Stephen Wood
Articles From This Author
Weird and Wondrous: Evolution of Super Bowl Halftime Show
Duke Fields was only 19 in 1967 when he played in the halftime show at Super Bowl I between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers. A veteran of big shows with Grambling State University's renowned marching band, he remembers looking into the stands at Los Angeles Coliseum ...read more
Why Did the Beatles Break Up?
The four Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—changed music forever in a relatively brief timespan, bursting onto the scene in 1963 with "Please Please Me" and recording their last albums, "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road," in 1969. The foursome came ...read more
Why the First Gay Olympics Was a Watershed Moment in Sports
Singer Tina Turner was the main draw at the opening ceremony in San Francisco for the first Gay Games in 1982, but city supervisor Doris Ward may have received the biggest reaction from the crowd. “She said, ‘I’d like to invite you all to the first-ever Gay Olympics,’” remembers ...read more
What Is the Monarch's Role in British Government?
Queen Elizabeth II was one of the most famous and admired people on Earth. As nominal leader of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022—the country's longest-serving monarch—she exerted influence felt the world over. But despite such enormous impact, the Queen held no real power in ...read more
When California (Briefly) Became Its Own Nation
At dawn on June 14, 1846, a ragtag group of about 30 gun-toting Americans entered Sonoma, a small town in the Mexican territory of Alta California. Prepared to take the town by force, they instead sat for brandy with Col. Mariano Vallejo of the Mexican army and accepted his ...read more
5 Things You May Not Know About Leap Day
Nearly every four years, we add an extra day to the calendar in the form of February 29, also known as Leap Day. Put simply, these additional 24 hours are built into the calendar to ensure that it stays in line with the Earth’s movement around the Sun. While the modern calendar ...read more