History world and US Bizzare Facts - Page 4

Bizarre Fact #151:
Did you know...
In a tradition dating to the beginning of the Westminster system of government, the bench in the middle of a Westminster parliament is two and a half sword lengths long. This was so the government and opposition couldn't have a go at each other if it all got a bit heated.

Bizarre Fact #152:
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In ancient Greece, courtesans wore sandals with nails studded into the sole so that their footprints would leave the message "Follow me".

Bizarre Fact #153:
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In ancient times, any Japanese who tried to leave his homeland was summarily put to death. In the 1630's, a decree in Japan forbade the building of any large ocean-worthy ships to deter defection.

Bizarre Fact #154:
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In Britain, the law was changed in 1789 to make the method of execution hanging. Prior to that, burning was the modus operandi. The last female to be executed by burning in England was Christian Bowman. Her crime was making counterfeit coins.

Bizarre Fact #155:
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In France - Captain Sarret made the first parachute jump from an airplane in 1918.

Bizarre Fact #156:
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In Northern parts of China it was once a common practice to shave pigs. When the evenings got cold the Chinese would take a pig to bed with them for warmth and found it more comfortable if the pig was clean-shaven.

Bizarre Fact #157:
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In the 15th century, scholars in China compiled a set of encyclopedia that contained 11,095 volumes.

Bizarre Fact #158:
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In the late 30's, a man named Abe Pickens of Cleveland, Ohio, attempted to promote world peace by placing personal calls to various country leaders. He managed to contact Mussolini, Hirohito, Franco and Hitler (Hitler, who didn't understand English, transferred him to an aide). He spent$10,000 to "give peace a chance."

Bizarre Fact #159:
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In the original architectural design, the French Cathedral of Chartes had six spires (It was built with two spires).

Bizarre Fact #160:
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Incan soldiers invented the process of freeze-drying food. The process was primitive but effective — potatoes would be left outside to freeze overnight, then thawed and stomped on to remove excess water.

Bizarre Fact #161:
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India tested its first nuclear bomb in 1974.

Bizarre Fact #162:
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Ishi had made it very clear before he died that he did not want to be autopsied. However, his wishes were ignored and his body was autopsied and the brain removed and sent to the Smithsonian, where scientists were collecting brains for a study of brain size and race. After 83 years, the Smithsonian is finally returning the brain of Ishi to his closest relatives so they can bury his remains.

Bizarre Fact #163:
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Ishi was believed to be the last of the Yahi, a tribe of Native Americans living in California that were wiped out by disease and massacres. In the early part of the twentieth century (1911), he became a sensation when he wandered out of the woods near Oroville. Ishi was taken to the University of California at San Francisco where he lived and worked (as a janitor) in the anthropology museum, helping researchers to document the Yahi language, until his death from tuberculosis in 1916. His name, Ishi, was given to him by the anthropologists. Linguists believe it was his tribe's word for "man."

Bizarre Fact #164:
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Ishi's remains will be given to representative of the Redding Rancheria and the Pit River Tribe, two Native American groups from Northern California. Ishi was actually a Yahi-Yana Indian. Smithsonian officials decided that the two tribes were the closest living relatives and truly represented the Yana descendants.

Bizarre Fact #165:
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It is a well known trivial fact that Neil Armstrong was the first man to step onto the moon. However, many do not know that he stepped onto the moon with his left foot.

Bizarre Fact #166:
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It is estimated that a few years after Columbus discovered the New World, the Spaniards killed off 1.5 million Indians.

Bizarre Fact #167:
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It took 20,000 men 22 years to build the Taj Mahal.

Bizarre Fact #168:
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It took 214 crates to transport the Statue of Liberty from France to New York in 1885.

Bizarre Fact #169:
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It was only after 440 A.D. that December 25 was celebrated as the birth date of Jesus Christ.

Bizarre Fact #170:
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Jahangir, a 17th-century Indian Mughal ruler, had 5,000 women in his harem and 1,000 young boys. He also owned 12,000 elephants.

Bizarre Fact #171:
Did you know...
John Hancock was the only one of fifty signers of the Declaration of Independence who actually signed it on July 4.

Bizarre Fact #172:
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John has a long mustache was the coded-signal used by the French Resistance in WWII to mobilize their forces once the Allies had landed on the Normandy beaches.

Bizarre Fact #173:
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John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.

Bizarre Fact #174:
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Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the fathers of communism, wrote 500 articles for the "New York Tribune" from 1851 to 1862.

Bizarre Fact #175:
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Karl Marx was targeted for assassination when he met with two Prussian officers in his house in Cologne in 1848. Marx had friends among the German labor unions, and he was considered a threat to the autocrats. Dressed in his bathrobe, he forced the officers out at the point of a revolver, which, it turned out, was not loaded.

