When London inventor James Hetherington first wore his new invention, the top hat, in 1797, it caused quite a stir. He was immediately thrown in jail because he “appeared on the public highway wearing upon his head a tall structure of shining luster and calculated to disturb timid people.”
Category: World History
Christopher Columbus and the Telescope
There was a postage stamp issued that showed Christopher Columbus using a telescope. Telescopes had not been invented in 1492.
Unsigned Complaint
Because someone sent an unsigned complaint, Emperor Mohammed Toughlaq of Delhi ordered that all 60,000 people abandon their city and walk 600 miles.
Hitler and Bricks
When Adolf Hitler saw a pile of bricks near the church of St. Matthew in Munich, Germany, he said, “That pile of stones will have to be removed.” Someone misunderstood him, thinking he was referring to the whole church. The church was demolished.
See the worst of everything: The Worst
Worst Shipmate
Casimir Polemus of France survived three shipwrecks. In each case, he was the only survivor.
See the worst of everything: The Worst
Raining Snails
One day in August 1892, in Germany, it started to rain. This rainstorm was unusual because somehow there were thousands of snails caught up in the clouds and they all came crashing down with their shells breaking to bits as they hit the ground.
Atom Bomb
Although most people know that many people were tragically killed by an atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan (141,000 people), most don’t know that 140,000 people were also killed in one day in Tokyo by conventional bombing. Throughout the war, 220,000 Japanese people were killed by the two atom bombs (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and 600,000 were killed by ordinary bombs.
Before The US dropped the atom bombs on Japan, the allies had already destroyed over two million buildings.
Japan actually surrendered a couple of days before the first bomb was dropped, but because they had faked surrenders before, American politicians did not believe this surrender was real.
When scientists were preparing to test the first atom bomb, they calculated there was a three percent chance they’d set the atmosphere on fire, and kill everyone and everything on earth. They went ahead and ran the test.
France’s First Lady, Strange Kidnapping
It’s been told that in 1914, France’s first lady was kidnapped by an orangutan who had escaped from the Paris zoo. He carried her up into a tree and kept her for hours. She was so embarrassed by this incident that the government kept it a secret for forty years.
Mad at a Bear
A man named Marinus was so mad when a bear killed his mule that he captured the bear and taught him how to plow his fields.
Amerigo Vespucci
America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a man that map maker Martin Waldseemuller mistakenly thought was Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of North America. Vespucci discovered South America.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus spent less money coming to the New World than it costs the average American to buy a new car today.
Historians think the ships that Christopher Columbus used were smaller than is generally depicted. They were probably between 60 to 80 feet long and 18 to 25 feet wide. Little is known about these three ships, because Columbus did not write about their physical details in his journals. He already knew what they looked like. He probably assumed everyone knew what such ships looked like.
Maybe his ships looked something like this
Have fun with the Christopher Columbus Quiz.
Ferdinand Porsche
Education isn’t the only way to succeed.
Ferdinand Porsche, inventor of the Porsche cars, Volkswagens, and many German WWII machines, went to trade school to be trained as a factory foreman. He got the lowest grades in his class.
For more about Volkswagens see 10 Surprising Facts About Volkswagen.
Women and Liechtenstein
Worst Vote Ever
See also: Surprising Facts About Voting.
In 1968 Liechtenstein held a vote to determine whether women should be allowed to vote. Women were allowed to participate only in this vote, because until then women were not allowed to vote. The result of the vote was that women were not allowed to vote.
See the worst of everything: The Worst
