|
Brass Monkey (colloquial Expression)
"Cold enough to freeze the balls off (or ''on'') a brass monkey" is a colloquial expression used by some English speakers to describe extremely cold weather. The reference to the testes (as the term ''balls'' is commonly understood to mean) of the brass monkey appears to be a 20th-century variant on the expression, prefigured by a range of references to other body parts, especially the nose and tail. History During the 19th and 20th centuries, small monkeys cast from the alloy brass were very common tourist souvenirs from China and Japan. They usually, but not always, came in a set of three representing the Three Wise Monkeys carved in wood above the Shrine of Tōshō-gū in Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan. These monkeys were often cast with all three in a single piece. In other sets they were made singly. Old brass monkeys of this type are collectors' items. Michael Quinion, advisor to ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' and author of the website ''World Wide Words'', writes, "it's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and ''Billy Budd, Billy Budd, Sailor'', a posthumously published novella. Although his reputation was not high at the time of his death, the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a #Melville revival and Melville studies, Melville revival, and ''Moby-Dick'' grew to be considered one of the great American novels. Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler ''Acushnet'', but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. ''Typee'', his first b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brass Monkey (cocktail)
Brass Monkey is a brand name of pre-mixed cocktails made by the Heublein Company. As with many lesser-known cocktails that are named after colloquial expressions, widely differing recipes share the same name. In the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, the Heublein Company produced the premixed cocktail labeled Brass Monkey. Heublein pre-mixed bottled cocktails were fairly inexpensive and provided a portable alternative to regular mixed drinks. Heublein was based in Stamford, Connecticut, and had production facilities in the Hartford, Connecticut, area. The Brass Monkey cocktail was available in bottles from half pint up to 750 ml. During the time Heublein produced Brass Monkey, liquor stores carried mostly beer, wine, and hard alcohol; very few premixed alternatives were available. Steve Doniger, an advertising executive, named the brand after an alleged World War II spy named H. E. Rasske. Allan Kaufman, who crafted a series of stories about the spy, created the ad campaign using an old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field (heraldry)
In heraldry, the background of the shield is called the '' field''. The field is usually composed of one or more tinctures (colours or metals) or furs. The field may be divided or may consist of a variegated pattern. In rare modern cases, the field or a subdivision thereof is not a tincture but is shown as a scene from a landscape, or, in the case of the 329th Fighter Group of the United States Air Force, blazoned as ''the sky proper''.''Air Force Combat Units of World War II'', p.210 Landscape fields are regarded by many heralds as unheraldic and debased, as they defy the heraldic ideal of simple, boldly-coloured images, and they cannot be consistently drawn from blazon. The arms of the Inveraray and District Community Council in Scotland have as a field ''In waves of the sea''. The correct language of heraldry is very flexible and virtually any image may be blazoned in a correct manner, for example "sky proper" might be blazoned simply ''Azure'' or ''bleu celeste'', whilst "w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold (color)
Gold, also called golden, is a color tone resembling the gold chemical element. The web color ''gold'' is sometimes referred to as ''golden'' to distinguish it from the color ''metallic gold''. The use of ''gold'' as a color term in traditional usage is more often applied to the color "metallic gold" (shown below). The first recorded use of ''golden'' as a color name in English was in 1300 to refer to the element gold. The word ''gold'' as a color name was first used in 1400 and in 1423 to refer to blond hair.Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 195 Metallic gold, such as in paint, is often called goldtone or gold tone, or gold ground when describing a solid gold background. In heraldry, the French word or is used. In model building, the color gold is different from brass. A shiny or metallic silvertone object can be painted with transparent yellow to obtain goldtone, something often done with Christmas decorations. Metallic gold ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cunard Line