Bizarre Fact #176:
Did you know...
Karl Marx was targeted for assassination when he met with two Prussian officers in his house in Cologne in 1848. Marx had friends among the German labor unions, and he was considered a threat to the autocrats. Dressed in his bathrobe, he forced the officers out at the point of a revolver, which, it turned out, was not loaded.

Bizarre Fact #177:
Did you know...
King Charles VII, who was assassinated in 1167, was the first Swedish king with the name of Charles. Charles I, II, III, IV, V, never existed. No one knows why. To add to the mystery, almost 300 years went by before there was a Charles VIII (1448-57).

Bizarre Fact #178:
Did you know...
King Tut's tomb contained FOUR coffins. The third coffin was made from 2,500 pounds of gold. And in today's market is worth approximately $13,000,000.

Bizarre Fact #179:
Did you know...
Lafayette was a major general in the United States at the age of 19. Lafayette's whole name takes up an entire line on a page: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

Bizarre Fact #180:
Did you know...
Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

Bizarre Fact #181:
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Leonardo DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pinewood, 77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in) in the year 1506.

Bizarre Fact #182:
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Limelight was how we lit the stage before electricity was invented. Basically, illumination was produced by heating blocks of lime until they glowed.

Bizarre Fact #183:
Did you know...
Louis XIV had forty personal wigmakers and almost 1000 wigs.

Bizarre Fact #184:
Did you know...
Louis XV was the first person to use an elevator: in 1743 his "flying chair" carried him between the floors of the Versailles palace.

Bizarre Fact #185:
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Louisa May Alcott, author of the classic "Little Women," hated kids. She only wrote the book because her publisher asked her to.

Bizarre Fact #186:
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Many hundreds of years ago when the well-known style of Irish dancing began in the country side of Ireland, most houses of the poor - and that means most houses - only had a dirt floor which was not a lot of use for dancing on if you were holding a ceildh (pronounced kay-lee and meaning party - more or less). So in order to make the dancing easier the owners of the house which was holding the party would take the doors off their hinges and lay them on the floor. There was just enough room on each door for two people to dance, providing they did not fling their arms about - hence the original name for Irish dancing - Door Dancing.

Bizarre Fact #187:
Did you know...
Marco Polo was born on the Croatian island of Korcula (pronounced Kor-Chu-La).

Bizarre Fact #188:
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Minna Braun, a nurse in Berlin, Germany, was pronounced dead from an overdose of sleeping pills and, as was customary in suicides, was buried in an open grave (The next day the coffin's nailed lid was opened to permit identification of the body), and the girl was found to be alive. She recovered and returned to her nursing duties. (Oct. 28, 1919)

Bizarre Fact #189:
Did you know...
More than 5,000 years ago, the Chinese discovered how to make silk from silkworm cocoons. For about 3,000 years, the Chinese kept this discovery a secret. Because poor people could not afford real silk, they tried to make other cloth look silky. Women would beat on cotton with sticks to soften the fibers. Then they rubbed it against a big stone to make it shiny. The shiny cotton was called "chintz." Because chintz was a cheaper copy of silk, calling something "chintzy" means it is cheap and not of good quality.

Bizarre Fact #190:
Did you know...
More than 5,600 men died while building the Panama Canal. Today, it takes more than 8,000 workers to run and maintain the canal. It takes a ship an average of 33 hours to travel the length of the canal.

Bizarre Fact #191:
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Most people know that the reign of Czar Nicholas II of Russia ended in tragedy, but few know that's how it started as well. At his coronation, presents were given to all the people who attended. As the gifts were being handed out, a rumor started that there weren't enough to go around and a stampede started. Hundreds of women and children were killed.

Bizarre Fact #192:
Did you know...
Napoleon constructed his battle plans in a sandbox.

Bizarre Fact #193:
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Napoleon took 14,000 French decrees and simplified them into a unified set of 7 laws. This was the first time in modern history that a nation's laws applied equally to all citizens. Napoleon's 7 laws are so impressive that by 1960 more than 70 governments had patterned their own laws after them or used them verbatim.

Bizarre Fact #194:
Did you know...
Napoleon, the famous French general, was not born in France. He was born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica of Italian parents.

Bizarre Fact #195:
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Napoleon's nemesis, the Duke of Wellington, was an accomplished yo-yo player. At that time, the yo-yo was known as a "bandalore."

Bizarre Fact #196:
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New York was the first state to require the licensing of motor vehicles. The law was adopted in 1901.

Bizarre Fact #197:
Did you know...
New York's Central Park opened in 1876.

Bizarre Fact #198:
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New Zealand was the first place in the world to allow women to vote. The state of South Australia was next, in 1894, and it was also the first place to allow women to stand for parliament.

Bizarre Fact #199:
Did you know...
No automobile made after 1924 should be designated as antique.

Bizarre Fact #200:
Did you know...
Olive oil was used for washing the body in the ancient Mediterranean world.