Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove.
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.
A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off.
The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.
One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206.
Over 1000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.
The state of Florida is bigger than England.
Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning.
Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.
The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year.
There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express. Just horses.
Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals.
The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs.
More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world.
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.
Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States.
One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet.
America once issued a 5-cent bill.
You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime.
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep him cool. He changed it every 2 innings.
Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
The richest person in the world is not Bill Gates, it's the sultan of Brunei.
Here are
some interesting numbers to look at:
166,875,000,000
pieces of mail are delivered each year in the U.S.
1,525,000,000
miles of telephone wire are strung across the U.S.
123,000,000
cars are being driven down the U.S.'s highways.
85,000,000
tons of paper are used each year in the U.S.
56,000,000
people go to Major League baseball each year.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.
In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
There are over 52.6 million dogs in the U.S.
Seventy five percent of first-time pets are given away.
Dogs and cats consume almost $7 billion worth of pet food a year.
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" was considered a dirty word.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
The blesbok, a South African antelope, is almost the same color as grape juice.
The average
person laughs 15 times a day.
Facts about Americans.
* 21% of us don't
make our bed daily. 5% of us never do.
* Men do 29% of laundry
each week. Only 7% of women trust their husbands to do it correctly.
* 40% of women have
hurled footwear at a man.
* 85% of men don't
use the slit in their underwear.
* 67.5% of men wear
tightie whities (briefs).
* The average bra
size today is 36C whereas 10 years ago it was a 34B.
* 85% of women wear
the wrong bra size. (Is there a correlation????)
HABITS ---------
* 58.4% have called
into work sick when we weren't.
* 3 out of 4 of us
store our dollar bills in rigid order with singles leading up to higher
denominations.
* 50% admit they regularly
sneak food into movie theaters to avoid the high prices of snack foods.
* 39% of us peek in
our host's bathroom cabinet.
* 17% have been caught
by the host.
* 81.3% would tell
an acquaintance to zip his pants.
* 29% of us ignore
RSVP.
* 35% give to charity
at least once a month.
* 71.6% of us eavesdrop.
FOOD ------
* 69% eat the cake
before the frosting.
* When nobody else
is around, 47% drink straight from the carton.
* Snickers is the
most popular candy.
* 22% of us skip lunch
daily.
* 9% of us skip breakfast
daily.
* 66% of us eat cereal
regularly.
* 22% of all restaurant
meals include French fries.
* 14% of us eat the
watermelon seeds.
HYGIENE ---------
* 22% leave the glob
of toothpaste in the sink.
* Only 13% brush our
teeth from side to side.
* Nearly 1/3 of U.S.
women color their hair.
* 53% of women will
not leave the house without makeup on.
* 58% of women paint
their nails regularly.
* 33% of women lie
about their weight.
* 4 out of 5 of us
have suffered from hemorrhoids. (I thought that was preferred Trident gum)
* 30% of us refuse
to sit on a public toilet seat.
* 54.2% of us always
wash our hands after using the toilet.
* 23.5% admit they
don't always flush.
* 46.5% of men say
they ALWAYS put the seat down after they've used the toilet, yet women
claim to ALWAYS find it up. --------
DRIVING --------
* 4 out of 5 sing
in the car. (and probably 4 out of 5 can't sing for beans either)
* 12% of men never
use their car blinkers.
* 45% of us consistently
follow the speed limit. (This is hard to believe - Get on a highway and
go the exact speed limit. Are 45% of the people not passing you - I doubt
it)
* 2/3 of us speed
up at a yellow light.
* 1/3 of us don't
wear seat belts.
* 71% can drive a
stick-shift car.
* 44% of men tailgate
to speed up the person in front of them. (When this happens, accelerate
while simultaneously touching your brake - just enough so the break light
goes on - scaring the crap out of the guy behind you)
13% of us admit to
occasionally doing our offspring's homework
"He was a bold man that first ate an oyster." - - - Jonathan Swift
Ivan IV (the Terrible) 1547 --- 1st Tsar of Russia.
Virginia Dare 1587 --- 1st child born in the American colonies, on August 18th, on what is now Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
Ann Franklin 1762 --- 1st woman to hold the title of newspapeer editor, "The Newport Mercury" in Newport, RI.
James Cook 1773 --- 1st person to cross Antarctic Circle.
Marquis d'ArlandesPilatre de Rozier 1783 --- 1st humans to fly. They were airborne in a hot-air balloon for 20 minutes, in Paris, on Nov. 21.
John Jay 1789 --- 1st US Supreme Court chief justice.>
Frederick Muhlenberg 1789 --- 1st Speaker Of the US House Of Representatives.
Samuel Hopkins 1790 --- holder of US Patent #1. Thousands of patents were issued before his, but his was the first when the numbering started. He patented a process for making potash and pearl ashes.
Henry Laurens - Charleston, South Carolina statesman 1792 --- 1st formal cremation in US. He left instructions in his will.
Thomas Jefferson 1801 --- 1st US president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
Mary Kies 1809 --- 1st woman to be issued a U.S. patent. She was granted a patent for the rights to a technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.
Edward Smith 1831 --- 1st indicted bank robber in the US. He was sentenced to five years hard labor on the rock pile at Sing Sing Prison.
Mary Lyon 1837 --- founded 1st woman's college in US, Mt. Holyoke College.
Queen Victoria 1837 --- 1st English monarch to live in Buckingham Palace.
Tim Hyer 1841 --- 1st recognized boxing (fisticuffs) champion.
Elizabeth Blackwell 1849 --- 1st woman physician in US.
Antoinette Brown Blackwell 1853 --- 1st American woman ordained a minister by a recognized denomination (Congregational.)
Charles Blondin (Jean Francois Gravelet) 1859 --- 1st person to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
Jules Leotard 1859 --- world's 1st flying trapeze circus act. Performed at the Cirque Napoleon in Paris, without safety nets.
Mary Walker 1866 --- 1st (and only) woman to receive the US Medal of Honor. She was a Civil War surgeon.
Sir John Alexander McDonald 1867 --- 1st Prime Minister of Canada.
Lucy Hobbs Taylor 1867 --- 1st woman in the US to become a certified dentist.
