Archives are generally grouped by month of Main Page appearance. (Currently, DYK hooks are archived according to the date and time that they were taken off the Main Page.) To find which archive contains the fact that appeared on Did you know, go to article's
talk page and follow the archive link in the DYK talk page message box.
... that though it never made it on the air, Faze TV was planned as the first
television channel in the
United Kingdom specifically targeted towards gay men?
... that the Orbitron(pictured in restored state), an
Ed Roth-built
custom car, was feared lost until its 2007 rediscovery in dilapidated condition in front of a
Ciudad Juárez adult bookstore?
... that the plot of the "4-D" episode of The X-Files was inspired by
French journalist
Jean-Dominique Bauby, who could only communicate by blinking his left eyelid?
... that MBM, a
Barcelona based
architecture firm, showed 32 designs that were never built in a 2003 show titled Lost Architectures?
... that Norwegian
speed skaterRandi Thorvaldsen won nine national allround championships in a row from 1946 to 1954, and finished first in 34 distances out of 36 possible?
... that
Tang Dynasty warlord Li Shidao, hoping to save his ally Wu Yuanji, assassinated the
chancellor Wu Yuanheng, who was in charge of the campaign against Wu Yuanji?
... that when Typhoon Olive struck
Wake Island in 1952,
World War IIbunkers provided shelters for 700 people, resulting in zero fatalities despite the destruction of 85% of the island's structures?
... that it took 66 years for an
arrowhead found near the Boaz mastodon to be positively identified?
... that in spite of years of development no one was able to get a Chromatron color television set to work properly, prompting
Sony to develop the famed
Trinitron?
... that the
Heian period Japanese story Torikaebaya Monogatari is the tale of a man who lives as a woman and his sister who lives as a man, who eventually swap places in order to lead happy lives?
... that Althea Byfield played collegiate
basketball in the United States, is signed to play semi-professional
netball in New Zealand, and has represented
Jamaica internationally in both sports?
... that
AAA's first Triplemanía event in 1993 attracted 48,000 people, setting the all-time attendance record for a Mexican
professional wrestling event?
... that the skating club Christiania Skøiteklub had more than 5,000 members in 1870, when the city
Christiania had fewer than 70,000 inhabitants?
... that Avadhanum Paupiah, Indian dubash of the
British East India Company was convicted in 1792 of forging evidence against David Haliburton on behalf of the Holland brothers?
... that though fruiting as a typical "
little brown mushroom", Inocybe lacera is easily identifiable microscopically due to its extremely long, distinctive
spores?
... that during the
KoreanJoseon period, royal physicians squeezed milk from cows to make tarakjuk, a milk
porridge, which was served only for
the king and royalty?
... that the 1862 opening of the second Causeway in
Perth,
Western Australia, was disrupted by a young man on
horseback who raced across after announcing that he would be first to do so?
... that the Hare Indian dog, now
extinct, was not known to
bark, but puppies learned to imitate the barking of other dogs when the
breed was introduced to
Europe?
14:24, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
... that an important identifying feature of the Imposter trevally(Carangoides talamparoides, pictured) is its white or pale grey tongue?
... that 18th-century English historian William Rider's 50-volume A New History of England was later described by
William Thomas Lowndes as one of the vilest
Grub Street compilations ever published?
... that the
Imperial Japanese Navy's
Haruna was one of the first vessels in the world to be equipped with 14-inch naval guns?
... that the Leges Henrici Primi (written c. 1115) sets out a list of royal pleas or pleas of the crown, crimes that could only be tried in front of the king or his officials?
... that besides delivering
electric shocks, the characteristic defensive behaviour of a giant electric ray when threatened by a predator includes performing a "
somersault" in the water?
... that Beverly Eckert(pictured) died in the crash of
Flight 3407 while on her way to award a scholarship in honor of her husband, who was killed in the events of
9/11?
... that when the
Tang Dynasty general Tian Hongzheng was young, his brother Tian Rong battered him after he won an archery contest, believing that he was drawing unnecessary attention to himself?
