19 January: Robert E Lee quotes

Robert E. (Edward) Lee, General and Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Army in the US Civil War was born on this date in 1807. 10 things he said.

1. The education of a man is never completed until he dies.

2. I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.

3. Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.

4. It is good that war is so horrible, or we might grow to like it.

5. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.

6. It's the loneliest feeling in the world-to find yourself standing up when everybody else is sitting down. To have everybody look at you and say, 'What's the matter with him?'

7. You must be careful how you walk and where you go, for there are those following you who will set their feet where yours are set.

8. What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbours, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.

9. Ideas are easy to conceive, less easy to execute.

10. It is easier to make our wishes conform to our means than to make our means conform to our wishes.

18 January: A Fistful of Dollars

On this date in 1967, Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood, premiered in Hollywood. 10 facts about the film.

1. It was the first of a trilogy, the other two parts being For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The three films are known as the Dollars Trilogy, or the Man with No Name Trilogy.

2. It’s a remake of a 1961 Japanese film called Yojimbo, which in turn was based on a 1929 novel called Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. The Japanese screenwriters, Akira Kurosawa and Ryûzô Kikushima sued the makers of A Fistful of Dollars which delayed its US release. Kurosawa and Kikushima won, and received 15% of the worldwide gross and exclusive distribution rights for Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.

3. Clint Eastwood stars as the Man with No Name, although he wasn’t the first choice. James Coburn was too expensive, Charles Bronson turned it down because he thought it was the "worst script I have ever seen." Richard Harrison declined the role, but suggested Leone consider someone from the TV show Rawhide. Sergio Leone offered the role to Eric Fleming, who turned it down but suggested his co-star Clint Eastwood. Having played a do-good hero in Rawhide for several years, Clint Eastwood jumped at the chance to play an anti-hero. Meanwhile, Leone was satisfied too, saying, "More than an actor, I needed a mask, and Eastwood, at that time, only had two expressions: with hat and no hat."

4. The Man With No Name is a bit of a misnomer as he is given one by Piripero the undertaker, which is also reflected in the credits. The name is “Joe”.

5. Eastwood was instrumental in creating the look of his character. He bought the black jeans from a sport shop on Hollywood Boulevard, the hat from a Santa Monica wardrobe firm and the trademark black cigars from a Beverly Hills store. Eastwood cut the cigars up to make them shorter. The boots were the same ones he wore in Rawhide. He found the poncho in Spain, and still has it. He says it has never been washed.

6. The Man With No Name has a cigar in his mouth for most of the movie. Clint Eastwood didn’t smoke and found the taste of the cigars disgusting, which is partly responsible for his surly attitude. His squint was caused by the sun and bright lights on set.

7. Marianne Koch played the role of Marisol had taken time out from studying to be a doctor in favour of acting. In 1971, she quit acting and went back to medical school, qualifying as a doctor in 1974. She worked as a specialist in her native Germany until 1997, and up until at least 2014 was hosting a medical advice programme on German radio.

8. The music was written by Ennio Morricone. Leone liked the Music so much that he often allowed scenes to go on for longer than intended so that the music could play out to its end.

9. The film was going to be called The Magnificent Stranger right up until just a few days before release. Nobody thought to tell Clint Eastwood about the title change, and so he had no idea that the positive buzz was about his film.

10. A scene of a dinner party 57 minutes in is a deliberate reference to Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper painting.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

17 January: St Anthony the Great

Today is the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. Anthony was born in Koma in Lower Egypt. His parents were wealthy. They died when he was about 20, leaving him all their property and responsibility for taking care of his sister.

2. Soon after that, he felt a call to put into practice Matthew 19: 21, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven." He gave away land to his neighbours and sold everything else, giving the proceeds to charity. He placed his sister in a nunnery and went off to live an ascetic life.

3. He is sometimes said to be the first person to live an ascetic life in the wilderness, but there were others before him. In fact, for the first few years he was the disciple of another hermit.

4. He’s also considered the father of monastic living. Although he isolated himself and refused to see the pilgrims who came to visit him, he had followers who set up camp near the old Roman fort Anthony lived in, and formed a community of sorts. Eventually he gave in to their requests for guidance and spent a few years teaching them. He wrote one of the first rule books for monasteries.

5. It’s said he ate nothing but Bread, Salt and Water, usually just once a day after sunset, and sometimes fasted for days at a time. When he emerged from his solitary home, however, he didn’t look emaciated but was a picture of health.

