Every school kid knows that Joan of Arc was tried and convicted for heresy. What is less known is the fact that Joan had an older sister, Marie, who  greatly influenced the French culture and cuisine by inventing what has since become known as Steak Tartar. The story behind her culinary dish has been handed down from generation to generation. While younger sister Joan was being condemned for heresy and taken to the stake to be burned alive  in front of the masses, Marie was cooking beaf steaks for her family. A concerned friend of Joan’s came running into the house and informed them that their sister and daughter was about to be burned to death in public and that they should come immediately.
“But I haven’t had my dinner yet” cried father Pierre, who was considered a bit light in the head.
“Here eat this” answered Marie, shoving him a plate of undercooked steak on it. “Ta Ta!” she called back at him as she hurried through the front door. The rest, of course  is history.

Other famous historical celebrities had equally important siblings who unfortunately have been forgotten over the years. Mahatma Gandhi’s  younger brother Madur left India after the assassination and made his home in the East End of London. A more material minded person than his brother, Madur Gandhi made of the by now recognizable family name in order to make his fortune by flooding the European market with cheap Indian restaurants. Never, however, accepting the tragic fate of his elder brother, he got his revenge by offering mild curry dishes to the restaurant’s menu. The curry, of course, was anything but. Another family member was employed to stand outside the restaurant, take candid photographs of the  suffering victims and sell them to Japanese tourists.

Biblical history tells us every detail of the lives of Moses and Aaron, but nowhere in the Bible is there any mention of there younger brother Irvine. Though believed to be a talented magician, Irvine was considered the black sheep of the family. Recent theological research paints an interesting picture of a black eyed Hebrew who performed tricks at local Bar Mitzvahs and weddings. However, when Moses took the children of Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, Irvine stayed behind, sure that forty years in the desert would do nothing for his career. Irvine continued to perform for the Egyptians but unfortunately his new act of Hide the Mummy never really caught on.

Elvis Presley died in 1977. In  his biography  “The Hound Dog that was Returned to its Sender”, Frank Jonathan states that several of the people he interviewed, who were present at  the funeral, noticed a plump middle aged man wearing dark sunglasses and a shiny white suit, standing in the background. This was undoubtedly  Elvis’ twin brother Jack. It is now believed that Jack Presley was purposely hidden from the public eye after Elvis’ death so as to help substantiate rumors that The King was indeed still alive. This ploy helped keep the “dead but maybe alive” star  a newsworthy item for decades to come, thus helping boost sales of records and memorabilia which kept the remaining members of the Presley family in the style they had grown accustomed to. Over the years Jack Presley made surprise appearances around the globe, on desert islands, at Elvis lookalike contests and in bars everywhere. Jack finally joined his twin brother in 2002 when he was found dead in the back of the  Ghetto Bar in Acapulco on Karaoke Night, after having just concluded yet another painfully out of tune rendition of Are You Lonesome Tonight.

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