Trivia Bits 20 December

 

• Austin Friars, an Augustinian friary in the City of London, was the only friary in London to have its own prison, but became the focus of a scandal when an imprisoned friar died in 1525.
• American actor and martial artist Mark Dacascos is best known for his role in the TV series Iron Chef.
• It was for the 1993 film Philadelphia that Tom Hanks won a Best Actor Oscar and was directed by Jonathan Demme and co-starred Denzel Washington.
• In 2013, the Australian state of Queensland had a population of approximately 4.5 million.
• Mare Imbrium, which is Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon being one of the larger craters in the Solar System, which was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago with age estimates ranging from 3 billion to 4.5 billion years.
• Rallo Tubs is a character from the 2009 American adult animated sitcom TV series The Cleveland Show.
• White Fox Terrier Snowy, or as known in France, Milou, is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. With Snowy debuting in the first sequence of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, published in Le Petit Vingtième on 10 January 1929.
• Originating in Java, Indonesia, Satay is a dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce and may consist of diced or sliced chicken, goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, or tofu which are grilled or barbecued over a wood or charcoal fire, then served with various spicy seasonings.
• A frugivore is a fruit eater of any type of herbivore or omnivore where fruit is a preferred food type.
• The capital of the island nation of Samoa is Apia.
• Brihat Jataka, one of the five principal texts written by Indian astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer Varahamihira, is described as India's foremost astrological text and was written about 575 CE.
• In Morocco (1930), Marlene Dietrich famously became the first leading lady to kiss another woman on screen. The scene added to the movie at Marlene’s suggestion, was considered extremely provocative at the time but nevertheless escaped the censor’s scissors!
• Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in the South American country of Brazil.
• Ian Fleming's 1953 novel Casino Royale is set at the beginning of Bond's career as Agent 007, just as he is earning his licence to kill and was the first Bond novel.
• During a 1780s rebellion involving the holy city of Varanasi, Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India, took shelter in the Chunar.