Page 107 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o The first Ironman Triathlon was held on Oahu, Hawaii, in 1978. o Adam de la Halle wrote the first operetta, Le Jeu de la Fuillee, in A.D. 1262. o Simon Bolivar has monuments in his honor in 14 countries. o Jacob Shallus, the calligrapher of the U.S. constitution, was paid $30 for his work. o Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world. o Wisconsin leads the nation in production of paper and paper products. o Minnesota is the only state with the source of three main river systems, the Mississippi, St. Lawrence and Red River of the North. o The oldest capital city in the U.S. is New Mexico’s Santa Fe (1609-10). o Utah is home to the nation’s only major east-west range, the Uintas. o The first known club for nudists, Freilichtpark, was opened near Hamburg, Germany, in 1903. o Germany’s Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) was the first person to call himself a psychologist. o The most famous recipe in The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook (1954) was for “Hashisch Fudge.” The ingredients were a mixture of fruit, nuts, spices and “canibus sativa” [sic], or marijuana. o The wheel and the plow were invented in the early third millennium B.C. o When the chef of an early Indian group died, his horse was buried alive with him. o John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman (1774-1845) wore a tin pot for a hat. o Al Capone, later known as “Scarface Al,” attended school through the fourth grade. o The famous Dodge City marshal was born Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp. o Crooner Bing Crosby’s first group, in 1925, was called Two Boys and Piano. o Louis Armstrong was sent to reform school for firing a shot into a New Year’s Day parade. o Portugal is the world’s largest producer of cork. o Before striking it rich as a writer of westerns, Zane Gray had a dentistry practice. o “Perry Mason” author Erle Stanley Gardner had a stint as a professional boxer. o Sigmund Freud was known as “The Clock Man” because he lived his life to such a tight timetable. o Alexander, King of Greece (1917-1920), died at age 27 from the bite of a pet monkey. o Emile Zola, the French novelist (Nana), died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective flue. o The jazz musician Cab Calloway (1907-94) is credited with coining the word “jitterbug.” o Pericles (c. 490-429 B.C.) instituted the practice of paying jurors a nominal fee around 451 B.C. o In Egyptian mythology, a person possessed six souls, three of the body and three of the mind. o Richard the Lion Hearted was a member of the brotherhood of troubadours and wrote song lyrics. o In 1714, the favorite non-alcoholic drink of early Americans colonists was chocolate. o Joshua Pusey, a cigar-smoking lawyer of Lima Pennsylvania, invented book matches in 1889. o Erie, Pennsylvania, has the only statue depicting George Washington in a British uniform. o Oliver Stone, director of Platoon, received a bronze star during his Vietnam tour of duty. o Pennsylvania is the first state to display its website on a vehicle license plate, o The first tabloid was the Illustrated Daily News (Now the Daily News). It was published in New York City in 1919. o The Jeep vehicle was named for an animal in O.C. Segar’s “Popeye” comic strip. o Joel Chandler Harris’s home near Atlanta, Georgia, was called Snapbean Farm. o Thomas Moore of Brookville, Maryland, coined the term “refrigerator” in 1803. o The first U.S. medical diploma was granted by Yale University in 1729. o The first law school in the U.S. was the Litchfield Law School in Connecticut. Graduates have included Aaron Burr, Horace Mann, and Noah Webster. o The first telephone book ever issued contained only 50 names.