Hiram Revels 1870 --- 1st black US Senator. He completed the term of Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis, who had resigned to become president of the Confederacy.
Victoria Woodhall 1872 --- 1st woman to run for President of the US.
Jesse James 1873 --- committed the world's first train robbery on July 21. (Adair, Iowa)
Herbert Hoover 1874 --- 1st US President born west of the Mississippi.
Mary Baker Eddy 1879 --- 1st and only American woman to found a lasting American-based religion- The Church of Christ (Scientist).
Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood 1879 --- 1st female lawyer to plead a case before the US Supreme Court.
Mary Mahoney 1879 --- 1st black woman to study and work as a professionally trained nurse.
Moses Fleetwood Walker 1884 --- 1st black baseball player in the major leagues.
Grover Cleveland 1886 --- 1st President married inside the White House.
Wilhelm Steinitz 1886 --- world's 1st chess champion.
Susanna M. Salter 1887 --- 1st woman US mayor. (Argonia, KS). She won by a two-thirds majority but didn't even know she was in the running until she went into the voting booth. Her name was submitted by the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She died at the age of 101 in 1961
Oscar Straus 1887 --- 1st Jewish ambassador from US. (Ambassador to Turkey.)
Louis Henry Sullivan 1891 --- architect of 10 story Wainwright Building, the 1st skyscraper.
Myra Bradwell, (nee Colby) 1892 --- 1st female lawyer in US. She qualified for Illinois bar in 1869, but was prevented, due to gender, from being admitted to practice until 1892.
Annie Moore 1892 --- 1st immigrant to pass through Ellis Island. She was 15 years old and from County Cork, Ireland.
Queen Isabella of
Spain 1893 --- 1st woman to appear on a US postage stamp.
John J. McDermott
1897 --- winner of the he 1st annual Boston Marathon - the first of its
type in the US.
1st Nobel Prize winners:
1901 --- Literature: Sully Prudhomme (Rene Francois Armand)
Peace: Jean Henri Dunant & Frederic Passy
Physics: Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
Physiology & Medicine: Emil Adolf Von Behring
Chemistry: Jacobus Henricus Van't Hoff
1969 ---
Economics: Ragnar Frisch & Jan Tinbergen
1st female Nobel Prize
winners:
1903 --- Physics: Marie Sklodowska Curie
1905 --- Peace: Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner
1909 --- Literature: Selma Ottilia Lovisa LagerlØf
1911 --- Chemistry: Marie Sklodowska Curie
1947 --- Physiology & Medicine: Gerty Radnitz Cori
Alexander Winton 1903 --- set the 1st land speed record in car racing. Set at Daytona Beach, his speed was 68.18 mph.
Theodore Roosevelt 1906 --- 1st American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It was for helping mediate an end the Russo-Japanese War.
Alice Wells 1910 --- 1st policewoman in the US.
Roald Amundsen - Norwegian explorer 1911 --- 1st man to reach the South Pole, beating out an expedition led by Robert F. Scott.
Ray Harroun 1911 --- 1st winner of the Indianapolis 500 car race. His average speed was 74.59 mph, he finished in 6 hours, 42 minutes, 8 seconds.
Arthur R. Eldred 1912 - 1st boy to reach the rank of Eagle Scout -- the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America program. He was of Oceanside, NY.
Louis D. Brandeis 1916 --- 1st Jewish member of the US Supreme Court. (Appointed by President Wilson)
Jeannette Rankin1916 --- 1st woman elected to US congress. (Monttana) Only legislator to vote against both WW I and WW II.
1st Pulitzer Winners
1917 ---
Biography: Laura E. Richards, H. Elliott, and Florence Hall
History: Jean Jules Jusserand
Reporting: Herbert B. Swope
Ethelda "Thel" Bleibtrey - swimmer 1920 --- 1st US woman to wwin a gold medal in the Olympics. (Margaret Abbott was awarded a porcelain bowl, not a gold medal, in 1900.)
Margaret Gorman 1921 --- 1st Miss America. She was 16 and 30-25-32.
Edith Wharton 1921 --- 1st woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. For "The Age of Innocence."
Henry Sullivan 1923 --- 1st American to swim across the English Channel.
Nellie Taylor Ross 1925 --- 1st female state governor. (Wyoming)
Gertrude Ederle 1926 --- 1st American woman to swim the English Channel. It took her 14 hours and 39 minutes. (She broke the existing men's record.)
Al Jolson 1927 --- lead role in the 1st talking motion picture, "The Jazz Singer."
Charles Lindbergh 1927 --- 1st man to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Janet Gaynor 1928 --- 1st Oscar winner for Best Actress.
Emil Jannings 1928 --- 1st Oscar winner for Best Actor.
Ellen Church 1930 --- 1st airline hostess. She served passengers flying between San Francisco, California and Cheyenne, Wyoming on United Airlines.
Sinclair Lewis 1930 --- 1st American recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature.
Jane Addams 1931 --- 1st American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Jackie Mitchell - baseball pitcher 1931 --- 1st woman in organized baseball. She was signed by the Chattanooga Baseball Club at the age of 19.
Hattie Caraway 1932 --- 1st woman elected to US Senate.
Amelia Earhart 1932 --- 1st transatlantic solo flight by a woman.
Frances Perkins 1933 --- 1st woman in US Presidential Cabinet. (Secretary of Labor under FDR.)
Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette Dionne 1934 --- 1st quintuplets to survive infancy. They were born near Callender, Ontario to Oliva and Elzire Dionne.
Horton Smith 1934 --- won the 1st Masters Golf Tournament under the magnolia trees of Augusta National in Georgia.
Wallis Warfield Simpson 1936 --- 1st Time magazine "Woman of the Year."
Jane Matilda Bolin 1939 --- 1st black woman judge. (New York City)
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1939 --- 1st US president to speak on television.
Hattie McDaniel 1940 --- 1st black actress to win an Oscar.
Booker T. Washington 1940 --- 1st black to be pictured on a US postage stamp. His likeness was issued on a 10-cent stamp.
Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini 1946 --- 1st canonized American saint.
Trygve Lie - Norwegian socialist 1946 --- 1st Secretary General of United Nations.
