June 22 is Worldwide VW Beetle Day, and Tidbits joins the world in honoring everyone’s favorite bug!• For more than 80 years, the Volkswagen Beetle transported people here and there, the longest-produced vehicle in history. In the early 1930s, only one in 50 Germans owned a car, and an idea for a cheap, simple car […]
Since June 22 is Worldwide VW Beetle Day, it’s a great time to look into the making of “The Love Bug,” released in March of 1969. • In 1961, Gordon Buford published a short story called “Car, Boy, Girl” and shortly afterward, Walt Disney purchased the rights to it. Seven years later, “The Love Bug” […]
It’s been over 50 years since this blockbuster was released, and it still remains on the list of the greatest movies of all time. Tidbits visits the Old West with the facts on “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid.” • American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter William Goldman did research for eight years before penning his […]
• James Baldwin was a soldier during World War I and saw how effectively the German army used dogs. Dogs had been used to carry first aid to wounded soldiers, to run messages, and to help lay landlines. When World War II started, Baldwin petitioned Parliament to set up a program to use dogs for […]
• Alphonse Bertillon was born in France in 1853. His father was a noted physician and statistician who taught him methodology. • As a young adult, he went to work as a records clerk in the police department in Paris. One of his duties was to tediously copy down the physical descriptions of everyone who […]
Come along with Tidbits as we admire the intelligence of trees! A DISCOVERY • In 1630 a physician named Jean Baptista van Helmont went against the word of Aristotle, who insisted that trees grow by consuming soil. To prove this theory wrong, he planted a 5-lb. willow sapling in a pot containing exactly 200 lbs. […]
Planning a piñata for your next birthday? Tidbits presents the origins and meaning of this entertaining party activity. • Although we usually associate piñatas with Mexico, it’s likely they originated in China, where they were part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Those piñatas were shaped like cows, oxen, or buffalo, covered with colored paper, […]
“Cleopatra,” 1963’s highest-grossing film, was also one of the most expensive movies ever made. Tidbits has the facts and figures on the film that chronicles the life of this legendary queen. • The movie is the story of Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, born to Pharaoh Ptolemy XII around 69 BC. Upon her father’s death, […]
“Every cloud has a silver lining” goes the old saying. This week, Tidbits digs deep for the facts on this shiny metal. • We get the word silver from the old Anglo-Saxon word seolfor. Silver’s atomic number on the periodic table is 47, which denotes the number of protons found in the nucleus of its […]
• “ National Lampoon’s Animal House” is a comedy about a misfit group of fraternity members who challenge the authority of the dean of Faber College. Directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi, it was a surprise hit when it was released in 1978. • The movie was set to be filmed at the […]
