Richard Cordray (born 1959) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who has served as the State Treasurer of Ohio. In November 2008, he was elected to serve as Ohio Attorney General starting January 8, 2009, for the remainder of the unexpired term ending January 2011. Prior to his election as State Treasurer, Cordray served as the Treasurer of Franklin County, Ohio. He has previously served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives (1991–1993) and as the first Ohio State Solicitor (1993–1994). Cordray was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, 1981–83. Later, he was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Law Review, and subsequently served as a law clerk for the United States Supreme Court. In 1987 he became an undefeated five-time Jeopardy! champion. In 1993 he was appointed by the office of the Ohio Attorney General as the first Ohio State Solicitor. His experience as Solicitor has led to him arguing six cases before the United States Supreme Court, where he had previously clerked. In 1994, Cordray left his appointed position to pursue private practice law before becoming Franklin County Treasurer in 2002. Cordray won re-election as Franklin County Treasurer before being elected State Treasurer in 2006. Throughout most of his career he has continued to teach courses at law schools.

The Alamanni, an alliance of west Germanic tribes, crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers to invade the Roman Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamanni)

Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a regnal name upon elevation to the papacy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_II)

The Reconquista: The Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, expelled Abu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XII of Granada, the last of the Moorish rulers, from the Iberian Peninsula.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_XII_of_Granada)

In the largest espionage case in United States history, 33 members of a German spy ring led by former South African Boer soldier and adventurer Fritz Joubert Duquesne were convicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Joubert_Duquesne)

The Soviet spacecraft Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, was launched by the Vostok rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1)

contretemps (n) An unforeseen, inopportune, or embarrassing event.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/contretemps)

When people grow wise in one direction, they are sure to make it easier for themselves to grow wise in other directions as well. On the other hand, when they split up knowledge, concentrate on their own field, and scorn and ignore other fields, they grow less wise — even in their own field. --Isaac Asimov