Spelling bee

A spelling bee (also sometimes a "Spelling B") is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States, and spelling bee events, along with variants, are now also held in some other countries around the world. The first winner of an official spelling bee was Frank Neuhauser, who won the 1st National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in 1925 at age eleven.

Etymology

Historically the word bee has been used to describe a get-together where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, a quilting bee, or an apple bee. Its etymology is unclear but possibly derived from the Old English word bēn, meaning prayer.

History

The earliest known evidence of the phrase spelling bee in print dates back to 1850, although an earlier name, spelling match, has been traced back to 1808. A key impetus for the contests was Noah Webster's spelling books. First published in 1786 and known colloquially as "The Blue-backed Speller," Webster's spelling books were an essential part of the curriculum of all elementary school children in the United States for five generations. Now the key reference for the contests is the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary.

Jimmy Kimmel

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, producer, writer, comedian, voice actor, musician and radio personality. He is the host and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC in 2003. Kimmel also hosted the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 23, 2012.

Prior to hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel has also produced such shows as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.

Early life

Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the neighborhood of Mill Basin the eldest of three children of Joan (née Iacono), a homemaker, and James John Kimmel, an IBM executive.

He is, and was raised, Catholic, and as a child served as an altar boy. Kimmel's mother is of Italian ancestry; two of his paternal great-great-grandparents were German emigrants, and his family's surname was "Kümmel" several generations back. The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old. He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show made its debut on January 26, 2003, as the first program to air immediately following ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXXVII. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Jackhole Productions in association with ABC Studios. Having aired for more than twice as long as either the The Dick Cavett Show (1969–1975) or Politically Incorrect (1997–2002), it is the longest running late-night talk show in ABC's history at 13 years and counting as of 15 February 2016.

For its first ten years, the show aired at either the Midnight or 12:05 AM timeslot before moving to 11:35 pm ET beginning on January 8, 2013 to more directly compete with The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman while bumping the ABC nightly news program Nightline to 12:35 am ET. Following the subsequent retirements of Leno in February 2014 and Letterman in May 2015, Kimmel is now the longest serving host in network late-night television.

Tallahassee Democrat

The Tallahassee Democrat is a daily broadsheet newspaper. It covers the area centered on Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida, as well as adjacent Gadsden County, Jefferson County, and Wakulla County. The newspaper is owned by Gannett Co., Inc., which also owns the Pensacola News Journal, the Fort Myers News-Press, and Florida Today, along with many other news outlets.

Knight Newspapers bought the Tallahassee Democrat in 1965. The Democrat was acquired by Gannett in August 2005 in a newspaper swap with Knight Ridder.

History

The first issue of the Weekly True Democrat was published March 3, 1905. Founder, editor and publisher John G. Collins, a career printer and journalist, said the name came from the paper's promised dedication to "the true and tried principles of Old Time Democracy."

Three years later, in 1908, Collins contracted influenza and sold the newspaper to Milton Asbury Smith, an Alabama newspaperman and entrepreneur. Smith, an enthusiastic civic booster, operated the paper for 21 years. Smith guided the paper through a couple of name changes -- the Semi-Weekly True Democrat, 1912-1913; Weekly True Democrat, 1914-1915 -- and initiated the change to a daily newspaper. Smith published daily during 1913 biannual session of the Florida Legislature, then resumed daily publication during the 1915 legislative session. Smith converted the paper permanently into an afternoon daily newspaper after the 1915 session and the next year adopted the name, The Daily Democrat, 1916-1949.