Someone once asked Hendrik Willem van Loon how to say his last name. He answered, "I still stick to the Dutch pronunciation of the double "o"—"Loon" like "loan" in 'Loan and Trust Co.' My sons will probably accept the American pronunciation. It really does not matter very much."
These are the books that Hendrik Willem van Loon wrote. The dates show the first time each book was printed. The other names tell what publisher printed them.
Francesco Guccini, a man from Italy who writes songs, wrote a song called "Van Loon". Guccini's father loved Hendrik Willem Van Loon's books. The song is on Guccini's music album called "Signora Bovary".
The Great Quest
The Great Quest by Charles Hawes is an adventure story for children. It was a Newbery Honor book in 1922. George Varian drew the pictures. The Atlantic Monthly Press was its publisher.
The story happens in 1826. It starts in Topham, Massachusetts. Topham is not a real town. In the story, Joe Woods lives in Topham with his uncle, who is named Seth Woods. Seth Woods has a friend named Cornelius Gleazen. Cornelius is a very bad man. Cornelius makes Seth sell all his things and use the money to buy a ship. Cornelius tells Seth that they will sail the ship to Guinea in Africa and dig up a lot of gold that Cornelius has buried there. Seth takes Joe and some other men with him on the trip. But when the ship stops in Cuba, Cornelius tells Seth and Joe that he lied. He really wants to take a lot of the people who live in Guinea away from their homes and bring them back to Cuba. He will sell them to people who live in Cuba. The people from Guinea will be slaves.
Seth and Joe are very angry, but they cannot stop Cornelius. They have to go to Guinea. In Guinea, they rescue a white girl. Her father was a preacher in Guinea, but the people who lived in Guinea did not like him. Cornelius and Seth die in Guinea. Joe and the other men who were on the ship travel back home from Guinea to Massachusetts. On the way, they stop in South America. One of the men stays there. When they get home, Joe marries the white girl that he rescued in Guinea, and they live happily ever after.
Ray Combs
Raymond Neil "Ray" Combs, Jr. (April 3, 1956 – June 2, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, and television game show host. He is best known for being the host of "Family Feud" from 1988 to 1994. He was born in Hamilton, Ohio.
Combs started out as a stand-up comedian. Because of his popularity, he became the host of "Family Feud" in 1988. He hosted it on CBS and in syndication until 1994. He also hosted another game show called "Family Challenge" from 1995 to 1996.
On June 2, 1996, after problems with his marriage and finances, Combs killed himself by hanging while in Glendale Adventist Medical Center in Glendale, California.
1971 San Fernando earthquake
The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the Sylmar earthquake) happened in the early morning of February 9 in the San Gabriel Mountains. It was at the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley in southern California. The quake measured 6.6 on the Richter scale. The damage was severe near the San Fernando Valley. The quake happened at 6am Pacific Standard Time. Sixty-four people were killed by the earthquake.
Shirley Valentine (movie)
Shirley Valentine is a 1989 British romantic comedy-movie. It stars Pauline Collins. Tom Conti plays her lover. Bernard Hill plays her husband. Alison Steadman plays her friend.
It is about a Liverpool housewife whose family gives her too little attention. She travels to Greece and has an affair with a local man.
The screenplay is by Willy Russell. It is based on his 1986 one-character play of the same title.
This movie was released in August 1989 in the United States. The reviews for "Shirley Valentine" were mixed. The movie received several awards and was nominated for some Golden Globe and Academy Awards.
Charles Hawes
Charles Boardman Hawes (January 24, 1889 – July 16, 1923) was an American writer. He wrote stories about the sea. Some of the stories were true and some were not true. His best-known stories are not true; they are fictional. He died when he was 34 years old. He was the third person who won the Newbery Medal, and he was the first winner who was born in the United States. Hendrik Willem van Loon was born in the Netherlands and Hugh Lofting was born in England. The New York Times said his books were like books written by Robert Louis Stevenson, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., and Herman Melville.
Charles Boardman Hawes was born in Clifton Springs, New York. His father was named Charles T. Hawes. Charles Boardman Hawes grew up in Bangor, Maine. In 1911 he graduated from Bowdoin College. He was the editor of the student newspaper there. He studied at Harvard for one year. He worked for a magazine called "The Youth's Companion" until 1920. He was an editor for another magazine called "The Open Road for Boys" until he died in 1923. On June 1, 1916, Charles Boardman Hawes married Dorothea Cable. She lived in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her father was George W. Cable, who wrote books. Her mother was Louise S. Bartlett.
Charles Boardman Hawes had his first story book published in 1920. It was called "The Mutineers: a tale of old days at sea and of adventures in the Far East as Benjamin Lathrop set it down some sixty years ago." He had his second story book published in 1921. It was called "The Great Quest: A romance of 1826, wherein are recorded the experiences of Josiah Woods of Topham, and of those others with whom he sailed for Cuba and the Gulf of Guinea." That book was a Newbery Medal Honor Book in 1922. Honor Book means that it did not win but the judges thought that it was a good book anyway.
Charles Boardman Hawes wrote two more books before he died. One was called "Gloucester, by Land and Sea". It was a true story about Gloucester, Massachusetts, which was the town where Hawes lived. This book was published two days after he died. The other book was called "The Dark Frigate, Wherein is told the story of Philip Marsham who lived in the time of King Charles and was bred a sailor but came home to England after many hazards by sea and land and fought for the King at Newbury and lost a great inheritance and departed for Barbados by the same ship, by curious chance, in which he had long before adventured with the pirates." That book won the Newbery Medal for 1924. In 1962 "The Dark Frigate" also won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.
After Charles Boardman Hawes died, his publishers held a contest. A $2,000 prize was given to the best book that was like the book which Hawes wrote. The book that won was called "The Scarlet Cockerel". It was written by a farm worker named Clifford MacClellan Sublette. Hawes's publishers printed "The Scarlet Cockerel" in 1925. They also printed two other books that they had gotten from the contest.
Killing Zoe
Killing Zoe is a 1994 French-American crime drama thriller movie. The subject is incidents in Paris, including robbing banks. The robbery at one Paris bank goes wrong. The police get involved and kill all except one of the robbers.
This movie was released in August 1994 in the United States. The movie received mixed reviews from the critics.
Four Rooms
Four Rooms is a 1995 American comedy movie set in a hotel on New Year's Eve.
It has four different stories:
The cast includes Tim Roth, Jennifer Beals, Madonna, Marisa Tomei, Antonio Banderas, Quentin Tarantino, and others.
"Four Rooms" got negative reviews from the critics. However, the movie earned back just beyond its actual budget.
Têt (river)
The Têt () is the largest river in Roussillon, southeastern France. The valley formed by the river, the "Valley of the Têt" (), was named as Region of Art and History () by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
The Têt river is . Its source is on the northeastern side of Pic Carlit at an elevation of , in the municipality of Angoustrine-Villeneuve-des-Escaldes.