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Wallace Reyburn
Wallace Macdonald Reyburn (3 July 1913 – 20 June 2001) was a New Zealand-born humourist author and rugby writer who was responsible for a number of well-known urban legends, including the widespread belief that the flush toilet was invented by Thomas Crapper and that the brassière was invented by Otto Titzling. Reyburn wrote several books, some humorous and some not, including on rugby and on the Canadian armed forces, as well as humorous yarns of pseudo-historical nonsense. Reyburn was also the editor of the Canadian magazine ''New Liberty'' before returning to the United Kingdom in 1950. Shortly before his death, he appeared in the ''Modern Marvels'' episode titled "Plumbing: The Arteries of Civilization", which was the 40th episode of the 7th season and aired 17 December 2000. Books * "Some of it was Fun" (1949) * ''Flushed With Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper'' (1969) * ''Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling and the Development of the Bra'' (1971) * "The Inferio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family member, often with horrifying, humorous, or cautionary elements. These legends can be entertaining but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects or entities. Urban legends may confirm moral standards, reflect prejudices, or be a way to make sense of societal anxieties. Urban legends in the past were most often circulated orally, but now can also be spread by any media. This includes newspapers, mobile news apps, e-mail, and most often, social media. Some urban legends have passed through the years/decades with only minor changes, in where the time period takes place. Generic urban legends are often altered to suit regional variations, but the lesson or moral remains majorly the same. Or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Crapper
Thomas Crapper (baptised 28 September 1836; died 27 January 1910) was an English plumber and businessman. He founded Thomas Crapper & Co in London, a plumbing equipment company. His notability with regard to toilets has often been overstated, mostly due to the publication in 1969 of a fictional biography by New Zealand satirist Wallace Reyburn. Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating ballcock. He improved the S-bend plumbing trap in 1880 by inventing the U-bend. The firm's lavatorial equipment was manufactured at premises in nearby Marlborough Road (now Draycott Avenue). The company owned the world's first bath, toilet and sink showroom in King's Road. Crapper was noted for the quality of his products and received several royal warrants. Manhole covers with Crapper's company's name on them in Westminster Abbey have become one of London's minor tourist attractions. Life Thomas Crapper was born in Thorne, West Riding of York ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Titzling
Otto Titzling is a fictional character who is apocryphally described as the inventor of the brassière in the 1971 book ''Bust-Up: The Uplifting Tale of Otto Titzling'', published by Macdonald in London and by Prentice-Hall in the USA. The name, a pun on "a two-tit sling", was invented by New Zealand humorist Wallace Reyburn in the 1970s. Since then, the name has appeared in the game ''Trivial Pursuit'' (believing the hoax, the game's makers listed "Otto Titzling" as the "correct answer" to the question of who invented the brassière), on the TV show Hollywood Squares in the late 1980s ( John Davidson's first two mispronunciations of the name had to be bleeped for broadcast), in the 1984 pornographic film ''Intimate Couples'' (in which Joanna acqueline Loriansreads the ''Trivial Pursuit'' card shortly before the climactic orgy scene),Fox, Scotty (director), ''Intimate Couples'' (VCX, 1984), at 1:18:30. in the 1988 movie ''Beaches'' (featuring the song "Otto Titsling" sung by Bette ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modern Marvels
''Modern Marvels'' is an American worldwide television series that formerly aired on the History Channel and is currently shown on Story Television. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in modern society. It is History's first and longest-running program. It was first aired on A&E on December 10, 1992 under the banner "Time Machine." The series began airing on the History Channel in 1995 under its current title. Introduction Distinct from other History Channel series, the introduction of ''Modern Marvels'' features visuals and sounds of a bolt being turned by a ratchet wrench, followed by a partially computer-generated sequence involving construction workers building and hanging the title. Production Bruce Nash is credited with creating the series. Don Cambou acted as executive producer on more than 350 episodes for Actuality Productions, the production company behind the series. ''Modern Marvels'' has produced over 650 one-hour episodes topics that in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph & Courier''. Considered a newspaper of record over ''The Times'' in the UK in the years up to 1997, ''The Telegraph'' generally has a reputation for high-quality journalism, and has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858. The paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, descending further until it withdrew from newspaper circulation audits in 2019, having declined almost 80%, from 1.4 million in 1980.United Newspapers PLC and Fleet Holdings PLC', Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1985), pp. 5–16. Its si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Humorists
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''Canadian''. Canada is a multilingual and multicultural society home to people of groups of many different ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants. Following the initial period of French and then the much larger British colonization, different waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-indigenous peoples took place over the course of nearly two centuries and continue today. Elements of Indigenous, French, British, and more recent immigrant customs, languages, and religions have combined to form the culture of Canada, and thus a Canadian identity. Canada has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic, and ec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1913 Births
Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the war. * January 13 – Edward Carson founds the (first) Ulster Volunteer Force, by unifying several existing loyalist militias to resist home rule for Ireland. * January 23 – 1913 Ottoman coup d'état: Ismail Enver comes to power. * January – Stalin (whose first article using this name is published this month) travels to Vienna to carry out research. Until he leaves on February 16 the city is home simultaneously to him, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito alongside Berg, Freud and Jung and Ludwig and Paul Wittgenstein. February * February 1 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal, having been rebuilt, reopens as the world's largest railroad station. * February 3 – The 16th Amendment to the United S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2001 Deaths
This is a list of deaths of notable people, organised by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in ) and then linked here. 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 See also * Lists of deaths by day The following pages, corresponding to the Gregorian calendar, list the historical events, births, deaths, and holidays and observances of the specified day of the year: Footnotes See also * Leap year * List of calendars * List of non-standard ... * Deaths by year {{DEFAULTSORT:deaths by year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Officers Of The Order Of The British Empire
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," from Latin ''officium'' "a service, a duty" the late Latin from ''officiarius'', meaning "official." Examples Ceremonial and other contexts *Officer, and/or Grand Officer, are both a grade, class, or rank of within certain chivalric orders and orders of merit, e.g. Legion of Honour (France), Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Holy See), Order of the British Empire ( UK), Order of Leopold (Belgium) *Great Officer of State *Merchant marine officer or licensed mariner *Officer of arms * Officer in The Salvation Army, and other state decorations Corporations * Bank officer *Corporate officer, a corporate title **Chief executive officer (CEO) **Chief financial officer (CFO) **Chief operating officer (COO) *Executive officer Education *Chief academic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
