I bet you didnt know that

Pretty interesting sports fact for all my fellow GAA anoraks out there:

When Galway won the All Ireland senior hurling title in 1980, 1987 and 2017, a fella called Joe, with a surname beginning with C, played at centre-forward, and subsequently went on to win the Hurler of the Year. Joe Connolly (1980), Joe Cooney (1987) and Joe Canning this year.

They say things happen in cycles, and the Tribesmen would agree

Assassination attempts on US presidents are back in the news. Everybody knows about the first murder of a sitting president, Lincoln, and the most recent, JFK. Less remembered are the two other serving commanders-in-chief who have also been assassinated. Garfield was gunned down in 1881, while McKinley was shot 20 years later.

However, there have also been failed attempts on the lives of other presidents including Ronald Reagan and Andrew Jackson.

Nicknamed Old Hickory because of his tough demeanour, Jackson was the son of Ulster-Scots emigrants from Co. Antrim. While still a child he refused to clean the boots of a British officer during the American Revolution. The soldier slashed the boy with his saber, giving Jackson facial scars he bore for life. He later survived being shot in the chest in a duel, as well as being shot in the shoulder in a street brawl. In his military career he earned a reputation as a teak tough Indian fighter and became a national hero for defeating the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

The attempt on his life came when the President was aged 65. Whilst leaving a funeral, a shot was fired at Jackson from a distance of 4 meters. The pistol misfired and the enraged old man charged towards his would be killer, a Richard Lawrence, armed with only his cane. While being repeatedly whacked by Jackson, the assassin revealed a second pistol which amazingly also misfired, this time at point blank range. Jackson was now going bat$hit, trashing the failed killer with his walking stick. Onlookers tackled Lawrence to the ground, but his would be victim continued to beat the lard out of him. Eventually they also succeeded in restraining the President.



It later turned out that Lawerence was insane, believing himself to be Richard III and that Jackson was trying to usurp his position. He spent the remainder of his life institutionilsed.

Then, as now, people loved a good conspiracy theory. At the time many believed the idea for the assassination attempt came from Jackson's rival, Senator George Poindexter, who had even employed the mentally fragile Lawerence that same year. Poindexter was forced to retire from politics as a result. Jackson himself believed the brains of the operation to be this man, John C Calhoun. :eek:

Speaking of US President assassinations, James Garfield's shooting in 1881 led to a couple of pioneering medical procedures.

In fact, as President Garfield lay dying in his room in the White House, Alexander Graham Bell tried to locate the bullet wound with some kind of primitive metal detector (x-rays weren't invented till fourteen years later), but it's thought the springs on the bed hampered the detection and thus made it unsuccessful.

Furthermore, as the assassination attempt took place in Washington DC's smothering July heat, one of the first successful air conditioning units were installed in his room- air that was fanned over ice and then dried had managed to decrease the room temp by 20F.

Ultimately though, Garfield succumbed to his injuries, although the general consensus is that doctors "poking" inside for the bullet with unsterilized fingers was his maker. Which is gross incompetence really as the pioneering work of Joseph Lister in antisepsis was known to American doctors for a few years up to the incident, but never really trusted.

But the best fact of all regarding US President assassinations, is the plight of Robert Todd Lincoln. He is surely the unluckiest American of all-time. He was in Washington as a child when his father was shot at Ford Theater, and was present at his deathbed. Sixteen years later, he was at the train station when Garfield was shot, and was an eyewitness. And to compound the eerie coincidences, he was a special guest of President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. You guessed it, McKinley got shot too, though Lincoln didn't witness the event.

Some people never win.

The documentary series Planet Earth is narrated by Sigourney Weaver when it is shown on US TV.

Noo wrote: »

Blasphemy!!

Almost appropriate username Noooooo !!!!! :D

joe stodge wrote: »

The documentary series Planet Earth is narrated by Sigourney Weaver when it is shown on US TV.

This is very upsetting.

Evade wrote: »

I always thought the word kilogram was odd. Why is it the only SI base unit with a prefix?

Kilometer

Quazzie wrote: »

Kilometer

The base unit of distance is metre.