Betty White Joins the 99 Club, Alas
Betty White, the actress and entertainer whose working career spanned an astonishing nine decades, has died at age 99. She passed on Friday morning at her home in California; the …..
Yearly Archive: 2021
bell hooks outlived Evel Knievel
Both were daredevils in their own way. Evel Knievel jumped over buses and fountains on a souped-up motorcycle. Dr. bell hooks jumped over sexists and racists with her deep thinking …..
Elfrida von Nardroff is Dead: Won More Than Charles Van Doren on Rigged Game Show
You’ve heard of Charles Van Doren, the poster boy for game show cheating in the 1950s. But have you heard of Elfrida von Nardroff? She won more than Van Doren …..
Frank Sinatra’s Christmas Special (and his Blue Suit)
Happy Holidays With Bing and Frank, the special was called, and it aired on December 20, 1957. The conceit is that Bing Crosby drops in on Frank Sinatra on Christmas …..
New Astronaut Sleeping Bag Prevents Old Astronaut Eye-squashing
We’re always here for fresh astronaut news, whether it’s an Apollo 11 anniversary or John Glenn outliving Phyllis Diller. Today’s astronaut story is in a more scientific vein: how to …..
Micky Dolenz is the Last Monkee Standing
I’m heartbroken. I’ve lost a dear friend and partner. I’m so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best – singing, …..
George Patton’s Widow Put a Deadly Hawaiian Curse on his Mistress
“May the Great Worm gnaw your vitals, and may your bones rot joint by little joint!” Here’s a wild story about General George Patton, hard-driving hero (and cancelled-in-his-own-time villain) of …..
Bob Dole Lost 70 Pounds of Pure Muscle After World War II
Bob Dole — Congressman, Senate majority leader, and three-time presidential candidate — was also once a muscular young man. Bob Dole died this morning at age 98 after a lifetime …..
A “Punk” Christmas With Shonen Knife
Here’s Japanese pop-punk band Shonen Knife playing their song “Sweet Christmas.” It’s one of their two big holiday songs, the other being the more-famous “Space Christmas.” Are you in the …..
Eleanor Roosevelt Wrote a Daily Newspaper Column for 25 Years
Earlier we were speaking of the polio diagnosis of President Franklin Roosevelt. Now let’s chat a bit about the stamina of his wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. For years, Eleanor …..
FDR Probably Got Polio at a Boy Scout Jamboree
You learn something new every day, and today we learned how future president Franklin D. Roosevelt got polio at age 39. Or how he probably got it: from the Boy …..
Will Robert Wadlow Always Be the World’s Tallest Man?
Will anyone ever be taller than Robert Wadlow? The small-town boy from Illinois was a whopping 8’11” tall — that’s right: eight feet, eleven inches — when he died in …..
Rihanna is In, Queen Elizabeth is Out as Barbados Declares Independence
Queen Elizabeth II has one less item on her plate: Barbados has become an independent republic. Musical star Rihanna and royal representative Prince Charles were on hand as Barbados cut …..
Lucian Freud Painting That Lucian Freud Denied Painting Was Painted by Lucian Freud
Here’s a fascinating little story about hotsy-totsy 20th-century artist Lucian Freud and a portrait he said he didn’t paint. In 1997, a Swiss art collector bought what he thought was …..
Edmund Fitzgerald was Alive When the Edmund Fitzgerald Sank
You might have assumed that the ill-fated ship the Edmund Fitzgerald was named for an old-timey sea captain or an Irish bartender or some other sailing-adjacent fellow. Not so! As …..
Dave Grohl Looks Back as He’s Inducted (Again) Into the Rock Hall of Fame
Here’s a wonderful interview with rocker Dave Grohl, courtesy of New York magazine. Grohl just got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a second time. This …..
Hoagy Carmichael on The Flintstones: A Needlessly Detailed Analysis
Looking back from a distance of 60 years, Hoagy Carmichael‘s 1961 appearance on The Flintstones was a strange affair. One might think this was a desperation gag near the end of …..
How Charlie Watts Did His Thing
The encomiums for Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts were broad and heartfelt after his death last month. Words like limber, subtle, stoic and impeccable were tossed about in obituaries and …..
Emma Raducanu Biography: New!
Our new biography of tennis star Emma Raducanu is now live. We almost said “tennis prodigy,” but that term no longer applies when you’re the reigning U.S. Open champion. Her …..
Ed Asner, star of Lou Grant and Up, has died at age 91
Actor and seven-time Emmy winner Ed Asner has died. His family confirmed the news in a message on Asner’s Twitter account: We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch …..
