The hilarious film centres raround an auto racer Jim ( Dean Jones) who hasn't been having a very rgood time on the race track and how his teaming up with Herbi changes reverything. The film also starred David Tomlinson as the evil Peter rThorndyke, Buddy Hackett ,as Jim's racing rival and Michele Lee as Jim'sr girlfriend Carole. r
The film was a huge boz office hit and led to plenty of spinoffs rlike “Herbie Rides Again” (1974), “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo” (1977), r“Herbie Goes Bananas” (1980) and “Herbie: Fully Loaded” (2005), starringr Lindsay Lohan. One of the reasons accredited for it's success was that rit offered an escape for people from the reality of life as it opened raround the time when 432 Americans had died in the Vietnam war. Another rfactor attributed to it's popularity was that with a great baby boom rback in 1960, there were an ample amount of nine year olds around. Also rto be noted was that the film released just as VW Beetles, whose historyr dates back to 1930s Germany, were gaining widespread popularity in the rUnited States. The Beetle came into being shortly after Adolf Hitler rascended as chancellor of Germany and demanded new roads and cars for rthe German people. As Austrian-born engineer Ferdinand Porsche r(1875-1951) was already working on creating a small car for the masses, rhe was given the responsibility of designing this nw inexpensive rpeople's car Work began in 1938 on the Volkswagenwerk factory, located rin present-day Wolfsburg, Germany. Post war, Volkswagen began exportingr Beetles (as the car, with its sloped nose and curved rear body, became rwidely known) to the U.S and it went on to become the world’s biggest rselling car of all time in 1972 , with more than 15 million sold.r
The birth of Uranusr
On March 13, 1781, German born English astronomer William Herschel rdiscovered Uranus quite by accident. Up until then most astronomers rthought that Uranus was just another star but while Herschel was doing ar survey of all the stars that were of magnitude 8 (i.e. too faint to seer with the eye or brighter) he noticed that this one in particular was a rlittle different. It moved in front of the star background thus proving rthat it was closer to us than the other distant stars. While his first rthought was that it was a comet, it didn't have a tail. His discovery ofr the seventh planet became the first to be made in modern times and alsor the first to be made by using a telescope. r
Herschel first proposed that the new planet be named Georgium Sidus,r after King George III, but those outside of Britain weren’t in favour rof it. Instead astronomer Johann Elert Bode decided to follow the rconvention of naming the planets after ancient gods. The name chosen wasr Uranus. Uranus “ an ancient sky god, and one of the earliest gods in rGreek mythology “ was sometimes called Father Sky and was considered to rbe the son and husband of Gaia, or Mother Earth.r
While Herschel’s choice didn't make it, King George III of England rwas pleased with the consideration and thus knighted Herschel. r
Known as the third largest planet in the solar system. Uranus is rmade up of hydrogen, helium, and methane. It orbits the sun once every r84 earth years and is the only planet to spin perpendicular to its solarr orbital plane. In January 1986, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 rvisited the planet, discovering 10 additional moons to the five already rknown, and a system of faint rings around the gas giant.r
Interestingly, on this day, Pluto's discovery was also announced. rWhile astronomer's had known about it's existence for a month, they rdecided to keep mum on it so that the news co-incided with Uranus’s rdebut.r
The first pope from Americar
On March 13, 2013, Argentinian born Jorge Mario Bergoglio became ther 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church and the first one from America.r He took on the papal title of Francis after St. Francis of Assisi of rItaly. Born on December 17, 1936, Bergoglio was ordained priest in rDecember 1969 and in 1988 became archbishop of Buenos Aires. Three yearsr later, in February 2001, he was elevated to cardinal by Pope John Paul rII and named the cardinal-priest of Saint Robert Bellarmino.r
Interestingly following the death of Pope John Paul II in April r2005, Bergoglio reportedly received the second-most votes in the 2005 rpapal conclave; Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) was chosen as Pope rJohn Paul's successor. After Pop Benedict XVI stepped down Bergoglio wasr chosen to succeed him. Pope Francis has since become known for his rhumility and progrssive views. Instead of adopting a conservative stand ron homosexuality, Pope Francis broke tradition when he said, “Who am I rto judge?” He also has not discredited the Big Bang Theory and in rSeptember 2015 announced that priests would be allowed to forgive the rsin of abortion. In December 2013 he was named as Person of the Year by rTime magazine and the following year was also nominated for the 2014 rNobel Peace Prize.
