Here’s a story about Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich, Champagne, and a bad quote. The actress liked her sparkles, that much is clear. A supposed Marlene Dietrich quote about Champagne is …..
Shirley Chisholm, unbought and unbossed. Has there been a better political slogan this side of “I Like Ike“? No, there hasn’t. I had always thought the “unbought and unbossed” reference …..
MLK’s vision for nonviolence included abolishing what he called triple evils – racism, poverty and militarism – and his anger at the Vietnam War led him to push for a broader agenda.
People magazine, getting ahead of the news, published this 100th birthday tribute to actress Betty White earlier this week. The issue date is January 10, 2022. Unfortunately, Betty White died …..
Betty White, the actress and entertainer whose working career spanned an astonishing nine decades, has died at age 99. She passed on Friday morning at her home in California; the …..
Both were daredevils in their own way. Evel Knievel jumped over buses and fountains on a souped-up motorcycle. Dr. bell hooks jumped over sexists and racists with her deep thinking …..
You’ve heard of Charles Van Doren, the poster boy for game show cheating in the 1950s. But have you heard of Elfrida von Nardroff? She won more than Van Doren …..
Happy Holidays With Bing and Frank, the special was called, and it aired on December 20, 1957. The conceit is that Bing Crosby drops in on Frank Sinatra on Christmas …..
We’re always here for fresh astronaut news, whether it’s an Apollo 11 anniversary or John Glenn outliving Phyllis Diller. Today’s astronaut story is in a more scientific vein: how to …..
I’m heartbroken. I’ve lost a dear friend and partner. I’m so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best – singing, …..
“May the Great Worm gnaw your vitals, and may your bones rot joint by little joint!” Here’s a wild story about General George Patton, hero (and also cancelled-in-his-own-time villain) of …..
Bob Dole — Congressman, Senate majority leader, and three-time presidential candidate — was also once a muscular young man. Bob Dole died this morning at age 98 after a lifetime …..
Here’s Japanese pop-punk band Shonen Knife playing their song “Sweet Christmas.” It’s one of their two big holiday songs, the other being the more-famous “Space Christmas.” Are you in the …..
Earlier we were speaking of the polio diagnosis of President Franklin Roosevelt. Now let’s chat a bit about the stamina of his wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. For years, Eleanor …..
You learn something new every day, and today we learned how future president Franklin D. Roosevelt got polio at age 39. Or how he probably got it: from the Boy …..
Will anyone ever be taller than Robert Wadlow? The small-town boy from Illinois was a whopping 8’11” tall — that’s right: eight feet, eleven inches — when he died in …..
Queen Elizabeth II has one less item on her plate: Barbados has become an independent republic. Musical star Rihanna and royal representative Prince Charles were on hand as Barbados cut …..
Here’s a fascinating little story about hotsy-totsy 20th-century artist Lucian Freud and a portrait he said he didn’t paint. In 1997, a Swiss art collector bought what he thought was …..
You might have assumed that the ill-fated ship the Edmund Fitzgerald was named for an old-timey sea captain or an Irish bartender or some other sailing-adjacent fellow. Not so! As …..
Here’s a wonderful interview with rocker Dave Grohl, courtesy of New York magazine. Grohl just got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a second time. This …..