Page 58 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o Regardless of subject, Cato was said to end all of his speeches with “Carthage must be destroyed.” o George Sand and George Eliot are both women writers. o Rodrigo Diaz is better known by the name El Cid. o Mr. Schicklgruber, a slang name, a long slang name for Hitler, was his grandmother’s maiden name. o Virginia Dare was the first child of English parents born in America. o Franco adopted the nickname El Caudillo (“the Leader). o Sideburns are named after Civil War General Ambrose Burnsides. o Genghis Khan was Kublai Khan’s grandfather. o Verdi’s opera Aida was commissioned for the opening of the Suez Canal. o Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony was originally dedicated to Napoleon. o The New York Herald sent Harry Stanley to find Dr. Livingstone in Africa. o Benito Mussolini was a newspaper editor before he came to power. o Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in the Indy 500 in 1977. o John L. Sullivan, the “Boston Strong Boy,” was the last bare-knuckle fighting champion. o Willie Shoemaker is the most successful jockey of all time. o Notorious pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read were reputed to be lovers. o British scientist Thomas Huxley coined the term “agnosticism.” o Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity, not the Curies, who got a prize for their research. o Lyndon Johnson was the only U.S. president to be sworn in on an airplane. o Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name was Roosevelt. o Dieu et Mon Droit (“God and My Right) is Queen Elizabeth I’s motto. o Dr. Martin Luther King at 35 was the youngest man to date to win the Nobel Peace Prize. o A Nobel Prize is not awarded for mathematics. o Anne Frank’s diary was published by her father. o Rabindranatt Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. o The first African American to publish a volume of poetry was Phillis Wheatley. o Pearl Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. o Arthur Ashe was the first black male tennis player to win at Wimbledon. o Cassius Clay Jr.’s middle name was Marcellus. o Walt Disney’s wife convinced him to name his mouse Mickey instead of Mortimer. o Napoleon Bonaparte was afraid of cats. o George Washington’s salary was president was $25,000 a year. o Real people on Pez dispensers include: Betsy Ross, Daniel Boone, and Paul Revere. o Beethoven dipped his head in cold water before he composed to stay awake. o Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s given name was Lew Alcindor. o Anne Bradstreet was the first published American woman writer. o Dr. Roger Bannister was the first person to break the 4-minute mile with a time of 3:59.4, in 1954. o A spinal injury at age 15 left Elizabeth Browning an invalid. o Napoleon’s last words were purported to be: “France, the army, Josephine.” o Charlemagne didn’t object to his daughters having illegitimate offspring. o Karen Horney challenged Freud’s theories and suggested that men suffered from “womb envy.” o Malcolm X’s last name is symbolic of the African names his ancestors lost to slavery. o Malcolm X named his first daughter, Attilah, after Attila the Hun. o George Wallace put himself through college by working as a professional boxer. o Renoir’s son, Jean, was the renowned filmmaker of such works as Grand Illusion.