Category Archives: People

What Ever Happened to Miss Cleo the TV Psychic?

Felix H. asks: Where did Miss Cleo disappear to? For those unfamiliar, around the turn of the century no psychic was more famous than the purportedly Jamaican-born Miss Cleo (née Youree Dell Harris) representing the Psychic Readers Network (PRN). Appearing on late-night infomercials, Miss Cleo hooked her audience with a combination of charisma, Tarot card readings, concerned looks, and imperatives […]

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Becoming Santa

Born in 1955 in Baltimore, Jonathan Meath studied at New York University, graduating with honors in 1979 before embarking on a lucrative career as a children’s television producer, with arguably his most famous credit being that of senior producer for almost 300 episodes of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? During his career, Meath also worked with The Jim […]

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Yadav and the Param Vir Chakra

The Param Vir Chakra (roughly, the “Wheel of the Ultimate Brave”) is India’s highest military decoration for gallantry during battle and is “awarded for rarest of the rare gallantry which is beyond the call of duty and which in normal life is considered impossible to do”. The medal is known for having one of the most stringent selection process of […]

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The Plundering Politician

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader The Society of Saint Tammany, founded in 1789 in New York City, is named for Tamanend, a chief of the Delaware tribe. It started out as a patriotic and charitable organization, created by tradesmen who weren’t allowed to join the more exclusive clubs that the wealthy belonged to. As wave […]

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Chanel No. 1

The following is an article from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader You’ve heard that clothes make the man? Meet the suit that made the woman. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was born in Samur, France, in 1883. Her life got off to a rocky start. Her mother died shortly after Gabrielle’s birth, and her father took off, abandoning the five Chanel children. Gabrielle […]

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From Titanic Survivor and Near Amputee to Hall of Fame Tennis Champion- The Story of Dick Williams

In the early morning of April 15, 1912, 21-year-old Richard “Dick” Norris Williams II was washed off the deck of the doomed RMS Titanic and into the icy water of the North Atlantic. Rescued by a lifeboat, but almost up to his waist in near-frozen water for several hours, Williams suffered such extreme frostbite that medical personnel wanted to immediately […]

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“No”- The Remarkable Story of Lauritz Sand

From September of 1941 through May of 1945, Norwegian Resistance pioneer Lauritz Sand was alternately beaten and broken, then treated, then beaten again by Nazi interrogators. And despite enduring four years of the hardest torture they could dole out, all while in his 60s, he steadfastly refused to tell them anything. In response to the horrors of WWI, Norway’s leaders […]

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