| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” 21:12 - Dec 17 with 28910 views | colinallcars |
True ones please.
Samuel Goldwyn of Metro Goldwyn Mayer films is offically named Samuel Goldfish.
When he emigrated to the US from Poland, his actual name was Schmuel Goldfisz. The immigration officail misheard it as Samuel Goldfish which he remained for some years.
Notta Lotta People Know That. |  | | |  |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 12:49 - Jan 29 with 687 views | themodfather |
joe strummer was born john mellor, i think in Ankara, his dad was working for the govt/ foreign office |  | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:26 - Jan 29 with 614 views | MrSheen |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 00:08 - Jan 29 by hubble |
Mr Sheen's post about 'Neutral Moresnet' made me think of Konigsberg, another one of those geopolitical anomalies that not a lot of people know about (as Michael would say). Now known as Kaliningrad, it is the capital of the Russian province of the same name, that exists wholly outside of Russia, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic Coast. Must be weird living there. I read this about getting there by car:
"The road system is extensive in the Kaliningrad region; however, they are not always well-maintained, and sometimes it is hard to get around because of absence of signage indicating directions/destinations (especially in the city). On large roads, signs are displayed in Cyrillic and Roman letters.
"Driving rules are generally the same as in most European countries, but many do not follow the rules, especially during rush hour in the city. Beware of the traffic police because they like to stop foreigners and often expect bribes."
I'd quite like to visit it. [Post edited 29 Jan 0:14]
|
Russian Nationalists have been sabtre-rattling about the need for a "Kaliningrad Corridor" through Poland or Lithuania, particularly since the invasion of Ukraine. Some local traditions die hard.
There's a fascinating collection of weird border stories here, infuriatingly without maps! https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20171210-europes-strange-border-anomaly
Here's an entry for Baarle-Hertog, the mosaic of Belgium and Holland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog |  | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:29 - Jan 29 with 593 views | MrSheen |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 00:07 - Jan 29 by NewBee |
A footballing equivalent?
[Meanwhile] another largely forgotten national team emerged on what is now German territory. In July 1948, the Saarland FA (SFB) was formed in Sulzbach, near Saarbrucken. The Saarland is the relatively small area in southwestern Germany surrounded by Rhineland-Palatinate, Luxembourg and the French region Lorraine.
After the Second World War, the Saarland became an autonomous French protectorate. During the SFB's AGM in 1949, a vote was held over whether or not the association should join the French Football Federation. Although the Saar's government was in favour of the move, the members of the SFB voted to stay independent by a large majority.
And so, under president Hermann Neuberger and as an "association based in a country which is recognised by the United Nations as an independent state," the Saarland FA applied for FIFA membership in 1950. On June 22, the world governing body accepted this application, which means that the SFB became a proper FIFA member three months before the DFB did.
On Nov. 22, 1950, the country of 950,000 inhabitants played its first official international. Seven of the 11 starting players came from the Saarland's biggest club, Saarbrucken FC, three from Borussia Neunkirchen (a club that would spend three seasons in the Bundesliga in the 1960s), one from Ensdorf FC. They defeated Switzerland reserves 5-3. The Saarland's national manager was Auguste Jordan, an Austrian-born naturalised Frenchman who also coached Saarbrucken FC.
Jordan soon went back to France, to manage Racing Club, and so Neuberger needed a new coach who would guide the team through the qualifying games for the 1954 World Cup. He found his man in Wiesbaden, a city some 100 miles north-east of Saarbrucken. SV Wiesbaden, a club then in the second tier of German football, were coached by the former international and Dresden club legend Helmut Schon. When Neuberger offered Schon the job as national coach, the latter accepted.
When Schon's team travelled to Oslo to play Norway in the World Cup qualifiers, it was the first time they met not a reserve side but a proper national team. Neunkirchen forward Gerhard Siedl scored the winner as the Saarland came away with a 3-2 victory. The return match, watched by 40,000 in Saarbrucken, finished scoreless. Yet the Saarland didn't make it to the World Cup, because there was another team in this group -- none other than West Germany.
Who knows what would have happened if Siedl had scored in the first meeting, staged in Stuttgart. But Jupp Posipal cleared Siedl's ninth-minute effort off the line and the West Germans went on to win 3-0. (The return match in Saarbrucken was another close affair, but West Germany won again, 3-1, and travelled to the World Cup in Switzerland to make history and lift the trophy.)
