Fact a day - Interesting and curious historic facts and trivia

Book facts
The oldest printed book in the World is believed to be "The Diamond Sutra" which bears the date 868 AD.

The Holy Bible is the biggest selling book of all time.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had a first-run print of 8.5 million copies. This is about 80 times the normal bestseller print run! (Fact for 7 Nov 2008)

Poppy Appeal
The first official Legion Poppy Day was held in Britain on 11 November 1921, inspired by the poem In Flanders' Fields written by John McCrae.

The Poppy Appeal raised almost £30 million in 2007. (Fact for 9 Nov 2008)

Rosetta Stone
In 1799 a group of French engineers from Napoleon's army were preparing to demolish an ancient wall outside a small Egyptian village of Rosette (Raschid), when a young officer, Pierre-Francois Bouchard found a block of black basalt stone that was inscribed with the same message on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek) using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek).

The Rosetta Stone, dating from 196BC, was the key that unlocked the mysteries of Egyptian hieroglyphics. (Fact for 18 Nov 2008)

Phones
Did you know it’s a criminal offence to use a telephone without a license, under the Telecommunications Act 1984.

Luckily for us, the public has been granted a group license to have a phone by Ofcom - and we didn’t even have to apply! (Fact for 21 Nov 2008)
Ice skating
The ice skating trend in Europe was started by the Vikings. They were expert skaters using Reindeer and Oxen bones as blades. They spread their skill across Europe during their expeditions. (Fact for 25 Nov 2008)
Monuments
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. (Fact for 15 Dec 2008)
Dear John
Back in 1377 a total of 35 per cent of English men were named John. At least they could recycle "Dear John" letters! (Fact for 6 Nov 2008)

Penny for the Guy?
Burning effigies started in the 18th century although Guy Fawkes Bonfire celebrations started on 5th November 1604. At first the effigies were a range of Guy Fawkes, the Pope and the Devil.

The tradition in certain areas of England remains strong. Sussex in particular has a series of flaming torch processions around Lewis and on Bonfire night burns topical effigies - previous years include Tony Blair, Osama Bin Laden and a GM Potato (fact for 5 Nov 2008)

Death Sentence
The first recorded death sentence is believed to be during the 16th Century BC in Egypt where the condemned man was accused and found guilty of magic. (Fact for 4 Nov 2008)
Blue Peter
The BBC children’s television show Blue Peter is 50 years old and is the oldest running children’s TV programme in the world.

The show issues badges to children who have written in with a particularly interesting letter or poem. The badges were introduced in 1963, and are white with a Blue ship. Did you know there are four other coloured badges: silver, green, orange and gold. Gold badges, the highest accolade cannot be earned but are only given out for outstanding feats or contributions.

There is another badge - Purple, for children who have won the opportunity to visit the show behind the scenes. (Fact for 17 Oct 2008)

Romantic Road
The first toll motorway to be built in Britain, a 20-mile stretch of the M6 is a very romantic road. There are 2.5 million pulped Mills & Boon novels helping to bind the surface of the Midlands toll road and make it quieter and more environmentally friendly! (Fact for 13 Oct 2008)

Harold Macmillan
During the seven years of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government he had a total of 35 ministers, including seven cabinet ministers, who were related to him by marriage. (Fact for 9 Oct 2008)

Early Explorer
Chinese Admiral, Zheng He was one of the early explorers and traveled from China as far as India, Arabia and East Africa. His expeditions between 1405 and 1433 saw him take ostriches, zebras and giraffes back to China.

Some Chinese historians believe he may even have reached America. (Fact for 7 Oct 2008)

Christopher Columbus
Although the great explorer Christopher Columbus gets all the praise for his discovery of the Americas he would probably not have ventured west of Spain without the persuasion of his brother Bartholomew who traveled with him on his explorations.
Although Columbus was the first modern European to reach the Americas it is believed he had heard Viking stories of a land to the west. (Fact for 2 Oct 2008)

Popcorn
Archaeologists have established that popcorn dates back to the Aztecs! - Without cinemas it’s a surprise it took off! (Fact for 28 Sept 2008)

Dueling
Dueling first became officially recognised in 1777 when a committee of Irishmen drew up the dueling code that would come to be used widely throughout Europe and America.
In Paraguay, like many countries, it is illegal to participate in a duel, however bizarrely it is legal if the participants and both registered blood donors! (Fact for 26 Sept 2008)

Package holidays
The infamous Englishman Mr. Thomas Cook is credited with organising the first package trip back in 1841! He took 500 travellers to a nearby town and charged them a fixed price, which included the train fare and a meal. He followed this up and in 1845 he sold the first package tour to Europe and by 1866 his company, of the same name, offered trips to America. (Fact for 24 Sept 2008)

Oldest family tree
Scientists in Germany have traced the ancestors of two friends from neighbouring towns to a skeleton from a cave in Germany's Soese valley, discovered in 1993.

