Assorted Facts 12
Queen Victoria probably thought very unfavourably of Mr. Bean, because he tried to assassinate her. John Bean was one of several people to attempt to kill her. He tried to shoot her, but he filled his gun with wads of tobacco.
Queen Victoria's secret was that she suffered from haemophilia, as did most of the royal families in Europe, because of her. Prince Leopold, one of her sons, died of haemophilia. Another of Victoria's daughters, Princess Alice, married into the Russian royal family, had a daughter, Princess Alexandra, whose son was also a haemophiliac, and it is possible that this helped start the Russian Revolution, because after the son died, Rasputin became involved with the Royal Family. Some believe that the chances of Victoria inheriting haemophilia from her parents are so remote, that she might have been illegitimate.
The Victorians legislated against male homosexuality and not female because it seems never to have been considered. It had nothing to do with Queen Victoria, because she had almost no power. The law that banned homosexuality was the Labouchere Amendment, in 1885, and Oscar Wilde was one of the first people to break it. The judge sentenced him to two years hard labour, but said that he wished he could punish him even more, saying it was, "The worst case I have ever tried." A week earlier, the same judge tried a case of child murder.
Victorians put covers on the legs of pianos to stop them from being damaged. Although most of the time, they did not bother. The English Victorians thought the Americans were more prudish.
It was easier to put your boots on in the dark between 1400-1600, because there were no left or right boots. All boots were designed to fit either foot, because it was too difficult to make left and right heeled-boots at the time.
In the Secret Museum of Pornography in Naples, it is forbidden to laugh or be aroused by the exhibits, because they are meant to be there for educational purposes. Most of the exhibits come from Pompeii, which was full of pornographic graffiti, art and statues. Nowadays you need a special permit and a guide to visit it.
Rasputin was poisoned, shot and drowned when they tried to assassinate him but he just would not die.
Winterval was created as a promotional campaign for local business by Birmingham City Council. There is an urban myth that it is about Winterval being created to prevent other cultures being offended.
Due to the rotation of the earth, an object can be thrown further if thrown west.
The acronym I.O.U. actually stands for 'Is Owed Unto'.
A peanut is not a nut. It is a legume.
James Bond is half-Swiss. According to Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice, Bond was the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix, both of whom died in a climbing accident.
Time magazine's 'Man of the Year' for 1938 was Adolph Hitler.
The best way to stop your children looking at their presents before Christmas Day is to have them arrested. There was a case in Rock Hill, South Carolina in 2006, where a mother got the police to arrest her own son for looking at one of his presents, a Game Boy Advance, early. The son was 12, and the mother was 27. His great-grandmother was 63. The boy was released the same day, but the police claimed he showed no remorse.
If you shaved a lion and a tiger until they had no fur left, you could tell them apart because tigers also have stripes on their skin.
Bluebirds will not be found over anything in England, as they are not native to Europe, but to North America.
Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia claimed that the electric chair was a more humane method of execution than hanging, so he brought two electric chairs. However, at the time Ethiopia had no electricity, so he used one as a throne.
The last words of General John Sedgwick were, Why are you dodging like this? They couldnt hit an elephant at this dist-, and he was shot before he could finish.
The S in Ulysses S. Grant does not stand for anything.
You could use a cat in a box on the end of a parachute to deliver cats to parts of the world where there they were needed. A British/World Health Organisation project accidentally killed lots of cats when treating malaria with DDT in Borneo, which killed mosquitoes. They also killed cockroaches, which were eaten by cats, which also died and the area became thus infested with rats, so they parachuted cats in to solve the problem.
In 1960, at the Haslemere home for the elderly in Great Yarmouth, a 81-year-old woman called Gladys Elton accidentally killed one resident by performing a striptease and making the resident die of shock. Another five were treated for shock. The following year, another resident, Harry Meadows, 87, as a prank, dressed up as the Grim Reaper, looking through the lounge window whilst holding a scythe, causing three more deaths. The home was soon shut down in 1962.