... that with the Minas Gerais(pictured),
Brazil became the third country to have a
dreadnought under construction, ahead of traditional powers like
France and
Russia?
... that after long-standing
racketeering allegations, the
FBI raided
Chicago's Pui Tak Center, then known as the On Leong Merchants Association Building, in 1988?
... that when Henry McCardie was a
barrister, he often worked so late that his
chambers were nicknamed "the lighthouse", as there was light coming from the windows?
... that Salvia pentstemonoides ("Big red sage") was thought to be
extinct until a botanist rediscovered it while taking photos for a book on
Texas wildflowers?
... that the World Netball Series is a new international
netball competition, with modified rules inspired from
Twenty20 cricket designed to make matches faster and more television-friendly?
... that a study of
lichen growth in the
Canadian Rockies showed that Xanthoria elegans(pictured) expands at a rate of 0.5 mm per year for the first century before slowing down?
... that Marshall Loeb, managing editor of Fortune, called his colleague Daniel Seligman, author of 400 of the magazine's Keeping Up columns, "an acerbic slayer of (mostly liberal) prig-headedness"?
... that
Albert Bassermann, bearer of the Iffland-Ring, considered the ring cursed after all three of the successors he named died shortly after he named them?
... that communities of the Dagaaba people of
Ghana in the 1990s still used
cowrie shells as an alternate currency, long after they had been replaced elsewhere by the
Ghanaian cedi?
... that unlike the queens of other
eusocial species, a queen of the
paper waspRopalidia marginata is docile and maintains her reproductive monopoly in her colony without physical aggression?
... that, unusually for an eighteenth-century
novel, the heroine of
Charlotte Turner Smith's Emmeline does not meet the man she marries until half-way through the story?
01:40, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the recipe for chicken fried bacon(pictured) was developed in the small town of
Snook, Texas, at Sodolak's Original Country Inn?
... that
Tang Dynasty general Li Qi paid his best
archers and soldiers of
Xiongnu and
Xi ancestry ten times as much as other soldiers, to garner their loyalty?
... that William Close, the physician father of actress
Glenn Close, played a pivotal role in stemming the outbreak of the
Ebola virus in
Zaire in 1976?
... that after scoring six touchdowns for
Michigan against
Ohio State in 1902, Albert Herrnstein became the
winningest coach in Ohio State football history up to the time he retired?
... that in 114 years of existence the Constanţa Shipyard in
Romania constructed 432 ships with a total of over four million metric tons
deadweight (DWT)?
... that despite the fact that self-described alligator farms have existed since the 1890s, true commercial farming of
crocodilians did not begin until the mid-20th century?
... that the
Tang Dynasty's Princess Taihe, who became the Kedun (empress) of its ally
Huigu, suffered through Huigu's collapse before she was able to return to the Tang?
... that Sanggung was an official title of the senior fifth rank, the highest attainable for
gungnyeo, a lady-in-waiting during the
Joseon Dynasty of
Korea?
... that Yohannan Sulaqa, to oppose the hereditary patriarchal succession, took a step unprecedented in the
Church of the East: traveled to
Rome and was there consecrated
patriarch in 1553?
... that during the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad's last week of passenger service, the superintendent transported the train's passengers in his own private
vehicle?
... that in 1915, T. V. Seshagiri Iyer founded the Indian Boat Club at
Kodaikanal in response to discrimination against
Indians at the English Boat Club?
... that Takalik Abaj, an archaeological site in lowland
Guatemala, has one of the greatest concentrations of
Olmec-style sculpture outside of the
Gulf of Mexico coast?
... that the numerous photographs of Charles Darwin—at least 53 (example pictured)—may have helped secure the singular connection between Darwin and the theory of evolution in popular thought?
... that sources indicate that Cedric "Pat" Smith, who later worked at
Ford's
Rouge plant, was either the second or third leading scorer in the
NFL during its first season in 1920?
... that college mathematics professor David Bressoud chose to major in
mathematics because that was the quickest way to complete his degree and get away from college and
academia?
... that
headache is a symptom commonly described by patients suffering from
lupus, but the existence of lupus headache as a specific disorder is contested?