Chuck Yeager 1947 --- 1st person to break the sound barrier by flying faster than the speed of sound.
Dick Button 1948 --- 1st American to become World Figure Skating Champion.
Eugenia Anderson 1949 --- 1st US woman appointed ambassador to a foreign country. (Ambassador to Denmark)
Gwendolyn Brooks 1949 --- 1st black woman to win a Pulitzer prize.
Charles Cooper 1950 --- 1st black player in NBA (Fort Wayne Indiana Celtics).
Florence Chadwick 1951 --- 1st woman to have swum across the English Channel in each direction.
Jacqueline Cochrane 1953 --- 1st woman to fly faster than speed of sound. (She piloted an F-86 Sabrejet over California at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour.)
Elizabeth II 1953 --- 1st monarch to have a televised coronation.
Sir Edmund Hillary 1953 --- 1st recorded climb of Mt. Everest.
Sir Roger Bannister 1954 --- 1st person recorded to run a mile race in under four minutes.
Althea Gibson 1957 --- 1st black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title.
Laika, the dog 1957 --- 1st living creature to orbit the earth. Aboard the Soviet satellite, Sputnik 2.
Julia Child 1958 --- 1st woman designated a full-fledged "Chef."
William O'Ree 1958 --- 1st black hockey player in the NHL. (Boston Bruins)
Clifton R Wharton 1958 --- 1st black US foreign minister. (Romania)
Hiram L. Fong 1959 --- 1st Chinese-American in US Senate. (Hawaii)
Daniel K. Inouye 1959 --- 1st Japanese-American in US House of Representatives. (Hawaii)
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin 1961 --- 1st human in space, 1st human to orbit Earth.
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. 1961 --- 1st American in space; (Freedom 7). 2nd human in space; member of original Mercury 7.
Janet G. Travell 1961 --- 1st woman to hold the post of Personal Physician to the President. (Appointed by Kennedy)
Roy Claxton Acuff 1962 --- 1st living person admitted to Country Music Hall of Fame.
Joan Crawford 1962 --- 1st guest on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," October 1.
John Glenn 1962 --- 1st US astronaut to orbit earth.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova - Russian cosmonaut 1963 --- 1st woman in space.
Jerrie Mock 1964 --- 1st around-the-world solo flight by a woman.
Sidney Poitier 1964 --- 1st black actor to win an Oscar in a major category. He earned the honor for Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role in the film, "Lilies of the Field".
Peter Sellers 1964 --- 1st male to appear on the cover of "Playboy" magazine.
Patricia R Harris 1965---1st black female US ambassador. (Luxembourg)
Alexei Arkhovich Leonov 1965 --- 1st human to walk in space.
Edward Higgins White, Jr. 1965 --- 1st American to walk in space.
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi 1966 --- 1st woman prime minister of India.
Robert C Weaver 1966 --- 1st black in US Presidential Cabinet (LBJ appointed him Secretary of HUD.)
Christiaan Barnard - heart surgeon 1967 --- perfoormed the 1st human heart transplant.
Thurgood Marshall1967 --- 1st black to become a Supreme Court jusstice.
Muriel Siebert1967 --- 1st woman to own a seat on the Neew York Stock Exchange. She was also the nation's first- ever discount broker, and the first woman to serve as Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York.
Carl Stokes 1967 --- 1st black elected as the mayor of a major city. (Cleveland, Ohio)
Louis Washkansky 1967 --- 1st human heart transplant recipient. He lived 18 days with the new heart.
Shirley Chisholm 1968 --- 1st black woman elected to the US House of Representatives.
Neil Armstrong 1969 --- 1st man to walk on the moon.
Barbara Jo Rubin1969 --- 1st woman jockey to win a race in Northh America.
Elizabeth P. Hoisington 1970 --- 1st female general in the US armed forces. She was appointed to the post of director of the Women's Army Corps.
Bella Savitsky Abzug 1971 --- 1st Jewish woman in Congress.
Satchel Paige 1971 --- 1st Negro-League player elected to Baseball Hall of Fame.
Berenice Gera 1972 --- 1st female umpire in pro baseball.
Mark Spitz - US swimmer 1972 --- 1st athlete to win 7 Olympic gold medals.
Jean Westwood 1972 --- 1st woman to head the US Democratic Party.
Henry Kissinger 1973 --- 1st Jewish US Secretary of State. He was also the 1st naturalized citizen to hold this office.
Emily Warner 1973 --- 1st female commercial airline pilot in the US. (Frontier Airlines)
Richard Milhous Nixon 1974 --- 1st and only US president to resign from office.
Mary Louise Smith 1974 --- 1st woman to head the US Republican Party.
George Carlin1975 --- 1st guest host on "Saturday Night Live"" which premiered on October 11.
Sarah Caldwell 1976 --- 1st first woman to conduct the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Janet Guthrie 1977 --- 1st woman to qualify and race at the Indianapolis 500.
Jacqueline Means 1977 --- 1st woman to be an ordained Episcopal priest
Louise Brown 1978 --- 1st test tube baby. (Lancastershire, England)
Mary Hargrafen (Sister Mary Carl) 1978 --- 1st nun to become a captain in the US Air Force. (Sisters of St. Francis.)
John Paul the Second
(Karol Wojtyla)
1978 --- 1st Pole to become pope.
1998 --- 1st pope to visit Cuba. (Jan. 21-25)
Diana Nyad 1979 --- 1st person to swim from the Bahamas to Florida.
Margaret Thatcher 1979 --- Britain's 1st female prime minister.
Sandra Day O'Connor 1981 -- 1st female US Supreme Court justice.
Barney Clark 1982 -- 1st recipient of a permanent artificial heart, on Dec. 2. He lived until March 23, 1983.
Guion Stewart Bluford, Jr. (Guy) 1983 --- 1st black American in space.
Elizabeth Dole (Mary Elizabeth Hanford) 1983 --- 1st female US Secretary of Transportation.
Sally Kristen Ride 1983 --- 1st US woman in space.
Vanessa Williams 1983 --- 1st black Miss America. Williams relinquished her crown during her reign when nude pictures of her were published in "Penthouse" magazine.
Joan Benoit 1984 --- winner of the 1st women's Olympic marathon at the Summer Games, held in Los Angeles.