The Steller's Sea Cow is pink, has pendulous breasts, gets sailors all excited and tastes of prime beef. It was discovered by Georg Steller who, after describing the taste, caused people to hunt it down until it became extinct in 1768. He was the first and last scientist to describe the Steller's Sea Cow.
At the very end of the Earth, at the South Pole of inaccessibility, you will find a bust of Vladimir Lenin. In 2007, four Britons called Team N2i were the first people to reach the South Pole of inaccessibility without direct mechanical assistance.
The appendix helps as the body because it is part of the lymphatic system. The largest human appendix belonged to a man from Pakistan and was 9.2 inches.
There is really no such thing as a four minute warning.
There are eleven poles at the ends of the Earth - Two geographic poles, two magnetic poles, two geo-magnetic poles, two poles of inaccessibility, two celestial poles and a ceremonial south pole.
The correct response to the question "How do you do?" is to say "How do you do?" back or a small bow. It is considered impolite to answer the question.
The only lake in the Lake District is Bassenthwaite Lake. All the others are waters, meres or tarns.
The first King of both England and Scotland was Athelstan in the year 937.
The first recorded use of the V sign was in 1901 and no-one knows exactly where it comes from. Some suspect it to be something to do with having sex with someone else's wife. The myth about English archers showing the enemy they could fire their arrows was invented in the 1970s. The introduction to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the same as the letter "V" in Morse code (Dot, dot, dot, dash).
"Abumgang" means "Thank you" in the language of the Eton tribe of Cameroon. Other words used by them include "Mrmrminger" which is a beautiful woman. Other tribes in Cameroon include the Bum, Bang, Banana, Mang, Fang, Tang, Wong, Wang, War and the Pongo.
Jumbo was a very large elephant who was born in Sudan, which was captured and taken to Cairo, Paris and London where he became very popular. In 1882, P. T. Barnum bought him for $10,000 under great protest from the English. Some even proposed they kill Jumbo and Barnum to keep the elephant English. In 3 days, Barnum made $30,000 from Jumbo, and $1.5 million in 3 years. Jumbo was killed in a train crash. His skull was broken in over 100 places. Jumbo was stuffed and used as a mascot for Tufts University until he was destroyed in a fire. His name is the origin of the epithet "Jumbo".
Apart from the Bible, the most successful book in England in the 16th century was a book about behaviour for children by
Desiderius Erasmus. It includes the advice that you should not be afraid of vomiting, you should not offer your handkerchief to anyone unless it has been freshly washed nor look into it after you have blown your nose, and should not move back and forth on your chair, as this gives the impression of breaking wind.
The best place to find people called "Nutter" in England is Blackburn. "Pigg's" are in Newcastle upon Tyne. "Daft's" are in Nottingham. "Smellie's" are in Glasgow. "Bottom's" are in Huddersfield. "Willy's" are in Taunton. The surnames that dropped in use in recent years include "Handcock", "Glasscock", "Higginbottom", "Shufflebottom" and "Winterbottom".
To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added downforce can be such that small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track.
Without aerodynamic downforce, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.
The amount of aerodynamic downforce produced by the front and rear wings and the car underbody is amazing. Once the car is traveling over 160 kph, an F1 car can generate enough downforce to equal its own weight. That means it could actually hold itself to the CEILING of a tunnel and drive UPSIDE down!
In a street course race like the Monaco grand prix, the downforce provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening!
The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50 litre family-car. They use the same refueling rigs used on US military helicopters today.
TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tires in around 3 seconds.
Race car tires don't have air in them like normal car tires. Most racing tires have nitrogen in the tires because nitrogen has a more consistent pressure compared to normal air. Air typically contains varying amounts of water vapor in it, which affects its expansion and contraction as a function of temperature, making the tire pressure unpredictable.
During the race the tires lose weight! Each tire loses about 0.5kg in weight due to wear.
Normal tires last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tires are designed to last 90 - 120 km
A dry-weather F1 tire reaches peak operating performance (best grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C. (Water boils at > 100C) At top speed, F1 tires rotate 50 times a second.
A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days. That's closed loop recycling at its finest!
Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours - or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
More aluminum goes into beverage cans than any other product.