RASHI, RAMBAM and RAMALAMADINGDONG
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
A Quizbook of Jewish Trivia Facts & Fun
Four-time Grammy Award winner Olivia Newton-John died last week. Newton-John first gained fame with a “girl next door” image while singing such songs as I Honestly Love You and Have You Never Been Mellow. Her image took a turn for the wilder when she was cast as Sandy Olsson in the movie Grease, starring opposite John Travolta as Danny Zuko. The soundtrack of the movie yielded two number 1 hits for the duo, You’re the One That I Want and Summer Nights. Newton-John followed this success with the double-platinum album Physical and the single of the same name which tied the record for most weeks spent at number 1 in the rock era. Olivia Newton-John was not Jewish, though she had Jewish ancestry, including what renowned individual?
Olivia Newton John op Schiphol, Bestanddeelnr 930-0131 by Bert Verhoeff / Anefo, CC0, is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A. One of her grandfathers was physicist Max Born, who fled Nazi Germany in 1933, settling in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he continued his study of quantum mechanics, solid-state physics and optics. In 1954, Born won the Nobel Prize in physics.
B. One of her ancestors, from centuries earlier, was Sir Isaac Newton, the English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and author. In 2005 Britain’s Royal Society (which had once been led by Newton), in answer to the question of who had the greater effect on the history of science–Newton or Albert Einstein–selected Newton.
C. Her maternal grandfather was Sidney Myer, a businessman and philanthropist who was born in Russia and emigrated to Melbourne, Australia at the turn of the twentieth century. Myer initially sold haberdashery to miners as an itinerant peddler, and eventually parlayed that work into the creation of a major retail empire in Australia.
D. Her paternal grandfather was Sir Alan Newton, a noted Australian surgeon of the early 20th century who was one of the founders of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Newton was knighted by King Edward VIII in 1936 and went on to serve in World War II as chairman of the Medical Equipment Control Committee. He was also instrumental in promoting the manufacture and use of penicillin in Australia.
E. She was descended from a Sephardic Jew who lived in Toledo, Spain. The ancestor, Figureroa Newton-Juan fled Spain during the Inquisition and sailed with other Jews to Australia, where they settled in Sydney. The Jews established a small synagogue, a mikveh, and a kosher butcher. Looking to enhance the lives of his community, Olivia’s ancestor started a kosher cookie company, creating a treat which he named after himself, the Fig Newton.
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