Kathryn Sullivan 1984 --- 1st US woman to walk in space.
Wilma Mankiller 1985 --- 1st woman to lead a major American Indian tribe. She was elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Christa Sharon McAuliffe 1986 --- 1st teacher selected for the NASA Teacher in Space program. She died along, with the rest of the crew, when the space shuttle Challenger blew up not long after launching.
Oprah Winfrey 1986 --- 1st African-American woman to own her own television production company.
Gertrude Belle Elion - pharmacologist 1988 --- 1st woman admitted to National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Michael Jordan 1988 --- 1st basketball player pictured on a box of Wheaties cereal.
Antonia Novello 1990 --- 1st woman and first Hispanic to be named Surgeon General of the US.
Douglas L. Wilder 1990 --- 1st elected black US governor. (Virginia)
Maya Angelou 1991 --- 1st female poet to read a poem at a US presidential inauguration. She read "On the Pulse of Morning," at Clinton's inaguration.
Billy Crystal 1992 --- 1st guest on "The Tonight Show," when Jay Leno permanently replaced Johnny Carson as host.
Mae Carol Jemison 1992 --- 1st black woman in space (on the Endeavor.)
Akebono (Chadwick Haheo Rowan) 1993 --- 1st non-Japanese yokozuna (sumo wrestler.)
Carol Elizabeth Moseley-Braun 1993 --- 1st black woman in US Senate.
Kim Campbell 1993 --- 1st female Prime Minister of Canada.
Barbara Harmer 1993 --- 1st woman to pilot the Concorde (March 25th.)
Janet Reno 1993 --- 1st female US Attorney General.
Eileen Marie Collins 1995 --- 1st female space shuttle pilot. She piloted the space shuttle Discovery during a mission to rendezvous with space station Mir.
Madeleine Albright 1996 --- 1st female US Secretary Of State.
Dolly, the lamb 1996 --- 1st cloned animal.
"Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others' death and dying the others' life."
Sherwood Anderson - writer 1941 --- after swalloowing a toothpick at a cocktail party he died of peritonitis on an ocean liner bound for Brazil.
John Jacob Astor1912 --- drowned with the "unsinkable" Titanic.<
Attila the Hun453 AD --- bled to death from a nosebleed on his wedding night.
Aleksandr II (Aleksandr Nikolaevich) - Czar of Russia 1855-81 1881 --- assassinated by a bomb which tore off his legs, ripped open his belly and mutilated his face.
Jane Austen 1817 --- Addison's disease.
Sir Francis Bacon1626 --- pneumonia. He was experimenting with frreezing a chicken by stuffing it with snow.
Lucille Desiree Ball1989 --- died after under-going heart surgery./font>
Velma (Margie) Barfield1984 --- 1st woman executed in US since restorattion of death penalty in 1967. (For poisoning her fiancée.)
Thomas a Becket - Archbishop of Canterbury 1170 --- murdered in the Canterbury cathedral by four knights, supposedly on orders by Henry II.
Ludwig van Beethoven1827 --- cirrhosis of the liver./b>
John Belushi 1982 --- drug overdose.
Rainey Bethea1936 --- the last publicly executed criminal in US. Executed by hanging.
Kimberly Bergalis 1991 --- died of AIDS. She had contracted the disease from her dentist.
Bridget Bishop1692
--- 1st of the witches hung in Salem, Massaachusets. She was executed on
June 10.
(Salem witches: Almost
150 "witches" were arrested, but only 31 were tried in 1692. All 31, including
6 males, were sentenced to death. Nineteen were hanged, 2 died in jail,
and 1 man was slowly pressed to death under heavy stones. None were burned.)
Amanda Blake (Beverly Neill) - actress (Miss Kitty on "Gunsmoke") 1989 --- AIDS contracted from her bi-sexual husband.
Anne Boleyn 1536 --- beheaded for adultery by request of Hennry VIII.
Neil Bonnett - race car driver 1994 --- car crash, killed during practice at the Daytona International Speeway.
Salvatore "Sonny" Bono 1998 --- crashed into a tree while skiing.
Ray Brennan 1976 --- on July 27th - 1st person to die of "Leegionnaire's Disease."
Charles Brooks, Jr.1982 --- 1st criminal executed in US by lethal iinjection.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1861 --- acute bronchitis.
Lord Byron (George Gordon) 1824 --- died of malarial fever.
Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Canary) 1903 --- pneumonia following a bout of heavy drinking.
Al Capone - Chicago gangster 1947 --- syphillis.
Karen Carpenter - singer 1983 --- heart failure caused by anorexia nervosa, at age 32.
Jack Cassidy - actor 1976 --- died in a fire, while asleep on the couch in his apartment.
Catherine the Great - Empress of Russia 1796 --- a strokke, while going to the bathroom.
Nicolae Ceausescu - Romanian president 1989 --- executted by firing squad along with his wife.
Anton Joseph Cermak - mayor of Chicago 1933 --- assassinnated by accident when riding with Franklin Roosevelt in motorcade.
Sergei Chalibashvili - diver 1983 --- diving accideent. Attempted a three-and-a-half reverse somersault in the tuck position during the World University Games. On the way down, he smashed his head on the board and was knocked unconscious. He died after being in a coma for a week.
Raymond Johnson Chapman - Cleveland Indians baseball player&nbssp; 1920 --- died one day after being struck in head by baseball pitch, becoming the only player ever killed as result of major league baseball game.
Charles I - English king 1649 --- beheaded by order of Parliament under Oliver Cromwell on January 30.
Conor Clapton - son of musician Eric Clapton 1991 --- fell out of 53rd floor window at the age of 5.
Cleopatra 30 BC --- suicide by poison, supposedly from a venomous snake.
Nat "King" Cole - singer 1965 --- died of complications following surgery for lung cancer.
Christopher Columbus1506 --- rheumatic heart disease.<
Bob Crane - actor1978 --- murdered in hotel room./b>
Jim Croce - singer 1973 ---plane crash. The plane crashed into a tree while taking off for a concert in Sherman, Texas.
Davy Crockett - US
frontiersman 1836 --- killed defending the Alamo.