... that students hoping to increase their brainpower before exams made offerings of incense to the body of a two-headed calf in Koh Sotin District,
Cambodia?
10 February 2009
21:48, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
... that
American football player "Aqua" Allmendinger(pictured), once described as "a young giant in perfect physical condition," acquired his nickname after working as a waterboy for railroad building crews?
... that Memot District in eastern
Cambodia is home to several huge prehistoric villages that date to the first millennium
BCE?
... that
Beninese politician Sourou-Migan Apithy was said to have ended slavery in Benin, although in fact he was not involved with the abolition bill?
... that male
field crickets of the species Gryllus veletis attract sexually receptive mates by
acoustic signals, and one changes his "courtship song" when a female enters his territory?
... that in the
Wii video game Neighborhood Games, when playing with more than one person,
player characters can taunt opposing players to break their concentration?
... that chocolataires, popular around the late 19th century, were thrown as a novel alternative to
tea parties—once even for a kindergarten
fundraiser in
Indiana, USA?
... that the white
Piedmont wine grape Arneis is known as "white
Barolo" because it was traditionally blended with
Nebbiolo to soften that grape's harsh
tannins?
... that Bridgemere Garden World in Bridgemere,
Cheshire, now one of the largest
garden centres in Europe, started as "a little garden shed in a small field" in 1961?
... that in the middle of building Fagernes Airport, Leirin, the authorities changed their minds and gave the airport more than twice the
runway length?
... that on 28 May 1931, a
Bellanca CH-300, fitted with a Packard DR-980diesel engine, set a 55-year record for staying aloft for 84 hours and 32 minutes without being refueled?
... that Steve Carson, the producer/director husband of
RTÉ host
Miriam O'Callaghan, has been named as the channel's Director of Television?
... that actor
Peter Falk, the affable detective in the long-running TV series Columbo, was propelled to stardom by portraying a vicious killer in the 1960 film Murder, Inc.?
01:48, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the Cambridge CAP(pictured) was the first successful experimental computer that demonstrated the use of
capabilities, both in hardware and software?
... that Hrelja, a 14th-century semi-independent feudal lord under
Serbian suzerainty, built the defensive tower (pictured) in
Bulgaria's largest monastery, the
Rila Monastery?
... that Gáspár Békés organized two unsuccessful rebellions against
Stephen Báthory of Poland but later became Báthory's close advisor despite differences in their religions?
... that in Gretchen, a play by
W. S. Gilbert based on
Goethe's Faust, Faustus hopes to be purified by loving Gretchen, but instead his influence corrupts and eventually kills her?
... that while Auguste Achintre was traveling to
New York City as
Haiti's ambassador to the United States, the Haitian government was overthrown, revoking his role as
ambassador?
... that the English architectural historian Edward Hubbard wrote the definitive biography of the
Cheshire architect
John Douglas, but died before it could be published?
... that
developmental biologistAron Moscona's research on growth of embryos into complex tissues and organs led to the discovery of
cadherins, which help cells recognize each other and cluster together?
... that after being completed in October 2008,
Tokyo's Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower(pictured) is the second-tallest educational building in the world, at 204 metres (669 ft)?
... that 19th-century English portrait painter Henry William Pickersgill was a member of the
Royal Academy for almost 50 years, and showed a total of 384 works there?
... that the indigenous flora of Saskatchewan(example pictured) is used for jellies, jams, pies, herbal teas, medicinal
decoctions and technological products?
... that the prolific author Maxwell Gray, whose real name was Mary Gleed Tuttiett, was a permanent invalid who seldom left her home in
Newport,
Isle of Wight?
... that, when the München RFC played the Bad Tölz US Army in June 1978, it was the first game of
rugby union played in
Munich in almost 50 years?
... that the film Dark Habits was rejected by the
Cannes Film Festival because the organizing committee considered it sacrilegious, blasphemous and anti-Catholic?
... that David Yuile and his brother William attempted to control the
Canadianglass manufacturing sector by founding the Diamond Glass Company, which did not make any glass?