6. There are numerous legends about how the Devil tempted Anthony. He’s said to have battled, not only with boredom and laziness but with Devil sent hallucinations of women, and actual demons appearing as wild animals which would attack and nearly kill him.

7. His fame spread so far that Emperor Constantine once wrote to him and asked him to pray for himself and his family.

8. Saint Anthony is the patron of Animals, farmers, butchers, the poor, basket makers, brushmakers, gravediggers, and the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome.

9. He is often invoked against infectious skin diseases such as ergotism, erysipelas, and shingles, which were sometimes referred to as Saint Anthony's fire.

10. He lived to the grand old age of 105. When he sensed he would soon die, he left a will with his disciples regarding who should inherit his possessions: a staff and two sheepskin cloaks. He asked to be buried in a grave next to his cell.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

16 January: Disco

On this date in 1964 Whisky-A-Go-Go, US Discotheque, opened in Los Angeles. 10 facts about disco music.

1. Disco is a genre of dance Music that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife scene, especially among the African-American, Latino and gay communities.

2. The music is characterised by a beat known as Four-on-the-floor, which is played in 4/4 time and the bass drum is hit on every beat. Earl Young, drummer for the Trammps, is credited to have invented the disco beat.

3. Disco is short for discothèque, a French word which means "library of phonograph records". The word as a name for a type of dance club dates back as far as the 1940s when clubs often had to resort to playing records during the war rather than having live music.

4. The name Whisky-A-Go-Go comes from the French à gogo, meaning "in abundance", "galore".

5. The disco era is said to have started on Valentine's Day 1970 when a wealthy man in New York, David Mancuso, opened a club called The Loft.

6. Prior to disco, in order to have a night out dancing, it was necessary in most clubs to have a partner, and given this was the 50s and 60s, that partner would have to be of the opposite sex. People could dance to disco music by themselves or in a group – revolutionary at the time.

7. The first disco hit was Gloria Gaynor’s Never Can Say Goodbye in 1974, it being one of the first records mixed specifically to be played in a club.

8. The clubs themselves created a fun, buzzing energy by using strobe lights and disco balls, which have actually been around a lot longer than the music. Louis Bernard Woeste patented the “Myriad Reflector” in 1917, but the idea had possibly been around since the US civil war.

9. The genre wasn’t popular with everyone. Steve Dahl, a DJ at a rock radio station in Chicago, incited an anti disco event in 1979. He urged rock fans to bring disco records to a baseball match between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers, promising money off the price of the tickets to all who complied. The records were collected on the field and blown up to anti-disco chants.

10. Other famous names on the disco scene included Hot Chocolate, Donna Summer, Chic, Heatwave, The Village People, Yvonne Elliman and Thelma Houston. And not forgetting Rick Dees, who wrote the song Disco Duck and provided the voice of the duck. This record sold more than six million copies but Dees was paid a mere $50 for his contribution.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

15 January: Bagels

Today is National Bagel Day. 10 delicious facts about bagels:

1. The word “bagel” is derived from the German word “bougel,” meaning “bracelet,” which means that by definition, a bagel must be round with a hole in the Middle.

2. The hole serves useful purposes as well as being part of a defining shape. The hole increases the bagel’s surface area, which means it cooks faster and allows more crust to form. It also came in handy for the street sellers who used to place them on a wooden pole.

3. According to one legend, the bagel was invented in 1683 as a tribute to Polish king Jan Sobieski after he defended Vienna from Turkish conquest, shaped like a stirrup. However, bagels had been around for some years before that. The first mention of them dates back to 1610, in Krakow, Poland, which suggested bagels as a suitable gift for a woman who had just had a baby.

4. They arrived in America with Polish Jewish immigrants in the 1800s, many of whom settled in New York City, hence their popularity there.

5. Bagels are cooked differently to other breads. They are dipped in boiling water for approximately 3-5 minutes before being baked in the oven. Their quick preparation time is one reason they have become a staple in the Jewish community, because they make a quick and easy meal on a Saturday evening when the Sabbath ends.

6. The recipe was once strictly protected. An International Beigel Bakers' Union emerged in the early 1900s. Only the sons of existing members could join, and as an added security measure, they conducted most of their meetings in Yiddish. The union’s monopoly on bagels ended in the 1960s, when the automated bagel machine was invented.