The caves had 40 well-preserved Neolithic skeletons and the two friends DNA matched one of the 3,000-year-old Bronze Age caveman's DNA making the skeleton that of their great grandfather 120 times removed. (Fact for 23 Sept 2008)

Caligula
The Roman Emperor Caligula who ruled the Roman Empire from 37AD to 41AD appointed Incitatus to Consul, one of the most powerful positions in the Empire So what's the surprise? Incitatus was his favourite horse! (Fact for 7 Sept 2008)

Boudicca
Archaeologists believe they have located the grave of Boudicca, who led the Brits in revolt against the Roman invasion and rule. The grave is believed to be under King's Cross-station in London- possibly exactly under Platform 8! (Fact for 6 Sept 2008)

Long lasting food

Archaeologists in Egypt have tasted the honey found in the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs. The honey has been edible and is now thought to be the only food that never goes off! (Fact for 30 Aug 2008)

Cutty Sark

The merchant ship the Cutty Sark took its name from the Robert Burns Poem Tam O’Shanter where a beautiful witch was wearing a cutty sark, a short shirt of Paisley linen. (Fact for 7 Aug 2008)

Globe Theatre
William Shakespeare had to build two Globe Theatres; the first was burnt to the ground in just 2 hours on 29 June 1613. Fortunately William was able to rebuild a new theatre quickly and it re-opened in 1614.

To help the increasingly diverse audience different coloured flags were placed outside the globe to show what type of performance to expect:
ØWhite designated a comedy,
ØBlack indicated a tragedy, and
ØRed was for a Historic tale. (Fact for 28 July 2008)

Barbers pole

The traditional barbers red and white striped pole originates from the Middle Ages when they used to carry out operations too. They hung bloody cloths on a white stick outside their shops to dry. (Fact for 18 July 2008)

Panama Canal
The Panama Canal, which opened in 1914, cuts through Central America linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is a vital shipping route reducing travelling time between the oceans considerably. Unsurprisingly ships have to pay a toll, which is based on the size of the ship and the cargo.

The smallest toll ever paid was 36 cents (c18 pence) by Richard Halliburton, an athlete who swam the canal in 1928. (Fact for 16 July 2008)

London Underground
The oldest underground system in the world, the London Underground, transported 1,014 million passengers in 12 months during 2006/7. This compares to 10 million passengers in 1863/64, the early days!

The most passengers transported in one day by the system was 4.17 million on 7th December 2007. (Fact for 15 July 2008)

Tall Stories
In 1899 four journalists in Denver, USA printed a fake news story on a slow news day. The story was that China was tearing down the Great Wall of China and replacing it with a road, with American firms involved in construction.

The story grew and made it to front-page news in California before the four had to own up and the truth came out. (Fact for14 July 2008)

The ANZAC tradition
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corp were under British command at Gallipoli in 1915. On the first day at Gallipoli 2,000 of the 16,000 troops were killed.

There were however great stories of heroes, one such example was John Simpson Kirkpatrick, who was a former cane cutter. On the fateful day he was a stretcher-bearer but the shear size of the causalities meant that a team of 6 was reduced to 2. Simpson spotted an abandoned Donkey and he used the Donkey to rescue hundreds of injured soldiers until he was too finally shot and killed during the campaign.

Two recommendations for the Victoria Cross were denied allegedly because his unconventional method. (Fact for 8 July 2008)

Cambodia
Cambodia is one and a half times the size of England (or the same size as Oklahoma). Around 5% of the country is covered by Tonie Sap Lake. The highest point is Phnom Aural at 1771m in the Cardamom Mountains.

