TRIVIA BITS

 

• The "Nullarbor" in Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia is a Latin name; Null=No, Arbor=Trees.
• The "O" when used as a prefix in Irish surnames means "descendant of."
• The "Twelve Days of Christmas" gifts: A partridge in a pear tree, two turtledoves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold rings, six geese laying, seven swans swimming, eight maids milking, nine ladies dancing, ten lords leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming. (There are 364 gifts altogether)
• The "y" in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a "th" sound, not "y". The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England used the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y".
• The 180m sprint of the776 BC Olympics (the earliest recorded) was won by Coroebus .
• The 1970 World cup football match between El Savador and Honduras was so highly charged that it resulted in the two countries embarking on a 3 day war.
• The 1st Academy Awards ceremony to be telecast was the 25th, in 1953.
• The 1st Academy Awards were presented in 1927.
• The 1st annual Grammy Awards were awarded in 1959. The Record of the Year was "Volare" by Domenico Modugno, the Album of the Year was "Peter Gunn" by Henry Mancini and the winner of the best R&B performance was "Tequila" by Champs.
• The 1st CMA (Country Music Association) Awards, hosted by Sonny James and Bobbie Gentry, were presented at an awards banquet and show in 1967.