Page 41 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o The mummy of Ramses II, thought to be the pharaoh in Exodus, is in the British Museum. o Teddy Roosevelt’s “cavalry charge” up San Juan Hill was done on foot. o Ho Chi Minh once worked as a photo retoucher in Paris. o Catherine the Great’s court held transvestite balls to evade the prohibition on women drinking. o The father of U.K. Prime Minister John Major was a trapeze artist. o Gregory Pincus changed the world. He invented the first birth control pill. o Sherlock Holmes mystery writer Arthur Conan Doyle was an ophthalmologist. o We get the abbreviation “lb.” from the Latin word for pound: “libra.” o Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling would only write with black ink. o Only four words in English begin with “dw”: dweeb, dwarf, dwell, and dwindle. o Canada didn’t become a completely independent country until 1982. o Only one divorced man has become president of the U.S. - Ronald Reagan. o Before becoming leader of Solidarity, Lech Walesa was a shipyard electrician. o In 1978, John Paul II became the first non-Italian pope since 1522. o It was Samuel Prescott, not Paul Revere, who finished the midnight ride. o Sanford Fleming, who designed Canada’s first stamp, also devised time zones. o France has been ruled by Charles the Fat, the Bold, the Dimple, and the Well-Served. o George Washington may have been the father of his country, but he had no children himself. o Before the Boston Tea Party, the British actually lowered tea taxes, not raising them. o New Englanders so opposed the War of 182 that many wanted to secede. o Queen Elizabeth’s “last name” is Mountbatten-Windsor. o Until 1946, there was no such thing as a “Canadian citizen,” just “British subjects.” o The French Revolutionary calendar included days called Eggplant, Manure, and Spinach. o Canadian Indian’s couldn’t vote in national elections until 1960. o Of the 17 million military casualties during World War II, 7.5 million were from the U.S.S.R. o Indira Ghandi and her son Rajiv were both assassinated. o Hatshepsut was the only female pharaoh to rule in her own name. o After Britain conquered Quebec, it offered to trade it back for Guadeloupe. France refused. o Louis XVI might have escaped France, but he was recognized from his portrait on currency. o When Julius Caesar said, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” he was talking about Turkey. o Although Edward VII abdicated, he ruled again. He became governor of the Bahamas. o Eleanor of Aquitaine was the only person to be queen of both England and France. o In England in the 1700s, it was possible to buy insurance against going to hell. o At its height in A.D. 117, the Roman Empire covered 2.5 million square miles. o A flush toilet exists that dates back to 2000 B.C. o It wasn’t until 1939 that a British monarch, George VI, visited either Canada or the U.S. o There were actually two Saint Valentines, both who were martyred in Rome. o Cincinnati was named for a Roman dictator who quit the job after 16 days. o Although she couldn’t vote, the feminist Victoria Woodhull ran for U.S. president in 1872. o Because of harsh terrain and a lack of pack animals, no Native American nations used the wheel. o Before joining Canada, Newfoundland was technically an independent country. o Until the Civil War, Lincoln wanted to contain slavery, not abolish it. o Mitterrand said Thatcher had “the eyes of Caligula and the lips of Marilyn Monroe.” o Indira Gandhi was related to Mahatma Gandhi, but was the daughter of Nehru. o Spencer Perceval is the only British prime minister to have been assassinated.