(Actually, Crockett
survived the assault along with a few others, but was bayoneted to death
by the Mexicans after they took the fort.)
Marie Curie - chemist, discovered Radium 1934 --- leukemia, caused by exposure to radiation.
James Dean (James Byron) 1955 --- car crash.
Albert Dekker - actor, California legislator 1968 --- suffocated, hanging from shower curtain rod, handcuffed, wearing women's lingerie.
John Denver (Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.) - singer1997 --- plane crash in Monterey, CA.
Edward Despard1803 --- last executed criminal drawn & quarrtered in England.
John Dillinger - (1st number one criminal on FBI's most wanted list.) 1934 --- killed by FBI agent Melvin Purvis.
Jane Dornnacker - helicopter traffic reporter 1986 --- died doing a live traffic report for WNBC-AM NYC when her helicopter crashed.
Anthony J. Drexel III - philanthropist 1893 --- shot himself accidentally while showing off a new gun in his collection to his friends.
Jessica Dubroff - (age 7) 1996 --- plane crash - attempting to become the youngest pilot to fly cross-country.
Isadora Duncan - actress1927 --- accidental strangulation when her scarff caught in car wheel.
Dominique Dunne - actress ("Poltergeist") 1982 --- choked by boyfriend, John Sweeny. She died after being in a coma for 5 days.
Amelia Earhart1937 --- missing in an attempt to fly around thee world.
Nelson Eddy - actor / singer 1965 --- suffered a stroke while entertaining on stage in Miami Beach. He died the next day.
Adolf Eichmann 1962 --- executed by hanging for "crimes against the Jewish people."
Andres Escobar - Colombian soccer player 1994 --- murdered by unknown thugs, apparently in anger over the accidental goal he had scored for US during World Cup Game.
Marty Feldman1982 --- found dead in motel room in Mexico. Deaath from heart failure, either from climate change or from shellfish poisoning.
Francis Ferdinand - Archduke of Austria 1914 ---- assassinated; the incident initiated World War I.
W. C. Fields (Claude William Dukenfield) 1946 --- stomach hemorrhage and cirrhosis of the liver.
Michael Findlay - horror film maker 1977 --- decapitated by helicopter blade.
Jim Fixx - made jogging popular 1984 --- died of a heart attack . . . while jogging.
Robert (Bobbie) Franks 1924 --- kidnapped and murdered by Leopold & Loeb.
Eric Fleming - actor ("Rawhide") 1966 --- drowned when his canoe capsized during the filming of a movie near the headwaters of the Amazon in the Haullaga River, Peru.
Dian Fossey - primatologist 1985 --- found hacked to death, presumably by poachers, in her Rwandan forest camp.
Sigmund Freud 1939 --- cancer of the jaw, palate, throat and tongue.
Rajiv Gandhi - prime minister of India from 1984 until 1989, 1991 --- killed by a bomb, hidden in a bouquet of flowers, which exploded in his hand. Like his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.
Judy Garland (Frances Gumm) 1969 --- overdose of sleeping pills.
Marvin Gaye (Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr.) - singer 1984 --- murdered on his birthday by his father.
Vitas Kevin Gerulaitis - tennis player 1994 --- died in his sleep of carbon monoxide poisoning at the home of a friend.
Andy Gibb - singer 1988 --- heart infection.
Gary Mark Gilmore 1977 --- 1st American executed after restoration of US death penalty in 1976. (Executed by firing squad.)
Sergei Grinkov - Russian figure skater 1995 --- died of heart attack during skating practice.
Henry Gunther 1918 --- last soldier killed in WWI.
Alexander Hamilton - former US Treasury Secretary > 1804 --- shot by US Vice President Aaron Burr in a pistol duel near Weehawken, New Jersey on July eleventh.
Mata Hari (Gertrud Margarete Zelle) - World War I spy 1917 --- executed by firing squad, she refused a blindfold and threw a kiss to the executioners.
William Henry Harrison 1841 --- 1st US President to die in office.
Frank Hayes - jockey 1923 --- heart attack during a race. His horse, Sweet Kiss, won the race, making Hayes the only deceased jockey to win a race.
Rita Hayworth (Margarita Carmen Cansino) 1987 -- Alzheimer's disease.
Phil Hartman (Philip Edward Hartmann) 1998 -- shot by his wife, who then committed suicide.
Les Harvey - musician (Stone the Crow) 1972 --- electrocuted on stage at a show in Swansea, Wales. He touched a poorly connected microphone and died a few hours later.
Ernest Miller Hemingway 1961 --- suicide with shotgun.
Margaux Hemingway (Margot Hemingway) 1996 --- suicide, overdose of a sedative. She was the fifth person in her family to commit suicide.
Jon-Erik Hexum - actor 1984 --- playfully shot himself with a blank-loaded pistol on the set of TV spy show "Cover Up." The concussion forced a chunk of his skull into his brain; he died six days later.
Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler Hickok) 1876 --- shot in the back of the head while playing poker.
Adolf Hitler 1945 --- suicide, cyanide and handgun.
Jimmy Hoffa (James Riddle Hoffa) 1975 --- disappeared from a Michigan restaurant on July 30th.
Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley) 1959 --- died in airplane crash with Ritchie Valens & the Big Bopper. The name of the plane was "American Pie."
John C. Holmes - porn film star 1988 --- complications of AIDS.
Harry Houdini (Erich Weiss) - magician 1926 --- ruptured appendix. He died on Halloween.
Leslie Howard (Leslie Stainer) - actor (Ashley Wilkes in Gone With the Wind) 1943 --- his civilian plane was shot down by German fighter planes during WWII.
Rock Hudson (Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.) 1985 --- died of AIDS. He was the 1st major public figure to announce he had AIDS.
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson - Confederate General 1863 --- pneumonia, after accidentally being shot by his own troops.
Josef Jakobs - German spy 1941 --- last person to be executed in the Tower of London, England.
Thomas Jefferson 1826 --- dysentery. He died on the 50th anniversary of signing of Declaration of Independence, and the same day as John Adams.
Knut Jensen - Olympic cyclist 1960 --- fractured skull during the 1960 Olympics in Rome. In the 93 degree heat, he collapsed from sunstroke and hit his head. He was one of only 2 athletes to die as a result of Olympic competition. (Francisco Lazaro was the other.)
