Was a Royal Navy officer nominated for a high honor by a German ship captain during World War II?

There is something about this particular part of February that makes me long for spring. Is it the chill that permeates the air? Is it the fact that my electric bill is higher because of the cold? Is it the fact that baseball season seems light-years away?

Or is it just the fact that, being a kid from Chicago, I’ve about had enough of cool weather? Spring can’t get here fast enough to make me happy.

The nice thing is … spring is just a month away. Things thaw and warm up. Flowers bloom, birds sing, and the sap flows.

So do the saps.

And whilst we wait, how about some trivia to make the next week a little more bearable?

Did you know …

… you may be a sufferer of hippophobia? Hippophobia is not what you think – it does not mean a fear of hippopotamuses. Hippophobia is the fear of horses. (And before you ask, there isn’t a specific word for the fear of hippopotamuses, though there ought to be.)

… the motto of Hogwarts School for Wizards has a real meaning? The central location for action in the Harry Potter series of novels by J.K. Rowling (born 1965), Hogwarts’ motto is Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus. That’s Latin for “Never tickle a sleeping dragon.” (Which, if you ask me, is very good advice.)

… an Australian man once tried to sell New Zealand on eBay? The bidding jumped to $3,000 before eBay caught on to what was happening and shut the auction down.

… table knives have rounded ends for a reason? When the rounded table knives we know and use today were created by Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), in France, they were devised to put a stop to some really disgusting practices at the dinner table. The Cardinal noted that people were stabbing their sharp-pointed knives into the food, into the table, and occasionally into each other. Also, some unsavory characters would use the point of their knife to pick their teeth at the table. Richelieu devised the rounded knives in the 1630s to enable people to be more “civilized” while dining. In 1669, King Louis XIV (1638-1715) banned all pointed knives in France, and the rounded dinner knife gained even more popularity. (Shortly afterward, table manners were invented.)

… a British brewer supported its employees who chose to fight during World War I? The Guinness brewery paid each employee who enlisted half of his wages while he was away serving in the war, and each man’s job was guaranteed to him upon his return. In addition, the brewery sent regular “care” packages of chocolate and condensed milk. (But, sadly, no beer.)

… a Royal Navy officer received his country’s highest decoration, the Victoria Cross, on the recommendation of a German captain during World War II? On April 7, 1940, the HMS Glowworm, a Royal Navy destroyer under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Gerard Roope (1905-1940), encountered the German heavy cruiser Admiral von Hipper. The Hipper was captained by Kapitän zur See Hellmuth Heye (1895-1970). The two ships began to fight each other, and the Glowworm was hopelessly crippled – but not after giving the Hipper a tremendous fight. After Roope gave the command to “abandon ship,” the Glowworm sank. Roope was one of 111 members of the ship’s crew who died in the sinking, the survivors being picked up by Heye’s ship. Amazingly, after Heye had put his own ship in for repairs, he sent a recommendation via the Red Cross to the British War Office for Roope to receive the Victoria Cross for his courage in fighting against the Hipper … and Roope was posthumously awarded the medal in 1946, based on the German captain’s recommendation.

… the current Emperor of Japan can trace his ancestry back more than 100 generations? Naruhito (born 1960), who ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019, is the 126th direct descendant of the first Japanese emperor, Jimmu Tenno (660 BC-585 BC), though some scholars say Jimmu was more legend than man. (That’s a long, long, long line!)

… it is possible to see a rainbow at night? You just need two things – water droplets in the air and the Moon. Why the Moon? Because the Moon shines with light reflected from the Sun – which you need to see the rainbow in daylight. A rainbow seen at night is called a “moonbow.” (Wonder if there’s a pot of something at the end of the moonbow?)

… polar bears are one of the two largest bear species in the world? The other are the Kodiak bears. Both of them are denizens of the far frozen north. (And they like it there.)

… despite a popular belief, pregnant goldfish are not really called “twits”? That’s because a goldfish cannot be pregnant. Goldfish lay eggs.

… the electric automobile self-starter was invented for women? The device was created so women could drive a car without a companion – usually a man who was needed to hand-crank the engine. (I guess having to crank the engine by hand would make someone cranky, but what do I know?)

… the last U.S. state to declare Christmas a legal holiday was Oklahoma? The decision was made in 1907. (Bah, humbug, to you, too.)

… that blob of toothpaste sitting on your toothbrush has a name? It’s called a nurdle. (And your dentist loves it when you use your nurdle, too.)

Now … you know!

HHJ News