Yule Love This

With Christmas fast approaching, I thought we would look at the facts around this special time of year and see why we follow on the traditions that come with it.



It was once calculated that Santa Claus would have to visit 822 homes a second and travel at 650 miles a second to deliver all the presents on Christmas Eve.

Each year there are approximately 60 million Christmas trees grown in Europe each year.

According to biblical scholars, Jesus was most likely to have been born in a cave and not a barn as suggested in the bible.

Before turkeys were eaten at Christmas, the traditional meal was a pigs head and mustard.

You can actually eat most of a Christmas tree with the needles being a very good source of vitamin C.

Ever since 1947, London has been sent a Christmas tree yearly from Oslo to thank them for their help in the Second World War.

Although it has become folklore in many countries, Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer didn't first appear until 1939 when the story was published in a leaflet. The song of the same name was sung commercially by Harry Brannon on New York radio in 1949, shortly before it was released by Gene Autry as a chart topping single. The song also holds the record for being the only song in history to fall from the US singles chart after hitting #1.

We all know the story of Jesus being visited by three wise men, but the bible never confirms how many there were. In Matthews Gospel, it only mentions 'wise men'.

In Germany, Italy, Spain or Greece, workers are given a one month salary as a Christmas bonus by law.

The first ever Christmas cracker was created in 1847 by Tom Smith a London sweet maker who based it on the sweet wrapper design.

Although they have been reported to date back to Pagan tradition, but the first reference of a Christmas tree is in Germany in 1570.

Electric Christmas tree lights were invented by Edward Johnson in America in 1882.

Gold wrapped Christmas coins are given to commemorate St Nicholas who ave gold coins to the poor.

The Beatles hold the record for the most Christmas number 1 singles topping the chart in 1963, 1965 and 1967.

Having a robin on a Christmas card 150 years ago was considered a joke to mock postman who wore a red tunics.

The tradition of giving an orange at Christmas comes from 12th century nun who would give small socks filled with fruit and nuts to the poor.

Read More

Low Budget Doesn't Mean Low Takings

There have been many films over the years that have made astronomical amounts at the box office in comparison to the original shoe string budget they were made on.

This goes to show that you don't need millions of dollars to make the motion picture classic.

1979, a little known actor known as Mel Gibson quickly became a household name when he starred in Mad Max. At the time, nobody knew who is was and did not think that on a budget of around $650,000, it would be a hit. The film soon became one of the most popular Australain movies ever netting $100,000,000 at the box office and spawned a series of sequels and even a reboot.

Sometimes referred to as one of the original and classic horror movies, Halloween was released in 1978 and produced on a budget of just $325,000. It took $60,000,000 at the worldwide box office producing a new generation of movie goers who wanted to be scared at every turn.

Not all low budget films had a string of sequels milking the franchise. In 2004 a little known actor called John Heder played Napoleon Dynamite in the film of the same name. The coming of age film was produced with a small budget of just just $400,000 but scooped an impressive $46,000,000 during its cinema release.

Their are plenty of other films that have done the impressive with a small production value including The Blair Witch Project that was made for $60,000 and netted a whopping $248,000,000 at the box office.

In 2007, Paranormal Activity was released pulling in movie goers to watch a film made with CCTV and handheld camcorders. Taking a total of $193,000,000 worldwide, making the $15,000 production values look like pocket change.

This goes to show that you don't always need a giant production company or multi-million dollar special effects to get the people into cinema seats to watch a film.

Read More

They Are Much Older Than You Think

How many times do you watch a film or television program and say 'they look older than that'? You may be surprised that most people that you see through the moving pictures in your living room lie about their age.

Lets start with television, the first liar we will look at is Henry Winkler. Made famous for his role as 17 year old Arthur 'The Fonz' Fonzarelli in the 1970s sitcom Happy Days, Winkler was 12 years older than his character at an ancient (for a 17 year old) 29.

Staying in the 1970s, M*A*S*H star Gary Burghoff played 18 year old Walter Eugene O'Reilly when he was 32.

Fast forward to the 1990s, Beverly Hills 90210 actress Gabrielle Carteris was another 32 year old playing 18 year old Andrea Zuckerman.

Still in the 1990s, Friends was one of the most popular program's of the decade and started in 1994 with three guys and three girls all mid-20s struggling with life. The truth is, when the show started, Courtney Cox (Monica) was already 30 and Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) was 31.

The highly popular British sitcom The Inbetweeners is another good example of youthful actors. The shows main characters are four 16 year old boys played by actors in their 20s. The youngest of the four is James Buckley (Jay) who was 21 when the show first aired and the oldest being Joe Thomas (Simon) who was 25.

It's easy sometimes when you watch a TV show week after week to spot that someone is lying about their age but when you watch a film that drags you in, it's not so simple.

Going back to the 1970s, lets look at the movie Grease. There were so many age defying actors, they were closer to their 20 year reunion than their graduation. The main characters consisted of people aged 18, so you might think it's not so hard finding people around the right age. Well, lets start with Stockard Channing (pictured below) who played Rizzo. When the movie was released in 1978, she was 34 years old, and Michael Tucci who played Sonny was 32. When you think about it, they are nearly old enough to be their own parents.

