Know It All

“The Guiding Light” (1952-2009) soap opera began as a radio drama in 1937.

***

Soap operas that have been on television for more than 30 years include “ All My Children” (debuted 1970), “Days of Our Lives” (1965), “The Young and the Restless” (1973) and “One Life to Live” (1968).

***

The most watched event on daytime television ever was a wedding on a soap opera. Do you know who the couple was and the soap opera they were on? The year? See answer at end.

***

The soap operas “General Hospital,” on ABC, and “The Doctors,” on NBC, both debuted April 1, 1963. “The Doctors” ended in 1982.

***

The television series “Diagnosis Murder” (1993-2001) starred Dick Van Dyke (born 1925) as Dr. Mark Sloan. His real life son Barry Van Dyke (born 1951) played Detective Steve Sloan on the show.

***

Dick Van Dyke hosted “CBS Cartoon Theatre” in 1956. Van Dyke introduced the Heckle and Jeckle cartoon segments. He conversed with the mischievous black magpies through animation.

***

Black-billed magpies take up to 40 days to construct their large nests. The western horned owl and the long-eared owl make homes of abandoned magpie nests.

***

There are two species of magpies native to Australia: the western magpie and the black-backed magpie. Magpies are protected under Australia’s Wildlife Conservation Act.

***

The American bald eagle is protected by the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

***

The eagle became the national emblem of the United States in 1782.

***

Bald Eagles build the largest nest of any North American bird. A nest was found in Florida that measured 9 feet across and weighed 2 tons. Eagles reuse nests and continue to build on to them for many years.

***

The Great Seal of the United States, designed in 1782, pictures an eagle wearing a shield with 13 red and white stripes and a blue field with 13 stars. The eagle holds an olive branch and a bundle of 13 arrows in his talons. There is a scroll held in the eagle’s beak that reads “E Pluribus Unum.”

***

“E Pluribus Unum” is a Latin phrase meaning “Out of Many, One.”

***

The reverse side of the Great Seal pictures a pyramid with an eye over it . The Latin phrase above the pyramid, Annuit Coeptis, means “Providence has Favored Our Undertakings.” The Latin phrase below thepyramid, Novus Ordo Seclorum, means “A New Order of the Ages.”

***

Answer: Thirty million people watched the wedding of Luke and Laura on “General Hospital” in November 1981. It was the highest rated episode of any daytime soap opera.

Know It All is by Kerry McArdle. It runs in the weekend edition of the Daily Journal. Questions? Comments? Email knowitall(at)smdailyjournal.com or call 344-5200 ext. 128.