Know it all

Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) co-starred with Lassie, played by a collie named Pal, in the movie “Lassie Come Home” (1943).

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At age 12, Elizabeth Taylor starred in the 1944 movie “National Velvet” as Velvet Brown, a girl who attempts to race her horse in the Grand National steeplechase. Taylor did her own horseback riding and most of the stunts in the film.

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The television drama “Perry Mason” starred Raymond Burr (1917-1993). The original series ran from 1957 to 1966. Erle Stanley Gardner made an appearance as a judge in the final episode of the series.

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Raymond Burr owned an island in the Fijis. Burr purchased 4,000-acre Naituba Island in 1965 and ran a profitable plantation. Island residents worked on the plantation growing macadamia nuts and orchid plants and herding cattle.

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Actor Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974) bought a Caribbean island in 2005. He paid $1.75 million for the 104-acre island off the coast of Belize.

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Leonardo DiCaprio was paid $21 million for his starring role as Howard Hughes (1905-1976) in the movie “The Aviator” (2004).

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Howard Hughes set a speed record in 1938 by flying around the world in three days, 19 hours and 17 minutes. Hughes piloted a Lockheed plane with a crew of four.

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In 1938, the airport in Houston, Texas, was renamed from Houston Municipal Airport to Howard Hughes Airport. It was in honor of Hughes, a native of Houston and a donor for airport improvements. However, the airport name was changed back when it was soon discovered that an airport named after a living person did not receive federal funding.

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Houston, the largest city in Texas, has a population of over 2 million people.

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The city of Houston was named after Samuel Houston (1793-1863), the first president of the Republic of Texas. Samuel Houston has the distinction of being the only person in history to have been the governor of two different states — Tennessee (1827-1829) and Texas (1859 to 1861).

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The Texas state flower is the Bluebonnet. The state bird is the mockingbird. Can you name the Texas state mammal? See answer at end.

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The Alamo was built in 1744 as the chapel of the Spanish mission in San Antonio, Texas.

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An important symbol in Texas’ struggle for independence from Mexico was the Alamo. Used as a fort during the Mexican War, the Alamo was besieged by the Mexican Army in 1836. There were 189 Americans defending the Alamo against 1,800 Mexican soldiers. The Americans lost the battle and all were killed.

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Answer: The state mammal of Texas is the armadillo. The state also has an official large mammal — the Longhorn cattle. Texas’ official flying mammal is the Mexican free-tailed bat. The largest colony of free-tailed bats in the world is in Bracken Cave near San Antonio, with nearly 20 million bats.

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.