Napoleon Bonaparte was always depicted with his hand inside his jacket because he suffered from "chronic nervous itching" and often scratched his stomach sores until they bled.

The spaceship in the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was 25 feet high and was built on a studio backlot. It had to show no visible openings or hatches, yet had to open at certain times. The film's art directors incorporated an invisible split in its sides that was sealed over with soft plastic and coated with silver paint. ...Read more

The first law to protect the cheese industry was enacted in 1411, when Charles VI gave the people of Roquefort “the monopoly of curing cheese as has been done in the caves of Roquefort village since time immemorial.”

Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, is the name given to emancipation day by African Americans in Texas. On that day in 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger read General Order #3 to the people of Galveston, which began as follows: "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States...Read more

Yesterday we had some basic bits of soccer trivia and facts. How much did you know? Well, here are so more soccer facts to test your knowledge:

- In the largest soccer tournament ever, no less than 5,098 teams competed in 1999 for the second Bangkok League Seven-a-Side Competition. Over 35,000 players involved!

- The most goals scored by one ...Read more

Bombyx mori, a silkworm moth, has been cultivated for so long that it can no longer exist without human care. Because it has been domesticated, it has lost the ability to fly.

Absolutely; Kentucky Fried Chicken's popularity can be traced back to a highly successful marketing campaign that began nearly 40 years ago. Foreigners came to eat at KFC because they couldn't find chicken anywhere else. A KFC employee saw an opportunity to cash in, and the company launched its first Christmas meal in 1974. Soon the tradition ...Read more

The Statue of Liberty's index finger is 8 feet long, and it displays a fingernail measuring 13 by 10 inches.

During Australia’s gold rush in 1850, only a few miners ever became rich. Instead, merchants and shopkeepers were the ones who really got rich.

Conan Doyle’s initial Holmes stories didn’t sell well enough to encourage him to continue the character. He did receive some fan mail in support but only one fan letter stood out: Lawson Tait, a pioneering surgeon of the time whom Conan Doyle only knew by reputation, wrote to say he and John Duke, the Lord Chief Justice of England, were both...Read more

Elephants and short-tailed shrews get by on only two hours of sleep a day.

The Adelie penguin bears the name of French explorer Dumont d'Urville's beloved wife.

Beef seems so American, but it was actually an import. Spaniards brought the first cattle to the United States in the sixteenth century. Originally, the settlers regarded them as beasts of burden, but the Indians found them delicious. The Indians, in fact, were the first cattle herders, and they were the ones who moved the cattle across the ...Read more

King George III bought Buckingham House in 1761 for his wife Queen Charlotte to use as a comfortable family home close to St. James's Palace, where many court functions were held. Buckingham House became known as the "Queen's House," and 14 of George's 15 children were born there. In 1762, work began on remodeling the house to the King’s ...Read more

The Hope diamond was acquired by King Louis XIV in 1668. It was worn 120 years later by Marie Antoinette and it now resides in the Smithsonian Institution. This beautiful natural blue diamond weighs 44.5 carats today.

Overcome with grief over the death of his wife, Dante Gabriel Rossetti placed the only copy of his poems in her coffin when she was buried. Seven years later, however, he claimed her spirit had come to him and told him to reclaim the poems--so he had her dug up.c

Boxers were named after their habit of playing. At the beginning of play with another dog, a Boxer will stand on his hind legs and bat at his opponent, appearing to "box" with his front paws.

Denver has the nation's largest city park system, with more than 200 parks within city limits and 20,000 acres of parks in the nearby mountains – an area larger than all of Manhattan Island.

The collection of antique dog collars at the popular tourist site of Leeds Castle, four miles east of Maidstone in England, spans five centuries and is the most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world. The collection has more than 100 collars and related exhibits tracing the history of canine neckwear from Medieval times to the present...Read more