Dimitri Tiomkin wrote High Noon's prize-winning musical score. Asked in an interview how a Russian-born concert pianist could write Western music, Tiomkin had a quick reply. "Did Strauss," he inquired hotly, "have to be an...Read More

British parents like the female name Jane a lot more than do American parents. Although it has been a very poplar name in both countries for the last 100 years, it consistently ranked Number 1 in England in the 1980s.

Until the 1970s, Jessica was a very unusual name. William Shakespeare, who may even have made up the name, called Shylock’s lovely daughter Jessica in The Merchant of Venice, but it was not until recently that large ...Read More

The fur of the vicuna, a small member of the camel family which live in the Andes mountains of Peru, is so fine that each hair is less than two-thousandths of an inch. The animal was considered sacred by the Incas, and ...Read More

The fortune cookie was invented in 1916 by George Jung, a Los Angeles noodlemaker.

A bronze cat, believed to be 2,300 years old, was one of the most popular sculptures in the Egyptian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Despite its popularity for nearly 25 years, a few museum ...Read More