Joan of Arc (Jeanne Darc) 1431 --- burned at the stake for heresy and witchcraft.
Gee Jon 1924 --- 1st person executed in US in the gas chamber. Nevada State Prison in Carson City on February 8. (Hydrocyanic gas was used; the procedure took 6 minutes.)
Brian Jones - musician, one-time Rolling Stone 1969 --- drowned in his swimming pool while drunk and on drugs.
Joselito (Jose Gomez) - Spanish bullfighter 1920 ---- fatally gored fighting his last bull.
Michael Kennedy 1997 --- collided with a tree while skiing in Aspen, Colorado.
William Kemmler - convicted axe murderer 1890 --- 1st person executed in US in the electric chair. At Auburn State Prison in New York, on August 6. (The procedure took 8 minutes.)
Vladimir Komarov 1967 --- 1st cosmonaut to die in space. (Russian Soyuz 1)
David Koresh (Vernon Wayne Howell) 1993 --- killed by agents of FBI & Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms.
Brandon Lee - actor 1993 --- shot by a gun firing blanks, while filming the movie "The Crow." His missing scenes were later filled-in by computer animation.
Bruce Lee (Li Yuen Kam) - actor 1973 --- died suddenly from a swollen brain.
T. E. Lawrence (Thomas Edward Lawrence) 1935 --- killed in a motorcycle accident after swerving to avoid two boys.
Francisco Lazaro - Olympic runner 1912 --- sunstroke and heart trouble. Collapsed toward the end of the 1912 Olympic marathon in Stockholm.
John Lennon 1980 --- shot to death by a mentally ill fan.
Liberace (Wladziu Valentino Liberace) 1987 --- AIDS.
Carole Lombard (Jane Alice Peters) 1942 --- plane crash.
Louis XVI - French king 1793 --- beheaded by French revolutionaries.
Malcolm X (Malcolm Little) 1965 --- murdered - shot 16 times by three assassins.
Jayne Mansfield (Vera Jayne Palmer) 1967 --- car accident. Her wig flew off in the impact, starting rumors that she had been decapitated.
Jean-Paul Marat 1793 --- knifed while taking a bath.
Pete Maravich - basketball player 1988 --- heart attack while playing a game of pick-up basketball.
Marie Antoinette 1793 --- beheaded by guillotine.
Bob Marley - musician 1981 --- brain tumor, at the age of 36.
Christopher Marlowe - author 1593 --- stabbed in aa tavern brawl in Deptford, England.
Bill Masterton - hockey player for Minnesota North Stars 1968 --- head injury. He fell over backwards and hit his head on the ice after being checked during a game against the Oakland Seals. His is the only death in pro-hockey during the modern era.
William McKinley - 25th US President 1901 --- died of gangrene. He was shot by an assassin and his wounds were not properly dressed.
Butterfly McQueen (Thelma Lincoln McQueen) 1995 --- died of burns received when lighting kerosene heater in her apartment.
Sal Mineo - actor 1976 --- stabbed to death in the street outside of his home.
Russell Mockridge - cyclist 1958 --- vehicular aaccident. He was competing in the Tour of Gippsland in Melbourne when he was struck by a bus and killed instantly.
Luis Monge 1967 --- executed in gas chamber, Colorado State Penitentiary, Cannon City, CO, on June 2. He was the last US execution until 1977, when the death penalty was reinstated. (He had murdered his wife and 3 of his 10 children.)
Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Baker) 1962 --- drug overdose, probably suicide.
Thomas More 1535 --- beheaded for treason upon the order of Henry VIII.
Vic Morrow - actor 1982 --- helicopter accident on the set of "Twilight Zone - The Movie."
Jim Morrison - musician (the Doors) 1971 --- heart attack while in the bathtub.
Mary Ann Nicholls - prostitute 1888 --- fed poissoned grapes and disemboweled by Jack the Ripper.
Florence Nightingale 1910 --- heart failure after 53 years as an invalid.
Francis Russell O'Hara - US art critic 1966 --- died from bbeing hit by taxicab.
Janet Parker - medical photographer 1978 --- last person to die of smallpox.
George S. Patton 1945 --- broke his neck in a car accident. He lived, incapacitated, for one more week.
Nicolas Jacques Pelletier - French highwayman 1792 --- 11st person beheaded with the guillotine.
River Phoenix 1993 --- drug overdose on the sidewalk in front the Viper Club in Hollywood on Halloween.
Francisco Pizarro - Explorer and conquistador 15541 --- stabbed by countrymen in a feud over Incan riches.
Martha Place 1899 --- 1st woman executed in the electric chaiir, Sing Sing Prison, NY, on March 20.
Edgar Allan Poe
1849 --- cerebral edema following a drinking binge.
(The September 1996
Maryland
Medical Journal published a study that showed Poe's symptoms suggest
rabies instead.)
Elvis Presley 1977 --- accidental drug overdose. He died while sitting on the toilet.
Alexander Pushkin - Russian author 1837 --- killled in duel.
Grigory Rasputin 1916 --- assassinated: poisoned (cyanide), shot (3 times), and thrown into a river.
John Augustus Roebling - designer of the Brooklyn Bridge ; 1869 --- died of a tetanus infection after having his leg crushed by a ferryboat while working on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Rebecca Rolfe (Pocahontas) 1617 --- smallpox. She died in London.
Oscar Romero - archbishop of San Salvador 1980 --- murdered while saying mass at the Cathedral of San Salvador.
Julius & Ethel Rosenberg 1953 --- executed in electric chair on June 19. The 1st husband-and-wife team executed in the US. They had been charged with espionage and spying.
Ronald Ryan 1967 --- executed by hanging in Melbourne. He was the last man to be hanged in Australia.
Girolamo Savonarola - religious reformer 1498 --- hanged and burned for heresy.
Rebecca Schaffer - actress 1989 --- shot by a "celebrity stalker" fan.
Selena (Quintanilla Perez) - singer 1995 --- shot by the president of her fan club.
Thomas A. Selfridge 1908 --- 1st mortality in an airplane crash. He was the passenger when Wilbur Wright crashed a US War Department test plane.
