Amazing Facts – General Knowledge l Interesting Facts
1. “With windows” are diagonal windows found almost exclusively in Vermont that date back to the superstition that witches can’t fly their brooms through them.
2. President Lyndon Johnson had a pair of beagles named Him and Her.
3. The Motorized Victrola was the first car radio and gave the name to the company Motorola.
4. A large thunderstorm that forms almost every day over the Tiwi Islands in Australia has been named Hector.
5. In Parcheesi a player begins with four pieces and can move a maximum of two of them on one roll of the dice.
6. The 2004 film Cold Mountain had two songs that were nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar, although they lost to “Into the West” from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
7. At 230 miles, the River Shannon is both the longest river in Ireland and in the British Isles.
8. Any bald or golden eagle that dies in the U.S. is sent to the National Eagle Repository in Colorado where parts of the birds may be distributed to Native American tribes for ceremonial use.
9. President Woodrow Wilson was sometimes known as “The Schoolmaster in Politics.”
10. Jacques Piccard, USN Lieutenant Don Walsh, and film director James Cameron are the only three people ever to have reached the deepest known point in the ocean, Challenger Deep.
11. In the 1890s British artist Francis Barraud painted his now famous dog Nipper listening to a gramophone.
12. The Monkees received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1967.
13. British explorer James Cook was killed and attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaii.
14. Typically, the first floor in a building in England would be known as the second floor in the United States.
15. Malcolm III of Scotland was the king crowned at the end of the Shakespeare play Macbeth.
16. Carlos Alazraqui was the voice of the popular Taco Bell Chihuahua in the 1990s.
17. Founded in 1835, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo houses the gold coffin of Tutankhamun.
18. Heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano won all 49 of his professional fights, 43 by knockout.
19. At 4,973 feet, Black Mesa is the highest point in the state of Oklahoma.
20. Maria Shriver became the First Lady of California in 2003.
21. The Romans founded the city of Antinoopolis in Egypt to honor Antinous, who had drowned in the Nile.
22. The “M” in Britain’s M1, which opened in 1959, stands for “motorway.”
23. Launched in 1975, the César Award is the French equivalent of the Oscars.
24. The Alps and the Andes were built up during the Miocene epoch between 5 and 23 million years ago.
25. The first drinking straw was designed to have a diameter smaller than the typical lemon pip.
26. French for “half cup,” demitasse may refer to a small cup or the strong, black coffee served in it.
27. France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Switzerland form the G10 group of industrialized nations which meets annually.
28. 70% of the non-public land in England is owned by about 1% of the population who is largely descended from William the Conqueror’s army.
29. The Canadian city of Toronto is home to the annual Dora Awards which honor achievements in theatre, dance, and opera.
30. Barbara Walters, J.J. Abrams, and Julianna Margulies are among the famous graduates of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY.
31. Almost all Koreans lack the gene that causes armpit odor.
32. In 1983 Neil Simon became the first living playwright to have a Broadway theater named for him.
33. Turquoise is the state gem of both Arizona and New Mexico.
34. The gender-neutral term for a niece or nephew is a sibling.
35. Future French leader Charles De Gaulle’s 1934 book The Army of the Future helped inspire the Blitzkrieg.
36. Michigan is the only state that touches three of the Great Lakes.
37. A Nassau is a type of casual golf wager named for a Long Island country club.
38. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky are the four U.S. states officially called commonwealths.
39. The Shetland Islands are the northernmost part of the United Kingdom and are largely inhabited by people of Scandinavian descent.
40. A gun cartridge belt worn over the shoulder and across the chest is known as a bandolier.
41. Jam rock band Spin Doctors had their biggest mainstream success with their 1991 album Pocket Full of Kryptonite which sold more than 5 million copies and spawned three chart hits.
42. Michael Jordan had a batting average of .202 in his time in the baseball minor leagues in the mid-1990s.
43. At 13,800 feet Mauna Kea is the highest point in the state of Hawaii and the second highest island peak in the world.
44. By Mexican law, tequila must be made from a minimum of 51% agave plant sugars.
45. The presidential library of FDR was the first such library ever planned while the president was still in office.
46. After developing his Maine hunting shoe in 1911, L.L. Bean opened a mail-order business.
47. The 2001 Christopher Nolan film Memento to told in reverse chronological order.
48. A cartoon within a cartoon, the Brown Hornet was a favorite superhero of the kids in the 1970’s cartoon Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
49. The average human will produce 72 million red blood cells every 30 seconds.
50. Joe Lieberman ran for both the Vice Presidency of the United States and for his Senate seat in 2000.
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