After a fun round of trivia at Kickoff, you wanted to know more. Here are extra details -- and photos -- to shed light on our claims to fame and surprising backgrounds.
Damian Carville’s grandfather yelled at the Beatles to get off his lawn. @DamianCarville
The house on the left was Damian's mum’s houseThe house on the left was Damian's mum’s houseThe house on the left was Damian's mum’s houseThe house on the left was Damian's mum’s house“John Lennon’s first band was known as the Quarry Men (named after his school, Quarry Bank High School for Boys). In June 1957, they played their first EVER ‘gig,’ during a street party (which was to celebrate some sort of British royal event – any excuse for a party).
Rosebery Street happened to be the street where my grandparents lived (and where my mum grew up). As they were setting up, testing out the sound, my grandfather (Reg Wood) – offended by the noise since they were in front of his house – chased them away with a broomstick! They then set up in front of next door’s house, number 57 Rosebery Street.
They played two sets. During the second Quarrymen set, a group of local hoodlums gathered and singled out ‘that Lennon,’ in particular. They were apparently annoyed by his attitude (and the female attention the band was attracting…my Mum pleads the Fifth on this aspect). As soon as they finished playing, the mob tried to attack them, and the band ran into number 57. The mob banged on the windows; demanding John come out. Out came the broomstick again, as the fearless Reginald Wood chased away the gang, while a local policeman escorted John and the others to their bus stop!
I never actually believed this family folklore to be true, to be honest (my mum still has the broomstick!). When I first took Amy (then ‘my American girlfriend’) to Liverpool, we visited the Beatles Museum. It was here I first saw the pictures of the Quarrymen performing in Rosebery Street. I ran home to ask my mum…and yes, the story had always been true. Oh ye of little faith!”
Allison Hines jumped out of a perfectly good airplane in September 2010. @AllisonHines
Atsuko Iono loves to knit.
Aurora Tiffany-Davis ate veal stew under a lemon tree in Greece. @Aurora_TiffanyD
“I was a strict vegetarian, but when someone welcomes you to their country and their home and makes you a special meal, you just say ‘wow, thank you!’ and eat it. It was pretty good, too.”
If that made you hungry…
Britta Schnitzer tries to book a four-course dinner at a Michelin Star Restaurant when traveling. @Britta
“I’ve been 1-, 2- and 3-star restaurants around the world, but my favorite one is just located around the corner: Restaurant Lafleur - Gesellschaftshaus Palmengarten GmbH & Co. KG - Restaurant Lafleur (restaurant-lafleur.de)
“They are famous for mixing classical French cuisine (still my favorite, closely followed by Indian cuisine) with Mediterranean and local ingredients. I took pictures from all courses but the most outstanding one was the mustard ice cream with scallop-wasabi mousse and local herbs with slices of brass. There was more in it that I can’t remember exactly and it just did blow me away!"
Mandy Chambers chatted with journalist Barbara Walters in a NYC elevator. @Mandy_Chambers
“It was probably back in 2001, when I traveled to NYC with my husband for business, and I was leaving the Plaza Hotel to go out shopping/looking around. She stepped on, I smiled, she said hello … in her leopard (looked like mink) coat. I think we talked about how cold it was outside, honestly!”
Carla Paquet has gone on an Amazon forest expedition near Iquitos, Peru. @carla_paquet1
Di Michelson has found a geocache in all 50 states and DC, and in all 254 counties in Texas. @Di_Michelson
For the Texas County Challenge cache, you can only log after you have found a cache in each of 254 counties in Texas.
Falco Kronmüller is a starting pitcher in a statewide baseball league. @Falco
Kathy Walker was the UNC mascot for a year. @kathy_walker
Mark Bailey disproved a theory that was the basis for a Nobel Prize in chemistry. @markbailey
“The 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Max Perutz and John Kendrew for solving the structure of several important globular proteins, including hemoglobin (Hb). Their pioneering work provided the earliest insight into protein structure, and how it determined the function of the protein. Their technique, X-ray crystallography, determined chemical structure by first growing a pure crystal of a chemical compound (e.g., aspirin, caffeine, or Hb) and then examining the patterns in X-rays diffracting off the atoms in the crystal. This diffraction pattern blurs if the crystal is not pure or if the protein can exist as more than one structure. (Almost all proteins are now known to change their structure or shape while performing their function or in response to their chemical environment. Life depends on this behavior!) Hb transports oxygen in the body by binding up to four oxygen molecules while circulating in the lungs and then releasing its oxygen when circulating elsewhere in the body, so Perutz had to push the equilibrium to only one form, either fully oxygenated Hb or fully de-oxygenated Hb, to get the best experimental results (diffraction pattern). This requirement led him to his theory of only two Hb states, but this over-simplification was a barrier to further scientific and medical advancements. It made sense that intermediate states (i.e., no oxygen bound, one oxygen bound, and up to four oxygens bound) were not only possible but likely. I demonstrated that all five Hb states existed, and the transitions between them followed established kinetic theories by using myriad chemical and physical techniques (other than crystallography) for the defense of my doctoral thesis in 1982.”
Larry LaRusso once modeled for a Land's End catlog spread. @Larry_LaRusso
Maria Astals Serés is a hobby sailor of a boat without a rudder or centreboard. @maria_astals
The boat Maria sails is called patín catalàn. She's teaching her sons to sail.
Kathleen Watts was an extra the movies Trick or Treat and Sleeping with Enemy. @kathleen_watts
Mike Anderson has studied calligraphy since age 10.
Here's a piece he did for his mom in college.
Jessica Marquardt performed ballet en pointe on live national TV.
Peter Polito was an integral member of a glacial crevasse rescue team in Patagonia, Chile. @Peter_Polito
“We were ascending a glacier on the flank of Monte San Lorenzo in Chilean Patagonia. Someone dropped their trekking pole into a crevasse, so we installed a couple of anchors, set up belays, and lowered them ~20’ into the crevasses to retrieve the pole. With that delay, a few others, and a freak snowstorm, we ended up getting pinned down at the col and had to bivouac in the only protected area we could find—a glacial moat, which is the area at the top of a glacier where the ice has pulled away from the rock. I woke up before anyone else the following morning, hiked to the top of the ice and took this picture. It was one of those singular moments in my life where I can close my eyes and go right back to that moment: I can see the peaks in the distance, remember the feel of the fresh snow under my boots, feel the cold air on my face, feel the ice forming in my nose as I breathed. And it never would have happened if someone hadn’t dropped their trekking pole into a crevasse.”
Rachel Smith hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back to the top in one day.
