The famous bandleader vanished without trace en route to entertain Allied troops in 1944, but what happened to him? At the end of the 1930s, just as the Second World War was breaking out in Europe, Glen Miller’s band introduced America to the new, unique style of brass-band music they had been working on for …
To Chance Your Arm is to take an uncalculated risk, where the outcome is completely unknown. A blind bet, if you like. There are several suggestions for the origin of this saying, one being that military men, whose rank was displayed in the way of stripes on their sleeves, would take battlefield risks, which could …
Bob’s your Uncle is often used to describe something that is resolved in your favour without much effort such as ‘Just send the form in and Bob’s your uncle’. The phrase was in regular use in England from the 1890’s and comes from the promotion in 1886 of Arthur Balfour to Secretary of State for …
From the Author of the Internationally Bestselling Books – Red Herrings & White Elephants, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, Pop Goes the Weasel, They Laughed at Galileo: The Things That Your Teachers Didn’t Know, or Didn’t Want You to Know. Money for Old Rope – Part Two, is the second ‘best of’ …
This is the national anthem of the self-styled greatest nation on the planet and one of the better-known tunes in the world, the lyrics bursting with national pride and staunch heroism in the face of danger. – Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight’s …
Star-Spangled Banner – History of America’s most famous tune Read More »
Although many traditional pub names came about hundreds of years ago and need a bit of explaining, the world’s most famous bar is called, quite simply, Harry’s Bar, which sounds straightforward enough but there’s a quite a story behind it even so. The name has caught on, too: every Harry’s Bar you walk into throughout …
Auguste Escoffier (1846–1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and writer, a key figure in the development of modern French cuisine. In the 1880s, he formed a partnership with the equally celebrated César Ritz (founder of the Ritz Hotel in London), the two of them being called upon by Richard D’Oyly Carte (see sole Véronique) to …
Back in 1994 a Norwegian by the name of Trygve Bauge was found to be living illegally in the small town of Nederland in Colorado, seventeen miles west of the city of Boulder. State officials soon deported Bauge back to his hometown of Oslo in Norway and locals began discussing the popular Norwegian and his …
The Origins of Nautical & Military Phrases – Kindle Edition Buy Now From the Author of the Internationally Bestselling Red Herrings & White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, They Laughed at Galileo: Many times, during every single day, all of us will use what is known as …