Charlie Watts, Rolling Stones drummer, is dead at 80
Charlie Watts, rock-steady drummer for the Rolling Stones since 1963, has died at a London hospital. The band’s official Twitter feed shared the news earlier today: pic.twitter.com/wi6333F6QF — The Rolling …..
John Glenn and the ‘Problem’ of ‘Lady Astronauts’
100 years after the birth of John Glenn, a historian looks at how he inspired girls to want to go to space – but in line with the sexism of the early space program, he offered little encouragement
Bo the Dog Has Crossed the Rainbow Bridge
Bo in 2009. (Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy) Bo the Dog has died, sad to say. The former First Dog passed away at age 12 after a bout …..
Mary Ball Washington: The Single Mom Who Shaped Her Unappreciative Son George
For Mother’s Day, an appreciation of Mary Ball Washington, the strong-willed mother of George Washington. Male historians have tended to take his complaints about her at face value.
Orson Welles Wasn’t Drunk After All
This infamous Orson Welles too-drunk-to-work video has been having a moment lately, 40 years after it was filmed. Now we’re happy to report on a surprising new twist. The story in …..
Megan Thee Stallion Biography: New!
Megan Thee Stallion just won three Grammys at the 2021 Grammy Awards. They included best rap song and best rap performances for “Savage,” her remixed hit with Béyonce, plus best new …..
Chien-Shiung Wu, Trailblazing Nuclear Physicist, Honored with a Stamp
A groundbreaking Chinese-American woman physicist, ignored for the Nobel Prize, gets a US postage stamp.
What (and Who) Should Replace Confederate Statues?
The likes of Richard T. Greener should replace memorials to Confederates. He was a groundbreaking Black professor at the University of South Carolina.
![ST-A4-93-62 27 November 1962.President Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (JBK), and children in White House Nursery.. [Scratches throughout the negative].Please credit "Cecil Stoughton. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston"](https://www.who2.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Jackie-John-Jr.-and-Caroline-104x76.jpg)
Jackie Kennedy’s Last Visit to the White House
It had been eight years since Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis left the White House, eight years since black bunting had hung from the East Room windows and her husband’s body rested …..
From MLK to Sen. Warnock, Ebenezer Baptist Church Has Been a Seat of Black Power for Generations in Atlanta
For Black History Month, a look at a church that has played a vital role in America’s civil rights struggle. It was the spiritual home to MLK, to the generations that shaped the vision of the late civil rights leader, and now to Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Groundhog Day 2021: Phil ‘Saw His Shadow’
Punxsutawney Phil, the “weather-predicting” groundhog who lives in a “tree stump” on “Gobbler’s Knob,” has done “it” again in 2021. He “saw his shadow,” was “frightened,” and thereby “predicted” six …..
Cloris Leachman Knew How to Turn It On
So long, Cloris Leachman. You really knew how to turn it on. In 1984 I was 23 years old and had a $1000-a-month job working for Susan Shadburne, an independent filmmaker …..
Rename the Braves in Honor of Hank Aaron? Great Idea!
A wonderful movement is afoot to rename baseball’s Atlanta Braves with a name that’s less racist and also honors the team’s greatest hero, the late ‘Hammerin’ Hank’ Aaron: The #Hammers …..
Hank Aaron and Larry King are Dead
Hank Aaron and Larry King had nothing in common, except for fame in their chosen fields. And now that both are dead, they have a second connection: Covid-19. Hank Aaron …..
Joe Biden Inaugurated as U.S. President
Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris are inaugurated today as the 46th president, and the 49th vice president, of the United States. “Today” being January 20, 2021. They replace Donald Trump …..
Trump’s Words Before the Siege
Somehow, amid the horror of the January 6 assault on the Capitol by right-wing extremists, not much attention has been paid to the 73-minute speech Donald Trump delivered immediately beforehand. To …..
Trump to Georgia Secretary of State: Please Cheat
President Donald Trump asked Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find 11,780 votes” and “recalculate” the state’s presidential vote totals in a remarkable and damning phone call on Saturday. The hour-long …..
Tina Louise is the Last Surviving Cast Member of ‘Gilligan’s Island’
Tina Louise — who played movie star Ginger Grant — is the last surviving member of the cast of Gilligan’s Island. That became true when Dawn Wells (“Mary Ann”) died …..
The Big Big Birthdays of 2021
Who has a big birthday in 2021? As the calendar flips, here are some of the famous figures turning 21, 50, 75, and even a fabulous 100 in the new …..