Welcome to Number 16, the fun website that focuses on words, language and literature. It is named after my favourite number. I am Joanne Madden and I'm from Toronto, Canada. To find out what I have written on any topic, use the search box directly below. For TV trivia, please check my other website, TV Banter (www.tvbanter.net).
About Number 16
Quiz Page
Sports Nicknames
Letters to America
A Salute to Australia
In joyful strains then let us sing Advance Australia fair.
From Advance Australia Fair, the national anthem of Australia
Composed in 1878 by P.D. McCormick
Here in Toronto, Canada, it is the dead of winter. In Australia, however, it is the summer season and it's time for tennis. The Australian Open is under way in Melbourne and yesterday was Australia Day, a national day of celebration and Aussie pride.
Australians celebrate their national day on January 26 because it is the anniversary of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove in 1788.
As a tribute to "The Land Down Under", Number 16 proudly presents some quotations about Australia. Hope you enjoy them.
Down Under we send soldiers and wool abroad but keep poets and wine at home.
- John Streeter Manifold, Australian poet (1915-85)
In all directions stretched the great Australian Emptiness, in which the mind is the least of possessions.
- Patrick White (1912-1990), Australian novelist: The Vital Decade (1968) 'The Prodigal Son"
Australia is a huge rest home, where no unwelcome news is ever wafted on to the pages of the worst newspapers in the world.
- Germaine Greer, Australian feminist, in Observer, August 1, 1982
Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck.
- Donald Richmond Horne, The Lucky Country: Australia in the Sixties (1964)
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.
- Charles M. Schulz, cartoonist and creator of Peanuts comic strip
When New Zealanders emigrate to Australia, it raises the average IQ of both countries.
- Attributed to Robert Muldoon (1921-1992), New Zealand statesman (Note improper use of the word "emigrate" - quote should read "immigrate to Australia")
I'd like to be seen as an average Australian bloke. I can't think of . . . I can't think of a nobler description of anybody than to be called an average Australian bloke.
- John Howard, former Australian prime minister
God bless America, God save the Queen, may God defend New Zealand. And thank Christ for Australia."
- Russell Crowe's message to Australian television while clutching his Oscar statuette in Los Angeles after winning the 2000 Best Actor Academy Award. for Gladiator (Although born in Wellington, New Zealand, Crowe grew up in Australia)
ADDITIONAL FACTS ABOUT AUSTRALIA
* According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population of Australia is estimated to be 22.5 million people (Canada has 34.2 million people). The Australian Bureau of Statistics states that there is one birth every 1 minute and 44 seconds in Australia. There is a death every 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
* The Australian National Flag (pictured at the top of this posting) was first flown in 1901. It has three elements on a blue background. The Union Jack appears in the upper left corner (or canton) to acknowledge the history of British settlement. Beneath the Unition Jack is the white Commonwealth Star. Its seven points represent the unity of the six states and the territories of the Commonwealth of Austrralia. The Southern Cross, a constellation of five stars, appears on the fly of the flag in white. The Southern Cross can be seen only from the Southern Hemisphere and is representative of Australia's geography.
A salute to all my mates in Australia. I hope that some of you will read this. I would be particularly happy if a reader from Toronto, Australia contacted me or sent me a comment. For the record, I have never visited Australia,. I have, however, met many Aussies on travel tours. I have found them to be delightful and fun.
Congratulations to former Toronto Blue Jays' closer, Tom Henke. The Terminator has been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ontario., southwest of Stratford. If you are in the area and your are a baseball fan, it is well worth visiting. I've been there.
Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, turned 50 years old yesterday. He was born in Brantford, Ontario on January 26, 1961. Number 99 scored more than 50 goals in a string of eight seasons from 1979 to 1987. Despite all of Gretzky's accomplishments, he was unable to win a Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings. All of his Cup victories were with Edmonton.
- Joanne
Posted by Joanne at 1:56 AM
NUMBER 16: FEATURED PHOTOS AND ART
TODAY IS SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2020..
CLIMATE CRISIS: TIME IS RUNNING OUT.
Climate change is real. It is not a hoax. It has been scientifically proven. The world must come together and deal with it decisively before it is too late. The hurricanes, floods and wildfires are becoming more frequent and more destructive. The clock is ticking. AUSTRALIA IS BURNING! (Click on image above).
DONALD TRUMP SHOULD BE IMPEACHED!
The United States and the rest of the world cannot afford another four years of this man. Return America to decency. The Oath of Allegiance is to the United States, not to Donald Trump. Americans, if you are undecided, don't vote for another four years of racism, locking kids in cages, misogyny, lying, bullying, gun violence, criminality and obstruction of justice, harming the environment and ignoring climate change, no minimum wage increases for workers, no health insurance for millions, tax breaks for billionaires and bribing foreign leaders to dig up dirt on political opponents..
I am a native of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For many years, I worked as a researcher and archivist at the Toronto Star, the largest newspaper in Canada. I like to share my interest in trivia, television, current events, politics, movies, quotes etc.
Check out TV Banter, my blog about televison. Please click on the link below.
TV Banter
Some of My Favourite Books
Anne of Green Gables (by L.M. Montgomery)
Crime and Punishment (by Fyodor Dostoevsky)
The Chosen (by Chaim Potok)
A Separate Peace (by John Knowles)
The Catcher in the Rye (by J.D. Salinger)
The Portrait of A Lady (by Henry James)
Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen)
The Great Gatsby (by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
To Kill A Mockingbird (by Harper Lee)
Life of Pi (by Yann Martel)
Wuthering Heights (by Emily Bronte)
Links to my favourite websites
Trivia-Library.com
do nothing for 2 minutes
NationMaster
Subscribe To Number 16
For Valentine's Day - great quotes about love
Robert Frost and the road he took: His meeting with Khrushchev in 1962
Nicolaus Copernicus: The search for his remains
The Riots in Vancouver: A disagrace, but should the rioters lose their jobs?
Alvin Toffler and Future Shock; High Park Photos
Photos of 50th Elmira Maple Syrup Festival
Richard Carpenter: 33 years after Karen's death
The nurse who survived Richard Speck's 1966 murder rampage
CHRISTMAS BIRTHS AND DEATHS
Whatever happened to Claudine Longet?