#5: 31 Random fun facts you probably didn’t know

There was a female Pope once. Tweet This

Song “Happy Birthday to you” can’t be used freely, as Warner Music holds the copyright. Tweet This

Both Archibald Cronin and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote books called “The Citadel”. Tweet This

Fahrenheit 451 is the point at which paper catches fire. Tweet This

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Isaac Asimov came up with the famous Three Laws of Robotics. Tweet This

Jules Verne predicted space travel, submarines and helicopters. Tweet This

Sci-Fi writer Arthur Clarke described geostationary satellites decades before their invention. Tweet This

In early 8th century Arabs invaded Europe from the Balkans and the Iberian Peninsula. Bulgarian and Byzantine troops defeated the Arabs; Iberian states could not resist. Tweet This

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A Roman senator concluded every and each speech by “Carthago delenda est” (Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed). Tweet This

First Olympic Games took place as early as 776 BC. Tweet This

Gladiator games come from Etruscan tradition. Romans only borrowed it. Tweet This

Sulla enjoyed absolute power in ancient Rome and surprisingly to contemporary world and nowadays politicians, voluntarily re-established constitutional government and withdrew from political life. Tweet This

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Vandals is the name of an actual Germanic tribe. Tweet This

Joan of Arc was sentenced to death for cross-dressing. Tweet This

In times of recession or economic crisis the number of neckties sold goes up by 30%. Everybody wants to look hard-working… Tweet This

General Franco coined the phrase “fifth column”. Tweet This

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Vatican’s ambassadors are called nuncios. Tweet This

A Dutch explorer discovered Australia over a century before James Cook came to the region to “re-discover”. Tweet This

Turin concentrates over 90% of Italian automotive industry. Tweet This

Sea of Azov has maximal depth of only 46 ft. (14 m). Tweet This

Last horse-bus in Europe stopped operation in 1923. Tweet This

Louis XV of France had one of the first lifts as early as 1743. Tweet This

Safety pin did not exist before 1849. Tweet This

The term vaccination was coined around the Latin word for cow – vacca. Tweet This

In a war of media standards, the one supported by the porn industry always wins. Remember VHS vs Betamax and Blue-Ray vs HD DVD. Tweet This

First public building in Europe to be protected by a lightning rod was Cathedral St. Paul (London). Tweet This

Denim comes from the French “de Nimes” (from the town of Nimes), where initially the indigo dye was coming from. Tweet This

Rudolf Diesel did not make much money from his invention (the diesel engine) and committed suicide penniless. Tweet This

The reason there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics is not that Alfred Nobel’s wife cheated on him with a mathematician. In fact, Mr Nobel had never been married. Tweet This

In many cultures a loaf of bread posed upside down is bad luck. In Medieval France the local baker would prepare the bread for the executioner’s family separately and would keep it bottom up in order not to mix with the rest. Tweet This

The nasty feeling when eating bar of chocolate and the aluminium foil touches a metal tooth filling is simply an electrical shock. Tweet This