Dominic Monaghan

By Ryan

When you think of Dominic Monaghan, you probably say “Oh yeah, he’s that guy from Lord of the Rings,” or “Oh yeah, he’s that guy from Lost,”. I’m going to tell you a bit more about him. We’ll go through some of his early life, then learn about  some career stuff he did, find out some things he does when he isn’t working, and finally end with some facts about an amazing person.

Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan was born on December 8th, 1976, in Western Berlin, Germany to Maureen and Austin Monaghan. Dominic’s family was constantly moving to different German cities about every four years. When Dominic was about eleven, his family moved to Stockport, England where he went to St. Anne’s Roman Catholic High School and Aquinas College. 

Now Dominic’s career is next. Dominic got his start at Hetty Wainthropp Investigates as Hetty’s sidekick Geoffrey Shawcross. He was also in Hostile Waters as Sasha in 1997. Next, he was in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as Meriadoc Brandybuck, or Merry. Dominic also narrated Ringers: Lord of the Fans and played Charlie Pace in Lost. In 2009, he played Chris Bradley in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In 2010 he was in the music video for Eminem’s Love the Way you Lie. He also has his own show titled Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan. In 2025, he co-starred in Billy and Dom Eat the World with fellow LOTR castmate Billy Boyd.

If you are wondering what Dominic does in his free time, then this is the paragraph for you. Dominic likes to be outside or play League of Legends with Billy. He has a leaf-mantis named Gizmo, a black widow named Witchitar, and an albino snake named Blink. He also likes to host parties at his house with his cast members. On his right arm, he has the word “nine” written in the language of Tengwar, an artificial language in The Lord of the Rings. He also has “Life imitates art”, an Oscar Wilde quote.

Next, let’s look at some random facts about Dominic. He was married to Evangeline Lilly for three years, before getting divorced. During production of The Lord of the Rings, he auditioned for Frodo, but Elijah Wood got the part and he played Merry instead. Did you know that Dominic had acrophobia (fear of heights)? He got rid of it by going bungee jumping with Orlando Bloom while filming. While he was filming Wild things with Dominic Monaghan, he found a spider in Laos. His guide, Dr. Peter Jäger, decided to name the spider Ctenus Monaghani, after Dominic. Dominic bought a mango forest in India to help protect the environment. He also speaks fluent German.

We’ve finally come to the end of this, so I hope you learned a lot about Dominic Monaghan. I enjoyed taking you through his early life, film career, some of his hobbies, and some facts I found entertaining. When I was researching him, I had a lot of fun and learned things that I would never have thought about. Anyway, thanks for reading and have fun! 

Sources:

• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Monaghan

• IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0597480/bio/

• Billy and Dom Eat the World

 

Orville Wright

BY: RYAN

The wright Brothers. People We think of as " Oh, they just invented the modern airplane. There isn't any other really important things about them". Well, you might think that, but there is truly a great variety of things about them that you most likely didn't know. I, however will just be exploring the life of Orville Wright. We will delve into the fascinating history of how he, and his older brother Wilbur, developed the first airplane. I will begin with the early years of his career then move on to details about the plane. Then finish with some fun facts from Orville's life.

Now, like I said, we are going to start with the early years for Orville. Orville Wright was born in Dayton, Ohio, on August 19, 1871, to Susan and Milton Wright. Orville also had four siblings, Reuchlin, Lorin, Kathrine, and you guessed it, Wilbur. Orville and Wilbur were named after Orville Dewey and Wilbur Fisk, who were clergymen there father adored. When the Wright brothers ere young, they received a toy flying machine that they named "Bat". It was this toy that inspired their passion for aviation. The young Wrights played with the toy so much that it broke, witch made the boys ask themselves " Why won't it fly?" They all the time when they were not at school or working on homework building tis so called "Big Bat". They spent a lot of time working on this "Big Bat", so much we are going to fast forward a bit to the day they launched it. One of the Wrights let go of this flying machine while the other twisted it. The Wrights let go of the flying machine and it flew up for about two seconds, then fell straight to the ground. Their mother, Susan, said that they should continue trying to make an airplane. Wilbur simply said " No, mother, we do not know enough about flying machines. Also Orville and I do not have enough money."

We now go to Wilbur and Orville's bike shop. Wright Cycle Company, and learn about what they did there. Wright Cycle Company was established in 1892, providing many bicycles to the world of the late 1800's and the early 1900's Every penny they made there funded the production of the plane. The bike shop also provided good education for plane building, mechanical skills, and business experience.

Let's move on to a different topic: Orville and the plane The plane prototype was having a difficult time steering. Orville was the one who managed to fix this problem. I found it really entertaining how he solved this problem. One night, he had way too many cups of coffee, couldn't sleep, and stayed up all night figuring out the problem. Orville, however, was not the one who completed the first flight. To decide who piloted, Orville and Wilbur flipped a coin and Orville lost. Orville was also involved in a terrible plane crash in 1908. Photographer W.S. Clime said "There was a crack like a pistol shot above. I saw a piece of a propeller blade twirling off southward. For a brief period it kept on it's course, then swerved to the left and with a swoop backwards it fell for halve the distance to the ground." The next year, 1909, Orville went on a flight with Lieutenant Frank Lahm as passenger, for a world record of one hour and twelve minuets.

Now my last topic is just going to be some random fact's about Orville. Did you know that Orville played the mandolin? Or that when the Wright Company was created Wilbur was the President and Orville the vice president? Well, now you do. Orville was also pretty good at making biscuits and candies. Orville lived to be 76 years old, passing away on January 30, 1948. He also helped start the career of African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Orville was a very interesting person to study. I was really amazed to learn all the things he did to help the first plane in the air. It was also fascinating to learn some of the personal fact's about him, like playing the mandolin. One of my favorite fact's about him was that he fixed the steering problem because he had too much coffee. I hope you enjoyed learning about Orville Wright as much as I did.

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