History trivia

» Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Manhattoe tribe for trinkets and cloth valued at 60 guilders. The price worked out to about $24.

» In 1942, because of World War II, the United States government forced all Japanese Americans on the West Coast into camps.

» Pharaohs ruled Egypt from 3110 B.C. until 332 B.C., when Egypt came under foreign rule.

» In 1950, Scottish Nationalists stole the "Stone of Destiny" from Westminster Abbey. This was Scotland's Coronation Stone, taken by the English in 1296. By tradition, all British monarchs have to be crowned while sitting on it. It was eventually recovered from Arbroath Abbey, although some claimed this was a copy, and the original remained in Scotland. In 1996, the "Stone of Destiny" was returned from London to Edinburgh Castle, exactly 700 years after being stolen by Edward I.

» In 1961, a year after the death of novelist Boris Pasternak, his friend and collaborator Olga Ivinskaya was arrested for allegedly receiving foreign royalties for Pasternak's published works. She was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and hard labor in Siberia, and her daughter received three years for alleged complicity.

» In 1964, Ray Bellisario became the first British paparazzo, and was dubbed "The Peeping Tom" by the press. He sold photographs of Princess Margaret in a swimsuit to the Sunday Express, which published them. The British monarchy instructed editors not to buy Bellisario's photos, and they agreed.

» The right arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times. It first crossed for display at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and in New York, where money was raised for the foundation and pedestal. It was returned to Paris in 1882 to be reunited with the rest of the statue, which was then shipped back to the United States.

» The Roman emperor Commodus had all of the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks collected in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Colosseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers.

» The Roman emperor Julius Caesar lost many ships when he invaded Britain--he didn't beach them high enough because he hadn't taken tides into account.

» Philadelphia was second only to London as the largest English-speaking city in the world at the time of the War of Independence.

» The Roman historian Pliny was so impressed by garlic and its perceived powers, he listed no less than 61 medicinal uses for the pungent bulb. Among them was that of warding off vampires, restoring hair loss, and preventing warts.

» Philadelphia, York, Lancaster, Baltimore, Annapolis, Princeton, Trenton, and New York City were the cities serving as the seat of government for the fledgling United States of America before Washington, D.C., became the nation's permanent capital in December 1800.

» The Romans were enamored with the smell of roses. According to historians, Nero had pipes installed under banquet plates to allow his guests to be spritzed with rose scent between dinner courses.

» Piercing nipples with rings and the like is not a new punk fad. It was popular among ladies in the late 1800s.

» The sailor suit became a classic outfit for young boys from its introduction in the 1860s. By 1905, American parents clamored for sailor suits and blouses for their sons. Sears Roebuck advertised a popular boy’s sailor blouse suit, with the blouse "trimmed with black tape and two rows of silk soutache,” for $1.35 – about $32 in 1998 dollars.

» Pocahontas and her husband John Rolfe had one son named Thomas who was born and educated in England, but settled in Virginia.