7. The largest bagel ever was made in 2004 by Bruegger’s Bagels. It weighed 868lb. It required 1,100 pounds of dough, 900 gallons of water, and took 10 hours to bake.

8. There have even been bagels in space. In 2008 a Canadian astronaut called Gregory Chamitoff took 18 sesame bagels with him to the International Space Station as part of his personal allowance. They came from his cousin’s bakery in Montreal, which is another city where bagels are extremely popular.

9. There is a bagel Emoji which made it into the emoji lexicon in 2018. It first appeared as a plain bagel, but enough people complained that it should have cream cheese on it that Apple redesigned it to include the cheese.

10. In 2007, something called the Buzzed Bagel was invented, which is a bagel infused with as much caffeine as two cups of Coffee.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

14 January: Roberta Name Day

In Latvia, today is the name day for people called Roberta.

Roberta is a feminine version of Robert and Roberto. It is a Germanic name derived meaning "famous", "glorious", "godlike" and "bright", "shining", "light". 10 famous Robertas:

1. Roberta Flack: American jazz and folk singer who had hits with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Killing Me Softly with His Song, and Feel Like Makin' Love.

2. Roberta Kerr: English actress known for roles in British soap operas including Sally Haynes in Brookside, Wendy Crozier in Coronation Street and Jan Glover in Emmerdale.

3. Roberta Tubbs: from the animated series The Cleveland Show.

4. Roberta Vinci: Italian former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she is a Grand Slam champion having won all major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position.

5. Roberta Williams: American video game designer and writer, who co-founded Sierra On-Line with her husband, game developer Ken Williams. She is known for creating and maintaining the King's Quest series, as well as designing the full motion video game Phantasmagoria in 1995.

6. Roberta Leigh: British author, artist, composer and television producer. She wrote romance fiction and children's stories under the pseudonyms Roberta Leigh, Rachel Lindsay, Janey Scott and Rozella Lake.

7. Roberta Alexander: American operatic soprano.

8. Roberta Metsola: Maltese politician who has served as the president of the European Parliament since January 2022.

9. Roberta Wilson: American actress who appeared in several silent films.

10. Roberta Gellis: American writer of historical fiction, historical romance, and fantasy. She held master's degrees in both biochemistry and medieval literature.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

13 January: Casablanca

On this date in 1943, British prime minister Winston Churchill arrived in Casablanca for a war summit. 10 facts about Casablanca:

1. It’s the largest city in Morocco and its chief port. The urban area has a population of about 3.2 million.

2. It is located on the Atlantic coast of the Chaouia plains in central-western Morocco.

3. It’s different from other large cities in that it doesn’t have a river running through it. The nearest river is Oum Rabia, 70 km (43.50 miles) away. There is a small seasonal creek called oued Bouskoura. This used to flow to the ocean but most of it has been covered by the growth of the city and only a small part of it is visible.

4. The first settlement at what is now Casablanca was a Berber village called Anfa, which pirates used as a base from which to attack Christian ships. This settlement was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1468. They came back in 1515 and built a new town called Casa Branca, which translates as “White House”.

5. An earthquake in 1755 devastated the area, but in the late 18^th century it was rebuilt by sultan Sīdī Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh who renamed it "ad-Dār al-Bayḍā” which is ‘White House” in Arabic. The modern western name Casablanca is Spanish and dates from the time when it was part of a trade route from Spain.

6. Casablanca’s main tourist attraction is The Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Africa, and indeed, the world.

7. Aside from the coast, the only natural attraction is the Bouskoura forest, although since it was planted in the 20^th century, is that truly natural? The forest consists mostly of eucalyptus, palm, and pine trees.

8. Churchill’s visit in 1943 was for the Anfa Conference (also called the Casablanca Conference) in which he met with US President Franklin D Roosevelt to discuss the progress of the war. French generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud also attended, mainly as observers.

9. Casablanca is twinned with: Bordeaux, France; Busan, South Korea; Chicago, United States; Dakar, Senegal; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Muscat, Oman; Nouadhibou, Mauritania and Shanghai, China.

10. The 1942 American film Casablanca wasn’t filmed there, but in the United States. However, it had a lasting effect on the city’s image. There is a Rick’s Cafe in the city, which was inspired by the movie and opened in 2004.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/