... that in 1785, men between 16 and 50, who were not ministers, were required to help build
Bardstown, Kentucky's Cobblestone Path or be subject to a fine?
... that a civil rights lawsuit brought by Andrew W. Cooper led to the election of
Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress?
... that an episode of the
documentary series Hostage detailed
Saddam Hussein's placing of two
Irish civilians as "human shields" at sites of strategic importance during the
Gulf War?
... that the Parc de Belleville is the highest park in
Paris and also contains the city's longest cascading water fountain?
... that Laurie D. Cox performed the first comprehensive tree census in
New York City in 1915, finding that most street trees in
Manhattan were in bad condition?
... that Maurice Catarcio, at age 69, pulled an 80-foot (24 m) boat filled with 125 passengers while swimming 300 feet (91 m) in a lake, which earned him a place in The Guinness Book of World Records?
... that the
JamaicanGun Court Act of 1974 mandated a sentence of indefinite imprisonment with
hard labor for all
firearms offenses, including possession of unlicensed guns?
... that the largest
kilns for Ancient Roman pottery(example pictured) fired up to 40,000 pieces at a time?
... that the first head coach of the NBA club now known as the
Atlanta Hawks was
Roger Potter, whose tenure only lasted seven games into the team's inaugural season in 1949?
... that of the ten Brough Superior Austin Four motorcycles built—eight in 1932 plus one each in 1933 and 1934—a total of eight have survived to this day?
... that according to US and
Turkish officials, the MV Kısmetim-1 was deliberately sunk in December 1992 by its crew in order to prevent the capture of the
illicit drug load?
... that Salvia fruticosa or Greek sage (pictured) was depicted on a 1400-BCE
Minoanfresco on the island of
Crete, and is still grown and used widely today?
... that despite its acrid taste, Lactarius vietus is edible after boiling?
... that during
World War I, President
Woodrow Wilson reportedly stopped discussing important matters at Cabinet meetings because of the indiscretions of Interior Secretary Franklin Knight Lane?
Archives are generally grouped by month of Main Page appearance. (Currently, DYK hooks are archived according to the date and time that they were taken off the Main Page.) To find which archive contains the fact that appeared on Did you know, go to article's
talk page and follow the archive link in the DYK talk page message box.
... that though it never made it on the air, Faze TV was planned as the first
television channel in the
United Kingdom specifically targeted towards gay men?
... that the Orbitron(pictured in restored state), an
Ed Roth-built
custom car, was feared lost until its 2007 rediscovery in dilapidated condition in front of a
Ciudad Juárez adult bookstore?
... that the plot of the "4-D" episode of The X-Files was inspired by
French journalist
Jean-Dominique Bauby, who could only communicate by blinking his left eyelid?
... that MBM, a
Barcelona based
architecture firm, showed 32 designs that were never built in a 2003 show titled Lost Architectures?
... that Norwegian
speed skaterRandi Thorvaldsen won nine national allround championships in a row from 1946 to 1954, and finished first in 34 distances out of 36 possible?
... that
Tang Dynasty warlord Li Shidao, hoping to save his ally Wu Yuanji, assassinated the
chancellor Wu Yuanheng, who was in charge of the campaign against Wu Yuanji?
... that when Typhoon Olive struck
Wake Island in 1952,
World War IIbunkers provided shelters for 700 people, resulting in zero fatalities despite the destruction of 85% of the island's structures?
... that it took 66 years for an
arrowhead found near the Boaz mastodon to be positively identified?
... that in spite of years of development no one was able to get a Chromatron color television set to work properly, prompting
Sony to develop the famed
Trinitron?
... that the
Heian period Japanese story Torikaebaya Monogatari is the tale of a man who lives as a woman and his sister who lives as a man, who eventually swap places in order to lead happy lives?
... that Althea Byfield played collegiate
basketball in the United States, is signed to play semi-professional
netball in New Zealand, and has represented
Jamaica internationally in both sports?
... that
AAA's first Triplemanía event in 1993 attracted 48,000 people, setting the all-time attendance record for a Mexican
professional wrestling event?