The film was a huge boz office hit and led to plenty of spinoffs rlike “Herbie Rides Again” (1974), “Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo” (1977), r“Herbie Goes Bananas” (1980) and “Herbie: Fully Loaded” (2005), starringr Lindsay Lohan. One of the reasons accredited for it's success was that rit offered an escape for people from the reality of life as it opened raround the time when 432 Americans had died in the Vietnam war. Another rfactor attributed to it's popularity was that with a great baby boom rback in 1960, there were an ample amount of nine year olds around. Also rto be noted was that the film released just as VW Beetles, whose historyr dates back to 1930s Germany, were gaining widespread popularity in the rUnited States. The Beetle came into being shortly after Adolf Hitler rascended as chancellor of Germany and demanded new roads and cars for rthe German people. As Austrian-born engineer Ferdinand Porsche r(1875-1951) was already working on creating a small car for the masses, rhe was given the responsibility of designing this nw inexpensive rpeople's car Work began in 1938 on the Volkswagenwerk factory, located rin present-day Wolfsburg, Germany. Post war, Volkswagen began exportingr Beetles (as the car, with its sloped nose and curved rear body, became rwidely known) to the U.S and it went on to become the world’s biggest rselling car of all time in 1972 , with more than 15 million sold.r
The birth of Uranusr
On March 13, 1781, German born English astronomer William Herschel rdiscovered Uranus quite by accident. Up until then most astronomers rthought that Uranus was just another star but while Herschel was doing ar survey of all the stars that were of magnitude 8 (i.e. too faint to seer with the eye or brighter) he noticed that this one in particular was a rlittle different. It moved in front of the star background thus proving rthat it was closer to us than the other distant stars. While his first rthought was that it was a comet, it didn't have a tail. His discovery ofr the seventh planet became the first to be made in modern times and alsor the first to be made by using a telescope. r
Herschel first proposed that the new planet be named Georgium Sidus,r after King George III, but those outside of Britain weren’t in favour rof it. Instead astronomer Johann Elert Bode decided to follow the rconvention of naming the planets after ancient gods. The name chosen wasr Uranus. Uranus “ an ancient sky god, and one of the earliest gods in rGreek mythology “ was sometimes called Father Sky and was considered to rbe the son and husband of Gaia, or Mother Earth.r
While Herschel’s choice didn't make it, King George III of England rwas pleased with the consideration and thus knighted Herschel. r
Known as the third largest planet in the solar system. Uranus is rmade up of hydrogen, helium, and methane. It orbits the sun once every r84 earth years and is the only planet to spin perpendicular to its solarr orbital plane. In January 1986, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 rvisited the planet, discovering 10 additional moons to the five already rknown, and a system of faint rings around the gas giant.r
Interestingly, on this day, Pluto's discovery was also announced. rWhile astronomer's had known about it's existence for a month, they rdecided to keep mum on it so that the news co-incided with Uranus’s rdebut.r
The first pope from Americar
On March 13, 2013, Argentinian born Jorge Mario Bergoglio became ther 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church and the first one from America.r He took on the papal title of Francis after St. Francis of Assisi of rItaly. Born on December 17, 1936, Bergoglio was ordained priest in rDecember 1969 and in 1988 became archbishop of Buenos Aires. Three yearsr later, in February 2001, he was elevated to cardinal by Pope John Paul rII and named the cardinal-priest of Saint Robert Bellarmino.r
Interestingly following the death of Pope John Paul II in April r2005, Bergoglio reportedly received the second-most votes in the 2005 rpapal conclave; Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) was chosen as Pope rJohn Paul's successor. After Pop Benedict XVI stepped down Bergoglio wasr chosen to succeed him. Pope Francis has since become known for his rhumility and progrssive views. Instead of adopting a conservative stand ron homosexuality, Pope Francis broke tradition when he said, “Who am I rto judge?” He also has not discredited the Big Bang Theory and in rSeptember 2015 announced that priests would be allowed to forgive the rsin of abortion. In December 2013 he was named as Person of the Year by rTime magazine and the following year was also nominated for the 2014 rNobel Peace Prize.
