A Brief History On February 25, 1980, Yes Minister, a political satire British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, was first transmitted on BBC2. This list of fictional places in Yes Minister elaborates on the details provided in Yes Minister and The Complete Yes Minister, the diary-based novelisation of the series. Digging Deeper Buranda Buranda is a fictional West African less developed country, later known as a developing country, that features in the second episode of Yes Minister (“The Official Visit”) and (briefly) in Yes, Prime Minister (“A Conflict of Interest”). Formerly British Equatorial Africa, it is referred to privately by James Hacker as a “TPLAC” (tin-pot little African country), much to Sir Humphrey’s consternation. Buranda’s leader in both episodes is Colonel Selim…
Browsing: February 25
A Brief History On February 25, 1836, Sam Colt patented his cap and ball revolver that would give rise to all the modern revolvers that followed. We previously discussed this important event in firearms evolution in our article “Sam Colt Patents His Revolver” and also listed “10 Best Revolvers of All Time” among our many articles about firearms. This time we address those revolvers we would like to personally own above all others, if of course money was no object. While we are firmly in the semi-automatic pistol camp for carrying a military, police, or personal protection handgun, we recognize the…
A Brief History On February 25, 1836, Sam Colt patented his cap and ball revolver that would give rise to all the modern revolvers that followed. Early attempts at revolvers in the flintlock era were disasters waiting to happen, as all too often the firing of one cylinder would set off the others as well. Over the years some iconic revolvers have been produced, and until the late 20th Century they remained the sidearm of choice for police and private citizens (although the semi-automatic pistol had superseded revolvers for military use for the most part as of the early 20th…
A Brief History On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt of Hartford Connecticut made good on the “All men are created equal” theme by making sure they stayed that way. Colt did this by patenting his famous revolving cylinder pistol. Digging Deeper The revolving pistol was not a new concept, and previous efforts using flint lock pistols were attempted with uneven results. The loose powder in the pan of a flintlock made “chain firing” all too possible and keeping the powder in the pan as the cylinder rotated was also difficult at best. Once the percussion cap was invented and reached…
A Brief History On February 25, 1932, Adolf Hitler applied for German citizenship. Why? Because he was not German! And that is just the first of today’s fascinating facts about Adolf Hitler. To see our full list of the “Top Ten Bizarre Adolf Hitler Facts,” please click here. For more on this particular entry, please read on below… Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Hitler born in Austria, and thus had to apply for naturalization as a German citizen in order to hold political office. So how many other famous people were not of the nationality or ethnicity you thought they…