After those qualifiers, the Saarland went on to play another nine internationals. The low point, in terms of naked results, was a 7-1 mauling at the hands of Uruguay in June 1954, the high point a creditable 1-1 in May 1956 against Switzerland's first team, which had held Brazil to a draw three weeks earlier.
The Saarland's final game was a 3-2 defeat in Amsterdam against the Netherlands on June 6, 1956. About eight months before this match, a referendum had been held in the Saarland [where[ the majority of Saar people said no -- in this case to plans of making the Saarland neither French nor German but an independent state under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The referendum was, in effect, a vote pro-Germany. On Jan. 1, 1957, the Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany. The SFB left FIFA with immediate effect and became a regional member association of the DFB.
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37403049/saarland-forgotten-internati |
Thanks for that, I saw Saarland had been in World Cup qualifiers in a book I had as a kid, but never realised they had beaten anyone. I checked straight away that the coach wasn't THE Helmut Schoen who won the World Cup in 1974...it wasn't. | | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:32 - Jan 29 with 575 views | MrSheen |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 12:49 - Jan 29 by themodfather |
joe strummer was born john mellor, i think in Ankara, his dad was working for the govt/ foreign office |
My daddy was a diplomat
He never hurt nobody
He just loved to ride on planes
And eat Ferrero Rocher [Post edited 29 Jan 13:48]
| | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:35 - Jan 29 with 553 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:32 - Jan 29 by MrSheen |
My daddy was a diplomat
He never hurt nobody
He just loved to ride on planes
And eat Ferrero Rocher [Post edited 29 Jan 13:48]
|
Dammit.
That's today's earworm. |  |
| |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:35 - Jan 29 with 551 views | GaryHaddock |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:32 - Jan 29 by MrSheen |
My daddy was a diplomat
He never hurt nobody
He just loved to ride on planes
And eat Ferrero Rocher [Post edited 29 Jan 13:48]
|
...and green space a flyover
https://marble-arch.london/news/joe-strummer-rain-gardens/ |  | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 14:12 - Jan 29 with 498 views | NewBee |
"Heroin" was originally just a commerical brand name for Diamorphine, which became generic, like eg Hoover.
It was legal in the USA and elsewhere, until progressively banned (eg USA in 1924, UK in 1920):
 | | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 14:17 - Jan 29 with 493 views | TheChef |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 14:12 - Jan 29 by NewBee |
"Heroin" was originally just a commerical brand name for Diamorphine, which became generic, like eg Hoover.
It was legal in the USA and elsewhere, until progressively banned (eg USA in 1924, UK in 1920):
|
Ah yes the cough sedative  |  |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 14:17 - Jan 29 with 490 views | DannyPaddox |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:29 - Jan 29 by MrSheen |
Thanks for that, I saw Saarland had been in World Cup qualifiers in a book I had as a kid, but never realised they had beaten anyone. I checked straight away that the coach wasn't THE Helmut Schoen who won the World Cup in 1974...it wasn't. |
We’ve got Saarland away last game of the season init |  | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 08:25 - Jan 30 with 275 views | Metallica_Hoop |
The tallest English monarch was Edward VI whose skeleton is 6ft 4 1/2. He would have been 6ft 7" in armour.
Charles II was 6ft 2" and wore high heels in the Frech fashion made fashionable by his sunny cousin Louis XIV who was 5ft 4". |  |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
| |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:14 - Jan 30 with 188 views | johann28 |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 08:25 - Jan 30 by Metallica_Hoop |
The tallest English monarch was Edward VI whose skeleton is 6ft 4 1/2. He would have been 6ft 7" in armour.
Charles II was 6ft 2" and wore high heels in the Frech fashion made fashionable by his sunny cousin Louis XIV who was 5ft 4". |
Sorry pedant's corner, I realise, but I think you meant Edward IV - Edward VI was the 'boy king'. |  | | |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 14:04 - Jan 30 with 141 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| How about a few “not a lot of people know thats” on 13:14 - Jan 30 by johann28 |
Sorry pedant's corner, I realise, but I think you meant Edward IV - Edward VI was the 'boy king'. |
Quite right my bad typing quickly. | |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
