Monday Miscellany

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Further to the story about Hitler’s testicles, or lack thereof, posted yesterday . . .

I mentioned that a variant of the ditty about Hitler’s package was as follows:

Hitler has only got one ball, 

The other is in the Albert Hall. 

His mother, the dirty bugger, 

Cut it off when he was small.’

What I forgot to mention is that attendants at the Albert Hall regularly get asked to see Hitler’s testicle. Needless to say, it’s not there and never has been.

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Btw, some other famous figures who had meat and one veg:

Napoleon Bonaparte:

Discovered after death, believed to have been a birth defect

Tupac:

Shot to death in 1996, the rapper was also shot in the groin in 1994, causing him to lose a testicle. He was sometimes referred to as “One Pac” after that.

Lance Armstrong:

Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer in 1996. The cancer spread to his lungs, brain, and abdomen but his life was saved by surgery and chemotherapy.

Arnold Schwarzenegger:

The Governator/Terminator is rumoured to have only one little boy.

General Franco:

The 1960’s Spanish dictator lost one of his berries after being shot in the lower abdomen in battle. He was a general by age 26.

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Given the fervour with which the US  holds its flag and its national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, I was surprised to read on the weekend that the Seppos did not officially adopt that anthem until 1931.

Some facts:

• The Star Spangled Banner, was originally a poem The Defence of Fort Henry, written in 1814 by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key. He wrote it after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Baltimore Harbor during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

• The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "To Anacreon in Heaven" (or "The Anacreontic Song"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States.

• When set to Key's poem it was renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner" and became a well-known American patriotic song.

• It was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 which was signed by President Herbert Hoover. 

• Before 1931 the unofficial national anthem of the US was "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", a song that has the same melody "God Save the Queen", the British national anthem. 

Does it seem a bit odd to anyone else that having been at war with England to gain independence And after another with the Brits in 1812, they use the British national anthem?