Betty Shabazz, (Betty Sanders; Sister Betty X, Hajj Bahiyah) - widow of Malcom X 1997 --- complications from apartment fire started by her grandson.
Tupac Shakur 1996 --- murdered in drive-by shooting.
Percy Bysshe Shelley1822 --- accidental drowning.
Eddie Slovik 1945 --- shot by an American firing squad in France for desertion. (The only US soldier since the Civil War to be executed as he was.)
Vladimir Smirnov - fencer 1982 --- brain damage. During a fencing match against Matthias Behr, Behr's foil snapped, pierced Smirnov's mask, penetrated his eyeball, and entered his brain. Smirnov died 9 days later.
Joseph Smith - founder of Mormon religion 1844 --- shot by an angry mob while he was jailed in Carthage, IL.
Diana Spencer (Princess of Wales) 1997 --- car crash while eluding paparazzi.
Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots) 1587 --- beheaded for treason.
Mary Surratt 1869 --- executed for being a conspirator in the Lincoln assassination. 1st woman ever executed by the United States government. Hung on July 7.
Sharon Tate 1969 --- murdered by Charles Manson and his followers.
Leon Trotsky - Russian leader 1940 --- assassinated in Mexico with an ice-pick, died the next day.
Tommy Tucker - musician 1982 --- carbon tetrachloride poisoning sustained while he was finishing floors in his home.
Kelton Rena Turner - 1975 --- last American soldiier killed in the Vietnam War.
Rudolph Valentino (Rodolfo di Valentina D'Antonguolla) - actor 1926 --- perforated gastric ulcer and ruptured appendix.
Mike Venezia - jockey 1988 --- died in 5th-race fall at Belmont Race Track, NY.
Gianni Versace - clothing designer 1997 --- murdered by serial killer.
Sir William Wallace - Scottish rebel 1305 --- execcuted by being hanged for a short time, taken down still breathing and having his bowels torn out and burned. His head was then struck off, and his body divided into quarters, the punishment known as 'hanged, drawn and quartered'. His head was placed on a pole on London Bridge, his right arm above the bridge in Newcastle, his left arm was sent to Berwick, his right foot and limb to Perth and his left quarter to Aberdeen where it was buried in what is now the wall at St. Machars Cathedral.
Karl Wallenda - aerialist 1978 --- fell to death at the age of 73 as he was walking a highwire strung between two buildings in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Edward Higgins White, Jr. 1967 --- died in space capsule fire during rehearsal of scheduled Apollo 1 launch with Roger Chaffee & Gus Grissom.
Stanford White - Architect, designed Madison Square Garden 1906 --- shot atop Madison Square Garden by Evelyn Nesbit's jealous husband, Harry Thaw.
Oscar Wilde 1900 --- cerebral meningitis.
Tennessee Williams - writer 1983 --- choked to deeath on a bottle cap. He was 71.
Jackie Wilson - entertainer 1967 --- collapsed of a stroke and a heart attack on stage, while singing his hit "Lonely Teardrops": He never regained consciousness and died eight years later.
Natalie Wood (Natasha Nikolaevna Gurdin) 1981 --- accidental drowning.
Alexander Woollcott
- literary critic 1943 --- heaart attack while appearing on
the CBS radio program "People's Platform."
Alexander the Great (356 BC-323 BC) was an epileptic.
Aleksandr III, Russian Czar blamed the Jews for his father's 1881 assassination. He vowed to kill one third of Russia's Jews, drive out another third and to convert the rest.
Queen Anne (ruler of England 1702 - 1714) gave birth to 17 children, none of whom survived her.
Louis Armstrong always had a handkerchief in his hand while playing his trumpet.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category. Refused to fly in airplanes.
Fred Astaire made his dance debut at age 7 in 1906. at the height of his career, his feet were insured for $650,000.
Irving Berlin wrote more than 1000 songs and scores of Broadway musicals.
Mel Blanc - the voice of Bugs Bunny was allergic to carrots. After a near-fatal auto accident in 1961, Blanc did his cartoon voices, including the first 65 episodes of "The Flintstones," flat on his back, with the microphone hanging over his bed.
James Brown - singer was once arrested for brandishing a shotgun in his office building while demanding to know who had used his private toilet.
James Buchanan was the only US president to remain a bachelor.
Caligula (12 AD - 41 AD) - Roman emperor, thought he was a god. He set up a temple with a life-sized statue of himself in gold which was dressed each day in the clothing such as he wore himself.
Jimmy Carter was the first US president to have been born in a hospital.
George Washington Carver invented peanut butter.
Dame Agatha Christie is the world's top-selling fiction writer, having written 78 novels that have sold an estimated 2 billion copies worldwide. Suddenly disappeared in 1926 for a period of 11 days - an event she left unexplained.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was born in a ladies' room during a dance at Blenheim Palace. Was a skilled bricklayer and for many years carried a union card. Was made an honorary US citizen by Kennedy in 1963. He "rationed" himself to 15 cigars a day.
Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian. Her last name was Ptolemy. Was a decendant of four generations of brother-sister marriages, and married 2 of her own brothers.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an opium addict. He wrote his masterpiece, 'Kubla Khan,' while under the influence of opium. At the height of his addiction, he drank about 2 liters of laudanum (tincture of opium) each week.
Bing Crosby's son, Lindsay Crosby, committed suicide in 1989 with a small caliber rifle. His son, Dennis M. Crosby, committed suicide in 1991 with a 12-gauge shotgun.
Charles Dickens always faced north when writing and sleeping.
Empress Elizabeth - Russian monarch died in 1761 with 15,000 dresses in her closets.
Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.
Albert Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine, so his parents thought he might be retarded. In 1898, he applied for admission to the Munich Technical Institute, but was turned down on the grounds that he "showed no promise" as a student. He was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952.
Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
Zsa Zsa Gabor (Sari Gabor) was Miss Hungary, 1936. Has been married to: Burhan Belge, Conrad Hilton, George Sanders, Herbert Hutner, Joshua S. Cosden, Jr., Jack Ryan, Michael O'Hara, Philippe d'Alba, and Prince Frederick von Anhalt. Marriage #8, to playboy Felipe De Alba, only lasted a single day. Her ex husband, George Sanders, later married her sister, Magda. In 1990, she served 3 days in jail for slapping a cop after a traffic stop.