... that the skating club Christiania Skøiteklub had more than 5,000 members in 1870, when the city
Christiania had fewer than 70,000 inhabitants?
... that Avadhanum Paupiah, Indian dubash of the
British East India Company was convicted in 1792 of forging evidence against David Haliburton on behalf of the Holland brothers?
... that though fruiting as a typical "
little brown mushroom", Inocybe lacera is easily identifiable microscopically due to its extremely long, distinctive
spores?
... that during the
KoreanJoseon period, royal physicians squeezed milk from cows to make tarakjuk, a milk
porridge, which was served only for
the king and royalty?
... that the 1862 opening of the second Causeway in
Perth,
Western Australia, was disrupted by a young man on
horseback who raced across after announcing that he would be first to do so?
... that the Hare Indian dog, now
extinct, was not known to
bark, but puppies learned to imitate the barking of other dogs when the
breed was introduced to
Europe?
14:24, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
... that an important identifying feature of the Imposter trevally(Carangoides talamparoides, pictured) is its white or pale grey tongue?
... that 18th-century English historian William Rider's 50-volume A New History of England was later described by
William Thomas Lowndes as one of the vilest
Grub Street compilations ever published?
... that the
Imperial Japanese Navy's
Haruna was one of the first vessels in the world to be equipped with 14-inch naval guns?
... that the Leges Henrici Primi (written c. 1115) sets out a list of royal pleas or pleas of the crown, crimes that could only be tried in front of the king or his officials?
... that besides delivering
electric shocks, the characteristic defensive behaviour of a giant electric ray when threatened by a predator includes performing a "
somersault" in the water?
... that Beverly Eckert(pictured) died in the crash of
Flight 3407 while on her way to award a scholarship in honor of her husband, who was killed in the events of
9/11?
... that when the
Tang Dynasty general Tian Hongzheng was young, his brother Tian Rong battered him after he won an archery contest, believing that he was drawing unnecessary attention to himself?
... that with the Minas Gerais(pictured),
Brazil became the third country to have a
dreadnought under construction, ahead of traditional powers like
France and
Russia?
... that after long-standing
racketeering allegations, the
FBI raided
Chicago's Pui Tak Center, then known as the On Leong Merchants Association Building, in 1988?
... that when Henry McCardie was a
barrister, he often worked so late that his
chambers were nicknamed "the lighthouse", as there was light coming from the windows?
... that Salvia pentstemonoides ("Big red sage") was thought to be
extinct until a botanist rediscovered it while taking photos for a book on
Texas wildflowers?
... that the World Netball Series is a new international
netball competition, with modified rules inspired from
Twenty20 cricket designed to make matches faster and more television-friendly?
... that a study of
lichen growth in the
Canadian Rockies showed that Xanthoria elegans(pictured) expands at a rate of 0.5 mm per year for the first century before slowing down?
... that Marshall Loeb, managing editor of Fortune, called his colleague Daniel Seligman, author of 400 of the magazine's Keeping Up columns, "an acerbic slayer of (mostly liberal) prig-headedness"?
... that
Albert Bassermann, bearer of the Iffland-Ring, considered the ring cursed after all three of the successors he named died shortly after he named them?
... that communities of the Dagaaba people of
Ghana in the 1990s still used
cowrie shells as an alternate currency, long after they had been replaced elsewhere by the
Ghanaian cedi?
... that unlike the queens of other
eusocial species, a queen of the
paper waspRopalidia marginata is docile and maintains her reproductive monopoly in her colony without physical aggression?
... that, unusually for an eighteenth-century
novel, the heroine of
Charlotte Turner Smith's Emmeline does not meet the man she marries until half-way through the story?
01:40, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the recipe for chicken fried bacon(pictured) was developed in the small town of
Snook, Texas, at Sodolak's Original Country Inn?
... that
Tang Dynasty general Li Qi paid his best
archers and soldiers of
Xiongnu and
Xi ancestry ten times as much as other soldiers, to garner their loyalty?