The country has been ravaged by the rule of the Khmer Rouge, which saw initial mass killings in the 1970's estimated at 3 million people followed by a guerilla war that only ended in 1998. The aftermath is still being suffered with the average annual income being just £160, which leaves Cambodians among the world’s poorest countries. (Fact for 10 July 2008)

Hindenburg
In the 1930's, the only way to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air was aboard an airship. However the airships were filled with Hydrogen and were prone to disasters. The Hindenburg was carrying over 1,000 people to Lakehurst, New Jersey on 6th May 1937 when it exploded and burst into flames as it came into land. Amazingly only 35 of the people on board were killed, along with one person on the ground.

Cyclone Tracey
In 1974 Australia's Northern Territory was hit by Cyclone Tracey, the diameter of the eye at the time it hit Darwin, the main city of the Northern Territories, was 12km with gales stretching 40 km from the centre. The Cyclone did c£300m worth of damage destroying 70% of the houses and killing 65 people. It lasted for 12 hours

Cuba
Fidel Castro became the Cuban leader in 1959. Castro was Cuba's youngest ever premier at the age of 32. Fidel Castro became patron of the Whiskers Club in Derbyshire, UK, on 23 February 1959 after promising not to shave his two-year-old beard until his country had a "good government".

War
The War of the Roses lasted for 32 years and ended in 1487. The War ended with the Henry Tudor from the House of Lancaster being crowned Henry VII

Kremlin
In 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia and captured Moscow. He ordered the destruction of the Kremlin - a symbol of Russian patriotism - and but for good luck we would not have the Kremlin today - the explosive charges did not go off!

Hot Air Balloon
The first man-made flight ever was in 1783 when a sheep, rooster and a duck were the first passengers in a hot air balloon. The first humans followed shortly after and managed to reach approximately 3,000 feet above Paris.

Black Death
The plague also known as "Black Death" originated in Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the early 1330's. It was spread across Europe by fleas from animals and reached England in 1347. Two thirds of the population of London was killed by the plague.

The Royal Mail
It was originally named the "Penny Post" and was first introduced in Britain in 1840 by Rowland Hill. The idea was simple, a penny stamp paid for the postage of a letter or card to anywhere in Britain.

Inoculation
The first inoculation of a human was in 1796 when Edward Jenner injected a boy with cowpox to protect him against Smallpox. At the time Smallpox was a killer as large as heart disease is today - Smallpox is now a rare disease across the world!

Oxfam
The charity Oxfam was originally set up in 1942 by a group of Quakers to raise money for children in war ravaged Greece who were starving due to the Nazi occupation. Today it helps relieve suffering all across the world.

WAR
Nearly 90,000 Women were conscripted into the Women's Land Army during World War II to maintain agricultural production.
Women were sent to live on farms or to form work gangs working a long way from their homes and parents - They even had their own Magazine.

Speaking Clock
The speaking clock started in 1936 and was originally named Harry; its current official name is Timeline. Lenny Henry was briefly the voice of the speaking clock for Comic Relief.

French Armistice
France agreed to an armistice with Germany on 21 June 1940, with German occupation in the north and west. The French leader Marshal Petain headed a puppet state out of Vichy, southern France, and collaborated with the Germans including deporting Jews. In November 1942 the Germans took occupation and the state collapsed in August 1944.

Saxon helmets
The Saxon warriors garnished their helmets with a metal pig; the pig was a sign of good luck. The Saxons believe that the pig was sacred to the god of peace and bizarrely to the god of battle and death! They were apparently related!

Calendar
1500 years ago Mayan priests in Central America using their studies of the sky and sun worked out a 365-day Calendar. However they had 18 months of 20 days and the extra 5 days were simply added to the end of each year. They were considered the unlucky days.

Our Calendar is based on the length of time it takes the earth to orbit the sun and the moon's phases, which take 29.5 days (hence our month!)

Russia
Moscow was founded in 1147 when, according to Russian Chronicles, Prince Yuri of Suzdal invited a neighboring prince to a "mighty dinner in Moscow" which was at the time a military outpost. By 1156 Prince Yuri began building what would become the Kremlin. Today the Kremlin gets 60,000 visitors a day

Vikings
Vikings enjoyed gambling and many took dice into battle with them

Battle of the Somme
On the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, three quarters of all attaching British officers were killed or wounded. In all, 20,000 British soldiers w