random Facts, Guitarist

Les Paul 2008
Image courtesy of Thomas Faivre-Duboz/Flickr
  • Les Paul originally had the stage names ‘Red Hot Red’ and ‘Rhubarb Red’, and was also known as ‘Wizard of Waukesha’.
  • At a young age, Les Paul invented a hands-free holder for a harmonica, that went around his neck that could be used while he was performing.
  • Les Paul met his second wife (he divorced his first wife Virginia Webb), Iris Summers, known as Mary Ford, in 1945, whom he married in 1949, but divorced in the early 1960s, just before Paul’s retirement.
  • Les Paul semi-retired in 1965, but still performed until his death, ending his life with 40 albums.
  • Les Paul nearly electrocuted himself in 1941, survived a major car accident in 1948, had significant heart surgery in 1987, suffered from arthritis, and eventually died on 12 August, 2009, age 94, due to pneumonia complications.
Bibliography: Les Paul, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul
Baker, Les Paul, So Much More Than A Guitar, 2014, The Les Paul Foundation, http://lespaulfoundation.org/about-les-paul.html

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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

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