... that William Close, the physician father of actress
Glenn Close, played a pivotal role in stemming the outbreak of the
Ebola virus in
Zaire in 1976?
... that after scoring six touchdowns for
Michigan against
Ohio State in 1902, Albert Herrnstein became the
winningest coach in Ohio State football history up to the time he retired?
... that in 114 years of existence the Constanţa Shipyard in
Romania constructed 432 ships with a total of over four million metric tons
deadweight (DWT)?
... that despite the fact that self-described alligator farms have existed since the 1890s, true commercial farming of
crocodilians did not begin until the mid-20th century?
... that the
Tang Dynasty's Princess Taihe, who became the Kedun (empress) of its ally
Huigu, suffered through Huigu's collapse before she was able to return to the Tang?
... that Sanggung was an official title of the senior fifth rank, the highest attainable for
gungnyeo, a lady-in-waiting during the
Joseon Dynasty of
Korea?
... that Yohannan Sulaqa, to oppose the hereditary patriarchal succession, took a step unprecedented in the
Church of the East: traveled to
Rome and was there consecrated
patriarch in 1553?
... that during the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad's last week of passenger service, the superintendent transported the train's passengers in his own private
vehicle?
... that in 1915, T. V. Seshagiri Iyer founded the Indian Boat Club at
Kodaikanal in response to discrimination against
Indians at the English Boat Club?
... that Takalik Abaj, an archaeological site in lowland
Guatemala, has one of the greatest concentrations of
Olmec-style sculpture outside of the
Gulf of Mexico coast?
... that the numerous photographs of Charles Darwin—at least 53 (example pictured)—may have helped secure the singular connection between Darwin and the theory of evolution in popular thought?
... that sources indicate that Cedric "Pat" Smith, who later worked at
Ford's
Rouge plant, was either the second or third leading scorer in the
NFL during its first season in 1920?
... that college mathematics professor David Bressoud chose to major in
mathematics because that was the quickest way to complete his degree and get away from college and
academia?
... that
headache is a symptom commonly described by patients suffering from
lupus, but the existence of lupus headache as a specific disorder is contested?
... that students hoping to increase their brainpower before exams made offerings of incense to the body of a two-headed calf in Koh Sotin District,
Cambodia?
10 February 2009
21:48, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
... that
American football player "Aqua" Allmendinger(pictured), once described as "a young giant in perfect physical condition," acquired his nickname after working as a waterboy for railroad building crews?
... that Memot District in eastern
Cambodia is home to several huge prehistoric villages that date to the first millennium
BCE?
... that
Beninese politician Sourou-Migan Apithy was said to have ended slavery in Benin, although in fact he was not involved with the abolition bill?
... that male
field crickets of the species Gryllus veletis attract sexually receptive mates by
acoustic signals, and one changes his "courtship song" when a female enters his territory?
... that in the
Wii video game Neighborhood Games, when playing with more than one person,
player characters can taunt opposing players to break their concentration?
... that chocolataires, popular around the late 19th century, were thrown as a novel alternative to
tea parties—once even for a kindergarten
fundraiser in
Indiana, USA?
... that the white
Piedmont wine grape Arneis is known as "white
Barolo" because it was traditionally blended with
Nebbiolo to soften that grape's harsh
tannins?
... that Bridgemere Garden World in Bridgemere,
Cheshire, now one of the largest
garden centres in Europe, started as "a little garden shed in a small field" in 1961?
... that in the middle of building Fagernes Airport, Leirin, the authorities changed their minds and gave the airport more than twice the
runway length?
... that on 28 May 1931, a
Bellanca CH-300, fitted with a Packard DR-980diesel engine, set a 55-year record for staying aloft for 84 hours and 32 minutes without being refueled?
... that Steve Carson, the producer/director husband of
RTÉ host
Miriam O'Callaghan, has been named as the channel's Director of Television?
... that actor
Peter Falk, the affable detective in the long-running TV series Columbo, was propelled to stardom by portraying a vicious killer in the 1960 film Murder, Inc.?
