The Liberator. Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), leader in the quest for Latin American independence; also, Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), Irish nationalist leader in the British House of Commons. The Hammer. Charles Martel (688-741?), Frankish ruler who stopped the Muslim invasion of Europe. The Upright. Abu Bakr (c. 573-634), the first Muslim caliph and successor to Muhammad. Mr….
The line is from English writer Alexander Pope’s poem An Essay on Criticism. It actually reads “A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
Henri Philippe Main (1856-1951) was a military hero in World War I and premier of France in 1940. In June of that year, he called for an armistice with Germany and became the “chief of state” of the puppet government at Vichy. After the war, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted…
Mongkut of Siam, the king in The King and I, had 9,000 wives and concubines. King Solomon, by contrast, had only 700.
The two men who laid the Mason-Dixon line gave it its name. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon laid the line sometime between 1763 and 1767 at 39°43’26” north latitude. Originally it was the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Later it marked the line between slave states and free states.
Lady Bird Johnson’s real name was Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson (b. 1912). The wife of President Lyndon Johnson got her nickname after the family cook called her “purty as a lady bird.”