Did you know: A soccer player’s actions helped end civil war?

Now, fully immersed in the summer of 2024, let’s take a moment and enjoy the fun things in life.

Sunshine.  Warm weather.  Gainful employment.  Trivia.

Ah, you knew I’d mention trivia, didn’t you?  If you’ve been here for all 400+ columns, you know me very well by now.

If it weren’t for trivia, I might not be able to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather because I might not be gainfully employed.

See how it all fits?

Let’s make another fit right now … this week’s trivia, on tap for you!

Did you know …

… a popular 1970s television show was based on a real-life musical group?  In 1970, ABC premiered The Partridge Family, a situation comedy about a family that becomes a popular musical group.  The show, which lasted until 1974, was based on the real-life musical family the Cowsills, which was a popular band in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  That family too banded together (pardon the pun) to become hit recording artists.  (The Cowsills didn’t have Susan Dey, though, so the Partridge Family wins!)

… lions have a unique method of identification?  No, they don’t have fingerprints or stripe patterns, but they do have a whisker pattern, and no two lions have the same pattern.  (So when they tell you their ID, you know they ain’t lion.)

… Walt Disney alone didn’t create Mickey Mouse?  Of course, Disney (1901-1966) came up with the idea of the little rodent character, based on a mouse he saw crawling around the garage where he did his drawing.  But the actual sketching of the first Mickey (then called Mortimer) Mouse was done by an artist and animator named Ub Iwerks (1901-1971), who worked for Disney and sketched the character at Disney’s direction. (Nothing Mickey Mouse about that, not at all.)

… a popular song performed by the Muppets was originally written for a pornographic film?  Beloved by Muppet fans everywhere, the song “Mahna Mahna” was written in 1968 for an Italian soft-core porn movie titled Sweden: Heaven and Hell.  Composed by Piero Umiliani (1926-2001), it moved from that rather seedy beginning to being featured by the Muppets on Sesame Street and on The Ed Sullivan Show.  (I have a line here, but it would close the show.)

… a soccer player ended a civil war?  From 2002 to 2007, the African nation of Côte d’Ivoire, or Ivory Coast, was embroiled in a bitter civil war, as rebels and government loyalists fought.  Soccer player Didier Drogba (born 1978), a native of the country and a  striker for the Chelsea Football Club in England, pleaded with the warring factions to have a cease-fire, and amazingly, they agreed.  Drogba suggested a soccer match between Côte d’Ivoire and Madagascar, and that the match be held in the rebel capital of Bouake.  The game brought the entire country together for the first time in five years.  Government troops provided security, and it was remarkable that the troops were in the north of the country without any violence.  Following the game (which Côte d’Ivoire won, 5-0), the rebels and government military worked together to control the crowds.  The spirit of cooperation continued, and the civil war came to an end.  (The power of athletics to help the world!)

… a popular candy bar had to be sold in Britain under another name?  The much-loved Snickers™ candy bar, created in 1930 by candy maker Forrest Mars (1904-1999), was sold in the United Kingdom initially as the Marathon™ Bar.  The reason?  “Snickers” sounds a lot like “knickers,” which was colloquial British slang for someone’s underwear.  It was not until 1990 that the candy bar was sold under its original name in Britain.  Additional trivia note:  The Snickers bar is named after a favorite horse owned by the Mars family.  (It wouldn’t do to go into a store and ask for an underwear-named candy bar.)

… the earliest games of baseball had four basemen on the infield?  Not counting the shortstop, that is.  Between 1840 and 1850, “home base” and the “batter’s plate” were two different spots.  Early lineups included a fourth baseman as well as a catcher.  By 1850, though, the two were combined and the fourth baseman eliminated.  In those early days of the game, a fielder could also put a runner out by hitting him with a thrown ball, and there was originally no distinction between fair and foul balls.  (And you thought modern baseball could be confusing!)

… a President’s pet almost caused an international incident?  During his time in the White House, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) owned a bull terrier named Pete.  During a visit to the White House by French Ambassador Jules Jusserand (1855-1932), Pete reportedly chased the ambassador down a corridor and ultimately tore out the bottom of his pants.  That incident, which the French government was understandably piqued about, caused Pete to be exiled from the White House to the Roosevelt family home in Sagamore Hill, New York.  (TR, of course, just laughed the whole thing off.)

… a plant in Australia is extremely poisonous?  The gympie gympie bush is so poisonous, in fact, that brushing up against one can cause extreme pain for months, or even years.  The good news is that the plant is only found in Australia in the state of New South Wales, and also in the Molucca Islands and in Indonesia.  (Good.)

… white rhinoceroses are not white?  They are gray in color.  A critically endangered species, the white rhinoceros’ name is said to come from a mistranslation of the Dutch word wijd, which means “wide” in English.  Other theories debunk that, but there is no real explanation for why the gray rhino is called a “white” rhino.  (Color blindness?)

Now … you know!