01:48, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
... that the Cambridge CAP(pictured) was the first successful experimental computer that demonstrated the use of
capabilities, both in hardware and software?
... that Hrelja, a 14th-century semi-independent feudal lord under
Serbian suzerainty, built the defensive tower (pictured) in
Bulgaria's largest monastery, the
Rila Monastery?
... that Gáspár Békés organized two unsuccessful rebellions against
Stephen Báthory of Poland but later became Báthory's close advisor despite differences in their religions?
... that in Gretchen, a play by
W. S. Gilbert based on
Goethe's Faust, Faustus hopes to be purified by loving Gretchen, but instead his influence corrupts and eventually kills her?
... that while Auguste Achintre was traveling to
New York City as
Haiti's ambassador to the United States, the Haitian government was overthrown, revoking his role as
ambassador?
... that the English architectural historian Edward Hubbard wrote the definitive biography of the
Cheshire architect
John Douglas, but died before it could be published?
... that
developmental biologistAron Moscona's research on growth of embryos into complex tissues and organs led to the discovery of
cadherins, which help cells recognize each other and cluster together?
... that after being completed in October 2008,
Tokyo's Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower(pictured) is the second-tallest educational building in the world, at 204 metres (669 ft)?
... that 19th-century English portrait painter Henry William Pickersgill was a member of the
Royal Academy for almost 50 years, and showed a total of 384 works there?
... that the indigenous flora of Saskatchewan(example pictured) is used for jellies, jams, pies, herbal teas, medicinal
decoctions and technological products?
... that the prolific author Maxwell Gray, whose real name was Mary Gleed Tuttiett, was a permanent invalid who seldom left her home in
Newport,
Isle of Wight?
... that, when the München RFC played the Bad Tölz US Army in June 1978, it was the first game of
rugby union played in
Munich in almost 50 years?
... that the film Dark Habits was rejected by the
Cannes Film Festival because the organizing committee considered it sacrilegious, blasphemous and anti-Catholic?
... that David Yuile and his brother William attempted to control the
Canadianglass manufacturing sector by founding the Diamond Glass Company, which did not make any glass?
... that in 1785, men between 16 and 50, who were not ministers, were required to help build
Bardstown, Kentucky's Cobblestone Path or be subject to a fine?
... that a civil rights lawsuit brought by Andrew W. Cooper led to the election of
Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress?
... that an episode of the
documentary series Hostage detailed
Saddam Hussein's placing of two
Irish civilians as "human shields" at sites of strategic importance during the
Gulf War?
... that the Parc de Belleville is the highest park in
Paris and also contains the city's longest cascading water fountain?
... that Laurie D. Cox performed the first comprehensive tree census in
New York City in 1915, finding that most street trees in
Manhattan were in bad condition?
... that Maurice Catarcio, at age 69, pulled an 80-foot (24 m) boat filled with 125 passengers while swimming 300 feet (91 m) in a lake, which earned him a place in The Guinness Book of World Records?
... that the
JamaicanGun Court Act of 1974 mandated a sentence of indefinite imprisonment with
hard labor for all
firearms offenses, including possession of unlicensed guns?
... that the largest
kilns for Ancient Roman pottery(example pictured) fired up to 40,000 pieces at a time?
... that the first head coach of the NBA club now known as the
Atlanta Hawks was
Roger Potter, whose tenure only lasted seven games into the team's inaugural season in 1949?
... that of the ten Brough Superior Austin Four motorcycles built—eight in 1932 plus one each in 1933 and 1934—a total of eight have survived to this day?
... that according to US and
Turkish officials, the MV Kısmetim-1 was deliberately sunk in December 1992 by its crew in order to prevent the capture of the
illicit drug load?
... that Salvia fruticosa or Greek sage (pictured) was depicted on a 1400-BCE
Minoanfresco on the island of
Crete, and is still grown and used widely today?
... that despite its acrid taste, Lactarius vietus is edible after boiling?
... that during
World War I, President
Woodrow Wilson reportedly stopped discussing important matters at Cabinet meetings because of the indiscretions of Interior Secretary Franklin Knight Lane?