From Marilyn to Shakespeare: how well do you know history’s most bungled quotes?

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Admin

The internet is full of wonky attributions and made-up catchphrases, from real life and pop culture. Can you tell your Attenborough from your Armstrong?

Those of you who had “Sir David Attenborough has beef with Adelaide shopping mall plaque” on your 2021 bingo cards must have done a victory dance this week. A local conservationist recognised some “honeybee propaganda”, attributed to the legendary naturalist, on a plaque accompanying a Westfield Tea Tree Plaza mural and alerted the relevant authorities (i.e. Sir David himself).

The plaque has been done away with, but plenty more misquotes and misattributions remain. If you’ve ever seen a brush-script quote adorning a black and white photo, a painted sunset, or an embroidered couch cushion and wondered “Hang on a minute …”, this quiz is for you. Last one to finish gets their name attached to a Spider-Man quote on an inspirational $2 shop fridge magnet.

Neil Armstrong’s family ‘paid $6m by hospital’ in wrongful death claim

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Admin

Settlement reportedly reveals hospital’s fears of adverse publicity over family’s allegations of botched surgery

A hospital has paid the estate of astronaut Neil Armstrong $6m in a confidential agreement to settle allegations that post-surgical complications led to his death seven years ago, according to court documents.

The 2014 settlement went to 10 relatives of the space explorer who made history 50 years ago by becoming the first man to walk on the moon. They included Armstrong’s two sons, sister, brother and six grandchildren, according to documents filed with the Hamilton county probate court in Cincinnati, Ohio which became publicly available on Tuesday.

The Guardian view on moon landings: a new race for space | Editorial

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Admin

The Apollo 11 mission inspired the world. What has happened in the ensuing half-century?

When Neil Armstrong stepped on to the moon 50 years ago, it was down to a giant leap of political and scientific imagination. His footprints on the powdery lunar surface changed the way we saw ourselves, confirming that humanity could escape its earthly coils. The mission unleashed a dream of what we as a species might do. Yet only a dozen people have walked on the moon, all between the summer of 1969 and the end of 1972.

Did we lose our primordial urge to explore? Almost certainly not – though Buzz Aldrin this week decried “50 years of non-progress”, probes have travelled to Pluto and beyond. But times have changed. The cold war rivalry that catalysed the space race vanished. The Soviet Union was first with a satellite, dog and astronaut in space. Today Washington and Moscow play the great game in the Middle East, not the heavens, although both are now contemplating a return to the moon: Donald Trump wants to make America great again by putting astronauts there by 2024, though some think China may get there first; Russia talks of landing cosmonauts by 2030.

Giant leap for art: Lichfield Cathedral to become ‘lunar landscape’

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Admin

Installation will transform cathedral floor to mark 50 years since Apollo 11 moon landing

It’s hard to imagine anything less like a lunar landscape than the medieval glories of Lichfield Cathedral. But this summer, an artist will transform its magnificent tiled floor into a representation of the moon’s surface to mark half a century since Neil Armstrong took “one small step for [a] man and one giant leap for mankind”.

The three-spired cathedral in Staffordshire has commissioned the art installation as part of its annual summer show, which this year is called Space, God, the Universe and Everything. Peter Walker, the cathedral’s artist-in-residence, will also use light and sound installations inspired by space and the planets.