Sticking in movie land, we move onto the 1980s where time travel is where you want to be, with non-other than Back To The Future. In 1985 the first instalment was released starring a 24 year old Michael J Fox as the 17 year old Marty McFly. This is not so bad, you might think. Jump ahead a few years and in 1990, Back To The Future Part III hit the big screens with a 29 year old Michael J Fox still playing the part of a 17 year old Marty McFly.

The list can go on for actors and actresses trying to keep hold of their youthful looks. Just remember, next time you watch a film or TV program and say "they don't look good for their age" just take a moment and think if the correct thing to say would be "they do look good for their age".

Read More

How Many Series Can You Name?

Ask anyone, and they would probably be able to name you at least one of the television series that is part of the longest running sci-fi franchise, but do you know them all?

Lets start at the beginning, Star Trek: The Original Series ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1969 with regular characters such as Captain James T Kirk (William Shatner), Mr Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr McCoy (DeForest Kelley) among many other familiar faces.

When Gene Roddenberry first presented the NBC Network with the show, they asked him to get rid of "the guy with the pointy ears" because they thought he had a satanic appearance. Thankfully, he ignored the request and Spock became an iconic science fiction character.

From 1973 to 1974, two seasons were made of the Star Trek: The Animated Series. This starred the voices of many of the actors from the original series but did not bare the expense of special effects. Every episode was later turned into a series of graphic novels called Star Trek Logs.

Fast forward 13 years and another show was on the air, Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in 1987 and ran for seven seasons until 1994. This was the most viewed of all the series with the final episode being watched by nearly 28 million viewers in the US.

Quick on the continuation of the franchise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was shown on television from 1993 to 1999. Although a long running show, the ratings dropped dramatically, possibly due to the advance in special effects or due to another Star Trek series being shown.

Star Trek: Voyager ran from 1995 to 2001 and was the first to have a female star as the Captain. It was also the first Star Trek TV series to use CGI for the exterior space shots instead of models.

The next instalment in the franchise was Star Trek: Enterprise starring Quantum Leap's Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer. A short-lived series, only showing for 4 seasons from 2001 to 2005 was the first since the Original Series to be cancelled by the network rather than the shows creators.

The final chapter in the TV part of the franchise is Star Trek: New Voyages. Starting in 2004, it continues the story from where William Shatner and company left off with the adventures of the Starship Enterprise and its crew. With an all new cast and original characters, it has never really taken off as a series with only 2 episodes in 2004, one in 2006 and one every 12-18 months later. It has been created as a non-official Star Trek series as it has come from the franchises new owners Paramount. The deal was struck between studio and production team that this would be a non-profit show.

Read More

Do You Know What The Biggest Selling Movie Soundtrack Is?

Throughout much of the 70's, 80's and 90's, movie soundtracks were very popular with films worth their weight in gold. But do you know what the biggest selling movie soundtrack of all time is?

Read More

Monumental

There are statues around the world used to depict great figures in history. These can be used to remember, pray to, or just admire, but which of these great monuments is the largest?

Read More

Burn The Burgers

There are many ways that you can burn calories without even having to think about it. Everything from doing the shopping to kissing your loved one can help lose those love handles. It's not all about pumping iron and running miles.

Read More

Stronger Than Strong

There are many animals out there that claim to be among the strongest, but which is truly the strongest of them all. In this article, we look at the strength of an animal compared to its body weight.

Read More

A Dozen Americans

It has been 40 years since man last stepped on the moon. 14th December 1972 was the date when Eugene Cernan and Harisson Schmitt left the moon and started their 5 day journey back to Earth.

Read More

Adolf Hitler - Man Of The Year

In January 1939, the Man Of The Year edition of Time Magazine was released and the award was given to The Nazi leader for the things he had done over the previous 12 months 'for better or for worse'.

Read More

How Many Stooges Were There?

Now, I'm not talking about the diabolical 2012 film, but the original series of comedy films from the 1930s to 1970s.

Read More

Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden & Whitney Houston?

Whitney Houston sold out arenas and had number ones across the globe, but never thought that she would have admirers like this. During his time in Middle Eastern politics, Saddam Hussein used Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' as a song to win over his followers for his 2002 re-election bid.

The late American singer, also had another admirer. None other than Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. This was revealed by author Kola Boof, who had a intimate love affair with the planner of the September 11th attacks.

Boof reveals in her book 'Diary Of A Lost Girl' how Bin Laden spoke on numerous occasions about wanting to meet the singer and convince her to become of his wives. This was a passion of his, although his beliefs forbid him to marry outside of his racial boundaries. He believed that she was a very 'Islamic' woman brainwashed by American culture and her husband Bobby Brown, whom he had spoken about having killed just to let Whitney 'free'.

Read More

Captain America Was Not One Of The Original Avengers

Ask any 10 year old boy who the original Avengers are and he would most likely say Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk. Well, they would be wrong.

Read More