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Bermuda. In 1839, Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the next year formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company in Glasgow with shipowner Sir George Burns together with Robert Napier, the famous Scottish steamship engine designer and builder, to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers on the Liverpool–Halifax–Boston route. For most of the next 30 years, Cunard held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganised as the Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd, to raise capital. In 1902, White Star joined the Ame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Lom
Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 years, he generally appeared in character roles, often portraying criminals or suave villains in his younger years, and professional men as he aged. Highly versatile, he proved a skilled comic actor in '' The Pink Panther'' franchise, as inspector Dreyfus. Lom was noted for his precise, elegant enunciation of English. He is best known for his roles in '' The Ladykillers'', '' The Pink Panther'' film series, ''War and Peace'' and the television series '' The Human Jungle''. Early life and education Lom was born in Prague to Karl Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru and Olga Gottlieb. His mother was of Jewish ancestry. His ancestor, Christian Schluderpacher, a burgher of Bozen, was ennobled in 1601. Lom's family were comfortable, but not grandly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carole Landis
Carole Landis (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American actress and singer. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 film ''One Million B.C.'' from United Artists. She was known as "The Ping Girl" and "The Chest" because of her curvy figure. Early life Landis was born on January 1, 1919, in Fairchild, Wisconsin, the youngest of five children of Clara (née Sentek), a Polish farmer's daughter, and Norwegian-American Alfred Ridste, a drifting railroad mechanic who abandoned the family after Landis's birth. According to Landis's biographer E. J. Fleming, circumstantial evidence supports that Landis was likely the biological child of her mother's second husband, Charles Fenner. Fenner left Landis's mother in April 1921 and remarried a few months later. In 1923, Landis's family moved to San Bernardino, California, where her mother worked menial jobs to suppo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carroll Levis
Carroll Richard Levis (March 15, 1910 – October 17, 1968) was a Canadian talent scout, impresario and radio and television broadcaster, mainly working in Britain. Biography Born in Toronto and brought up in Vancouver, he grew up wanting to be an actor, but held various jobs in movie theatres and as a deckhand before doing some work as a comedian and stage hypnotist. He began broadcasting as an announcer with CKWX in Vancouver. When working in Alberta, on one occasion he had time to fill in during a live broadcast and persuaded a boy in the audience to sing a song. Following a good listener reaction, he started a local radio talent show, ''Saturday Night Club of the Air'', and then a similar programme in Montreal. In 1935, he decided to move to England. He met radio producer Eric Maschwitz, and they developed a tour of British cities to find new talent. His touring stage shows attracted thousands of applicants from potential performers, as well as large theatre audiences, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brass Monkey (film)
''Brass Monkey'' is a 1948 British comedy thriller with musical asides, directed by Thornton Freeland. It stars Carroll Levis, a radio variety show host and talent scout (known as "Britain's favourite Canadian") and American actress Carole Landis in her last film. Also known as ''The Lucky Mascot'', the film features an early appearance by comic actor Terry-Thomas, playing himself. Though made in 1948, ''Brass Monkey'' wasn't released in the US until 1951. Plot Popular radio presenter Carroll Levis (playing himself), and Kay Sheldon (Carole Landis) find themselves entangled in a web of smuggling and murder. When a priceless "brass monkey" is stolen from a Japanese temple and smuggled into England, Levis encounters the eccentric Mr. Ryder-Harris (Ernest Thesiger), a Buddhist art connoisseur who's chasing the artefact, and will apparently stop at nothing to get it. The monkey is missing and suspicious murders are being committed in the hunt for its retrieval. With the help of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1864 - 1946)
Events January–March * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song "Beautiful Dreamer" is published in March. * January 16 – Denmark rejects an Austrian-Prussian ultimatum to repeal the Danish Constitution, which says that Schleswig-Holstein is part of Denmark. * January 21 – New Zealand Wars: The Tauranga campaign begins. * February – John Wisden publishes '' The Cricketer's Almanack for the year 1864'' in England; it will go on to become the major annual cricket reference publication. * February 1 – Danish-Prussian War (Second Schleswig War): 57,000 Austrian and Prussian troops cross the Eider River into Denmark. * February 15 – Heineken brewery founded in Netherlands. * February 17 – American Civil War: The tiny Confederate hand-propelled submarine ''H. L. Hunley'' sin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Gold (color)")
