Page 49 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o Rodin’s The Thinker was intended to be part of a great pair of doors. o Ancient Egypt had at least six known types of beer. o Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare both died on the same day in 1616. o George Washington was named after England’s King George. o Mary Queen of Scots ascended to the throne when she was only six days old. o Notre Dame’s famous gargoyles were added after its completion. o The Coliseum, which held 50,000 spectators, is one of the largest buildings in the world. o Brasilia, founded in 1960, is one of the newest cities in the world. o Machiavelli’s The Prince may have been based on Pope Alexander I’s cruel son, Cesare Borgia. o Six nation’s flags have flown over Texas, more than any other state in the U.S. o They called it the White House even before its paint job. o Donald Duck was Mussolini’s favourite cartoon character. o Donald Duck comics were banned from libraries in Finland because he doesn’t wear pants. o Each $1,000 raise in a wife’s salary increases the chances for divorce or separation by 1%. o The average American generates more than a ton of garbage every year. o The average American uses 75-100 gallons of water every day. o A running faucet will put 3-5 gallons of water down the drain in 1 minute. o Painting accounts for almost half the cost of automobile assembly. o If you shop for food when you’re hungry, you’ll spend 3 times as much. o You use up as many calories sitting in a sauna for 15 minutes as you do jogging for a mile. o A standard grave is 7’8” long x 3’2” wide x 6’ deep. o The Russian Czar, Peter the Great, was nearly 7 feet tall. o The most popular color of cars is white. 10% of all cars sold in the U.S. are white. o 60% of the cost of food is transporting it. o According to Playboy magazine, 99% of cat and dog owners talk to their pets. o The book most often read by high school English classes: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. o The average bank teller loses about $250 every year. o U.S. airports are busier on Thursdays than any other day. o The test bomb dropped on Bikini atoll had a pin-up photo of actress Rita Hayworth on it. o As early as 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a tax rebellion against the colonial governor of Virginia. th o In 17 century America, the average woman gave birth to 13 children. o Londinium was founded by the Romans in A.D. 60; we know it today as London. o The Mayflower was the size of an average living room and held 102 people. o Only freeborn men are entitled to wear the toga in ancient Rome. o When gold was discovered in California it was still officially Mexican territory. o When the FBI was founded in 1908, it had 38 investigators. Today there are over 15,000. o The brides veil dates to ancient Rome and the head-to-toe cover doubled as a burial shroud. o The St. Bernard was named for a medieval monk who built traveler’s way stations in the Alps. o 3 countries gave women the vote before the U.S.: New Zealand, Australia, and Finland. o France’s Charles VIII had six toes, inspiring a square-toed men’s shoe fashion. o It was considered in poor taste to show a bed in Victorian advertising. o The first horses were domesticated in 4400 B.C. o Early European jesters made balloons out of animal bladders and intestines to entertain. o Nero couldn’t have fiddled while Rome burned. They hadn’t invented fiddles yet. o The Bank of England was founded by a Scotsman, and the Bank of Scotland by an Englishman.