History world and US Bizzare Facts - Page 1

Bizarre Fact #1:
Did you know...
Abdul Kassam Ismael, Grand Vizier of Persia in the tenth century, carried his library with him wherever he went. Four hundred camels carried the 117,000 volumes.

Bizarre Fact #2:
Did you know...
About two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Druids used mistletoe to celebrate that winter was approaching.

Bizarre Fact #3:
Did you know...
After the U.S Civil War, about 33%-50% of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit.

Bizarre Fact #4:
Did you know...
Among the Buganda people of Uganda, the widows of a deceased king have the honour of drinking beer in which the dead king's entrails have been cleaned.

Bizarre Fact #5:
Did you know...
Arabic numerals were not invented by Arabs, but were invented in India by the Hindus.

Bizarre Fact #6:
Did you know...
Before 1883, the three-cent U.S. stamp was also used for advertising. The advertisment was located on the back of the stamp for various products.

Bizarre Fact #7:
Did you know...
Celtic warriors sometimes fought their battles naked, their bodies dyed blue from head to toe.

Bizarre Fact #8:
Did you know...
China is the world's oldest known continuous civilization.

Bizarre Fact #9:
Did you know...
During the 1600's, boys and girls in England wore dresses until they were about seven years old.

Bizarre Fact #10:
Did you know...
During the 16th century, newly married couples in France had to stand naked outdoors while the groom kissed the bride's left foot and big toe as part of traditional customs.

Bizarre Fact #11:
Did you know...
During the Gold Rush in 1849, some people paid as much as $100 for a simple glass of water.

Bizarre Fact #12:
Did you know...
Edward VIII did not become the King of England as he abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee.

Bizarre Fact #13:
Did you know...
Ever since 1944 the town of Bunol, which is near Valencia, Spain has a festival called "Tomatina." The festival occurs once a year on the last Wednesday of the month of August. People have a huge food fight and throw tomatoes at each other, and this festival is considered the world's largest food fight.

Bizarre Fact #14:
Did you know...
From 1526 to 1707, the first six Mogul emperors of India ruled in unbroken succession from father to son.

Bizarre Fact #15:
Did you know...
Great Britain was the first country to issue postage stamps in 1840.

Bizarre Fact #16:
Did you know...
Hitler was voted Time Magazine's man of the year in 1938.

Bizarre Fact #17:
Did you know...
In 1281, the Mongol army of Kublai Khan tried to invade Japan but were ravaged by a hurricane that destroyed their fleet.

Bizarre Fact #18:
Did you know...
In 1685, New France used playing cards as currency because of the shortage of coins.

Bizarre Fact #19:
Did you know...
In 1693, the postage rate of a letter was determined by how much light went through the letter. The less the light went through the letter the more expensive the rate would be. This technique was referred to as candling.

Bizarre Fact #20:
Did you know...
In 1755, the first Canadian post office opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The fist Deputy Postmaster General was American inventor Benjamin Franklin who was later dismissed for sympathizing with the American revolutionary cause.

Bizarre Fact #21:
Did you know...
In 1796, Napoleon was only 26 years old when he took command of the French Army of Italy.

Bizarre Fact #22:
Did you know...
In 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna held an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg.

Bizarre Fact #23:
Did you know...
In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was first established for the specific purpose to combat the counterfeiting of money.

Bizarre Fact #24:
Did you know...
In 1917, Margaret Sanger was jailed for one month for establishing the first birth control clinic.

Bizarre Fact #25:
Did you know...
In 1926, a waiter in Budapest committed suicide. He left his suicide note in the form of a crossword and the police had to get help from the public to solve it.

Bizarre Fact #26:
Did you know...
In 1930, Ellen Church became the world's first airline stewardess.

Bizarre Fact #27:
Did you know...
In 1982, Larry Walters tied 24 weather balloons to his lawn chair in Los Angeles and climbed to an altitude of 16,000 feet.

Bizarre Fact #28:
Did you know...
In 410 A.D. Alaric the Visigoth demanded that Rome give him three thousand pounds of pepper as ransom.

Bizarre Fact #29:
Did you know...
In the 1550's, the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, embarrassingly left to travel for seven years because he had accidently farted when he had bowed down to Queen Elizabeth I. When he returned the Queen said to him, "My Lord, I had forgot the fart."

Bizarre Fact #30:
Did you know...
In the first century, people used to drink goats milk to sweeten their breath.

Bizarre Fact #31:
Did you know...
In the Great Fire of London in 1666, only six people were killed.

Bizarre Fact #32:
Did you know...
In the marriage ceremony of the Ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.

Bizarre Fact #33:
Did you know...
In the spring of 1975, a baby in Detroit fell 14 stories and landed on Joseph Figlock, who was walking below. A few years later it happened again. Figlock and both babies survived.

Bizarre Fact #34:
Did you know...
In the summer of 1858, the smell of the sewage in the Thames River in London was so bad that the Members of Parliament had to leave from the chamber of the House of Commons. This was a result of two million people dumping all their sewage into the river.

Bizarre Fact #35:
Did you know...
In the Victoria era, red tulips were a declaration of love.

Bizarre Fact #36:
Did you know...
In the year 1900, for a women to be a telephone operator she had to be between the ages of 17 and 26 and not be married.

Bizarre Fact #37:
Did you know...
Incas used to create pots in the shape of peanuts that were highly prized.

Bizarre Fact #38:
Did you know...
It is estimated that by the end of 2000, there has been 142,600 tonnes of gold mined in the world.

Bizarre Fact #39:
Did you know...
Lighthouse keepers were nicknamed "wickies" because they tended the lamps wick.

Bizarre Fact #40:
Did you know...
On Sunday, December 7, 1941 at 7:55 AM, the attack on Pearl Harbor commenced.

Bizarre Fact #41:
Did you know...
People drank gold powder mixed in with water in medieval Europe to relieve pain from sore limbs.

Bizarre Fact #42:
Did you know...
Pilgrims did not eat potatoes for Thanksgiving as they thought they were poisonous.

Bizarre Fact #43:
Did you know...
St. Patrick explained the Holy Trinity to King Laoghaire, using the shamrock to illustrate the trinity.

Bizarre Fact #44:
Did you know...
St. Patrick never really drove out any snakes from Ireland. This story was an analogy of how he drove paganism out of Ireland.

Bizarre Fact #45:
Did you know...
Talc was used by cavemen 15,000 years ago as an ingredient added to make paint.

Bizarre Fact #46:
Did you know...
The "Star Spangled Banner" did not become a national anthem until 1931. It was designated by an Act of Congress.

Bizarre Fact #47:
Did you know...
The average life span of a peasant during the medieval ages was 25 years.

Bizarre Fact #48:
Did you know...
The Bank of America was originally called the Bank of Italy until the founder, Amedeo Giannini, changed the name in 1930.

Bizarre Fact #49:
Did you know...
The Canandian province of New Brunswick had a bloodless war with the US state of Maine in 1839.

Bizarre Fact #50:
Did you know...
The destruction of the Berlin Wall began when private citizens began to demolish entire sections of the Wall without interference from government officials on November 9, 1989.