Judy Garland (Frances Gumm) was Fred Astaire's dancing partner in the Irving Berlin musical "Easter Parade." he was left handed. On the day she died, a tornado touched down in Kansas, just as it had in "The Wizard of Oz."
King Henry VIII was the most married English king, having had 6 wives.
Rudolf Hess - Nazi politician was sentenced to life in prison in 1946. From 1966 until 1987 he was the only prisoner of Spandau Prisonin Berlin, Germany. He committed suicide at the age of 93.
Jean Harlow was the first actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine.
L. Ron Hubbard - science fiction author founded the Church of Scientology.
Howard Hughes sold his 75% holding in TWA in 1966 and
made a half a billion dollars in one day. Once spent 26 straight
hours in the bathroom. (He suffered from severe constipation.)
Suffered from a fear of public places (agoraphobia.) Suffered
from a fear of germs (mysophobia.)
Weighed only 93 pounds when he died.
Ted Hughes - poet his first wife, Sylvia Plath, the poet, committed suicide by inhaling gas from an oven in 1963. Second wife, Assia Wevill committed suicide by the same method in 1969.
Andrew Jackson unknowingly married his wife Rachel while she was still married to her first husband. Was the only US president to fight a duel. Spent most of his adult life with a bullet no more than two inches away from his heart as a result of a duel he fought before becoming President. Suffered from tuberculosis for most of his term as president.
Jesus Christ spoke the Aramaic language, a dialect of Galilee.
Elton John (Reginald Kenneth Dwight) received his first gold record - for "Crocodile Rock," in 1973.
Hedy Lamarr (Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) in 1942, at the height of her Hollywood career, patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was two decades ahead of its time. The concept was taken up by engineers in 1957 and became the basic tool for secure military communications.
Jerry Lee Lewis His third wife was his 13 year old first cousin, Myra Gale Brown. For a five month period, he was concurrently married to both wife #2 and wife #3. Wife #4 Jaren Gunn was found dead in a swimming pool. Wife #5 Shawn Stevens died of a methadone overdose two and a half months after the wedding. His two sons were no luckier than his wives. Son #2 drowned as an infant. Son #1, a drug addict, was killed in a car accident.
Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican US president.
James Madison was the smallest US president: he was under 5'4" tall, and weighed less than 100 pounds.
Rocky Marciano - boxer was the only world champion at any weight to have won every fight of his professional career (1947 to 1956). 43 of his 49 fights were won either by KO's or because the fight had to be stopped.
William McKinley in 1889, was the first US president to ride in an automobile.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began to compose music at the age of 5.
Sir Isaac Newton was an ordained priest in the Church of England.
Jack Nicholson - actor in 1974, at the age of 37, discovered that his sister, June, was actually his mother, and that the woman he had grown up thinking was his mother, Ethel May, was actually his grandmother.
George Orwell is responsible for coining the terms: "Big Brother", "unperson", and "doublethink."
Luciano Pavarotti carries a bent nail in his pocket for good luck whenever he sings.
Edgar Allen Poe in 1831, as a cadet at West Point, he took the order to "appear for a public parade in white belts and gloves, under arms" literally. He showed up naked, except for his belt, gloves and rifle. He was expelled.
Cole Porter - composer ordered 9 pounds of fudge every month from Arnold's Candies in Peru, Indiana.
Elvis Presley was inducted into the army in 1958. His serial number was 53310761. Weighed 230 pounds at death. His last snack was 4 scoops of ice cream and 6 chocolate chip cookies. Was made an agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs by President Nixon in 1970. In the last 7 months of his life, Elvis had 5,300 uppers, downers, and painkillers prescribed for him.
Ramses II (1316 BC-1224 BC) - Egyptian pharaoh had his own harem when he was 10 years old. fathered 111 sons and 67 daughters.
Ronald Reagan 1st US president to have been divorced.
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (1606-1669) painted 64 self portraits. He died impoverished and alone at 63.
Babe Ruth hit his last Major League home run on May 25, 1935. Guy Bush of the Pittsburgh Pirates was pitching.
Frank Sinatra paid a $240,000 ransom to free his kidnapped son.
Ibn Saud - King of Saudi Arabia 1926-1953 was 6'6" tall. He had married 156 times and had 56 children.
King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.
Diana Spencer (Princess of Wales) her 1981 wedding attracted over 700 million TV viewers. Had appeared a record number of 43 times on the cover of 'People' magazine before her death.
Robert II Stuart (1316-1390) - king of Scots was born by cesarean section after his mother's death following a riding accident.
Shih Huang Ti, China's first emperor was buried surrounded by 7,000 life-size clay figures of soldiers standing in battle formation, along with life-sized ceramic chariots and horses.
Billy Tipton (Dorothy Lucille Tipton) - jazz musician lived as a man. Although married to several women, and a step-father to children, wasn't found out to be female until she died in 1989, at the age of 74.
John Tyler was the first US president to be photographed while in office.
Queen Victoria married her first cousin. Almost all of the crowned heads of Europe in the 20th century were her descendants. She was raised speaking German at home. Although she ruled England for 64 years and is probably one of the best-known of all English monarchs, she never spoke English fluently. She made the use of chloroform to combat pain during childbirth acceptable in Britain.
Vincent van Gogh sold only one of his paintings in his lifetime. It was in Arles, France, that he cut off his ear. His last painting was "Wheat Field with Crows."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.
Marilyn Vos Savant (1946 - ) - American journalist has an IQ of 228, the highest ever recorded.
Woodrow Wilson is the only US president to have a Ph.D. degree.
Steve Young - San Francisco 49'ers quarterback is the great-great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young.
Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) (1893-1976) - founder of Communist China
is listed in 'The Guiness Book of Records' as holding the record for mass
murders. He was responsible for at least 40 million deaths and perhaps
80 million more, in China, between 1949 and 1971. His teeth
turned green because he refused to brush them. [Ick, ick, ick] He preferred
rinsing his mouth with tea and then chewing the tea leaves.
He believed that the more women he slept with, the longer he would live.
He sometimes had three, four or five bed partners at one time.