Saturday, August 28, 2010

Answer of the Day
Who was Rolls Royce? Henry Royce was an engineer who manufactured his first automobiles in 1904. Charles Stewart Rolls, born on this date in 1877, was a bicycling and motoring enthusiast who imported one of the first cars into Wales. When he saw Royce's auto, he liked what he saw and approached Royce with a proposition. They reached an agreement that Royce would produce vehicles to be sold exclusively by Rolls, and they would call their company Rolls-Royce. The cars were considered so luxurious and well-made that the term "Rolls Royce" came to describe anything of exceptionally high quality. In 1914, the company began to produce airplane engines, which eventually became the main emphasis of its business. Charles Rolls proved to be the aviation industry's first British victim; he died at the age of 32 when the tail of the Wright Flyer he was piloting broke off during an aviation show in Bournemouth.

Quote
"Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway." — Warren Buffett

Word of the day

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Today's History

Martin Luther King, Jr., Delivering His 'I Have a Dream' Speech

• Scientific American: pop-science magazine began publication (1845)
• Peace Palace: the home of the International Court of Justice and other institutions was inaugurated in the Hague (1913)
• filibuster: the longest solo one — 24 hours, 18 minutes — began on this day by Sen. Strom Thurmond in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957 (1957)
• "Please Mr. Postman": song by the Marvelettes was released; it became the first Motown No. 1 (1961)
• "I have a dream": Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his famous civil rights speech at the Lincoln Memorial (1963)

Today's Birthdays

Jack Black

• Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821): America's first native-born saint
• Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990): developmental psychologist, The Uses of Enchantment
• Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996): ornithologist
• Lou Piniella (67): Chicago Cubs manager
• Rita Dove (58): first African-American US poet laureate; plus, writers Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) and Robertson Davies (1913-1995)
• Scott Hamilton (52): Olympic gold-medalist in figure skating
• Shania Twain (45): country music singer; plus, singer LeAnn Rimes (28)
• Jack Black (41): actor/musician, School of Rock, Tropic Thunder; also, actors Charles Boyer (1899-1978), Donald O'Connor (1925-2003), Ben Gazzara (80), Ken Jenkins (70), David Soul (67), Debra Mooney and Alice Playten (both 63), Daniel Stern (53), Emma Samms (50), Billy Boyd (42), Jason Priestley (41) and Carly Pope (30)