Page 57 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o William Blackstone invented a home washing machine in 1874 as a birthday gift for his wife. o Marion Donovan made the first diaper cover out of a shower curtain. o The inventor of the diaper cover named themselves after herself: Marion Donovan’s Boaters. o Marie Antoinette’s amusements included dressing up as a shepherdess or milkmaid. o President Wilson made Mather’s Day a national holiday in 1914. o By Susan B. Anthony’s death, only four states (WY, CO, IA, and UT) allowed women to vote. o Disney introduced the character Goofy in 1932. o Benjamin Franklin is credited with the invention of the odometer. o Oberlin College in Ohio was one of the first U.S. colleges to admit African Americans to its classes. o Oberlin College in Ohio was the first U.S. college to admit women. o Ronald Reagan was the only divorced man to serve as U.S. president. o Tom Selleck lost out as a bachelor twice on The Dating Game. o The only two men ever appointed to the office of U.S. vice president: Richard Nixon appointed Gerald Ford; Ford appointed Nelson Rockefeller. o The first televised presidential debate was in 1960 between Nixon and Kennedy. o People who saw the Nixon / Kennedy presidential debate on TV thought Kennedy won. People who heard it on radio thought Nixon won. o Singing cowboy Gene Autry recorded “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in 1949. o “High Hopes” was U.S. democratic presidential candidate JFK’s campaign song in the 1960s. o J. Edgar Hoover’s dog was named Spee-De-Bozo. o The McIntosh apple is named for Canadian farmer John McIntosh who discovered it in 1796. o Small lunar and Martian craters are named after small towns on Earth. o The names of Mercury’s craters are reserved for famous artists. o Seven lunar craters were named for the astronauts on the Challenger shuttle. o A comet is named for the person or observing program that discovers it. o The term “ritzy” comes from the posh European hotels run by Swiss innkeeper Cesar Ritz. o The first Atlantic storm to carry a man’s name was Hurricane Bob. o Almost 20 percent of South Korea’s residents are named Kim. o The most common surname initial is S; X is the least common. o The St. Louis grocer who created Log Cabin syrup named it in honor of Abe Lincoln’s first home. o Mrs. Smith of pie fame actually did support her family by cooking pies. o The architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto, was a graduate of Harvard. o Charles de Gaulle was wounded several times as was a POW for three years in WWI. o During her first marriage, Marilyn Monroe worked in an aircraft factory. o Marilyn Monroe was the “Sweetheart of the Month” in the debut issue of Playboy, December 1953. o Alexander Graham Bell was a private tutor to Helen Keller. o The first public demo of the telephone was on the same day as the Battle of Little Bighorn. o Magician Harry Houdini died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix on Halloween 1926. o Henry Ford was anti-Semitic and antiunion. o Henry Ford introduced the 8-hour day, time clock, and a daily minimum wage (then $5). o Alan Turing, the breaker of Germany’s Enigma Code in WWII, was a lousy student. o Charles Baggage helped establish Britain’s modern postal system. o Pope John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years. o President Nixon, raised a pacifist Quaker, advocated a strong military. o Brezhnev’s body fell out of the bottom of his coffin when he was being laid to rest.