The “S” in Harry S. Truman doesn’t stand for anything. It was a “compromise tribute to his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/33_truman/tguide/truman_dk.html
“President Truman was the first president to address the nation on television.” It was his inaugural speech on January 20, 1949.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/33_truman/tguide/truman_dk.html
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe all died on July 4th. Adams and Jefferson died on the same day in 1826.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ja2.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jm5.html
[Stated “fact”: The only U.S. president to be born on the 4th of July is Calvin Coolidge.] Yep… ‘tis a fact.
http://www.brainyhistory.com/daysbirth/birth_july_4.html
The native language of Zanzibaris (folks from Zanzibar) is Kiswahili – more commonly known as Swahili.
http://zanzibar.net/zanzibar/didyouknow
Julia Roberts, Cher, Madonna and Billy Joel are members of the Adult Peanut Butter Lover’s Fan Club.
http://www.peanutbutter.com/funfacts.asp#famous
President Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an automobile – and the first president to travel outside the country while in office.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/facts.html
President Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an airplane.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/facts.html
In March, 1910, Harry Houdini (yes, the great escape artist) was the first person on record to successfully pilot an aircraft in Australia.
http://www.aarg.com.au/Aviation-EarlyAustralian.htm
William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody once worked for an organization that had advertised for “skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily”. The organization was the Pony Express – William F. Cody was a seasoned 14 years old.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/buffalobill.htm
Tina Turner’s birth name is Anna Mae Bullock. “Tina” was born in Nutbush, Tennessee.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0877913/bio
Engelbert Humperdinck was born Arnold George Dorsey. Mr. Dorsey’s stage name is the name of a real life German composer.
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0401887/bio
[Stated “fact”: David Sarnoff received the Titanic’s distress signal and saved hundreds of passengers.] More accurate – David Sarnoff, radio and TV broadcasting pioneer, did apparently play a major role in acquiring survivor’s names and passing them along to waiting relatives. He was manning the Marconi station atop the Wanamaker’s Department Store in Manhattan at the time.
http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/people.php?taid=&id=1234615&lid=1
Mr. Rogers – Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers Neighborhood fame – was an ordained Presbyterian minister.
http://www.fci.org/viewcontent.asp?sectionID=2&subsectionID={E83DD3B7-4304-4347-894F-20E9733DC19F}
Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General of the United States.
http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub100/pub100.htm#colonial
Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) although eccentric, was a businessman. Contrary to popular opinion, he did not roam about the country indiscriminately scattering apple seeds. Instead, he traveled ahead of the westward migration and planted nurseries of trees that he could sell to the new settlers as they arrived in a particular location.
http://swedenborg.org/jappleseed/history.html
Edgar Allan Poe attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point – briefly. He was dismissed for unknown reasons. Contrary to what you may have heard, no one really knows the cause of his death in Baltimore in 1849.
http://www.poemuseum.org/poes_life/index.html
http://www.poemuseum.org/poes_life/death_myths.html
Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin both married their first cousins - Elsa (Einstein) Lowenthal and Emma Wedgwood respectively.
http://www.einstein-website.de/biographies/einsteinelsa_content.html
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/idea/wife.php
Even though his name is generally unknown, Daniel Peter contributed in a significant way to the world we know today. In 1875, this 31-year-old Swiss candy maker figured out how to combine milk and cocoa powder to produce… milk chocolate! By the way, he was also a friend and neighbor of Henri Nestlé who of course, started… oh heck, I don’t have to tell you that…
http://www.nestle.com/Our_Brands/Chocolate_Confectionery/Overview/Overview.htm
No, Ferdinand Magellan wasn’t the first person to sail around the world even though he initially led the Spanish expedition in the attempt to do so. After he met his demise on the island Mactan – and after a few other things happened – Juan Sebastian de Elcano captained the only remaining ship on the final leg of the around-the-world voyage.
http://coloquio.com/famosos/elcano.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan
Of the five ships and crew of 265 men that sailed from Sanlucar de Barrameda under the leadership of Ferdinand Magellan, only one ship - the Victoria – and 17 of the original crew completed the trip. The voyage lasted over 38 months.
http://coloquio.com/famosos/elcano.htm
Marie Grosholtz (later Tussaud) learned to make wax figures from her mother’s employer, a doctor named Philippe Curtius in the 1770’s. In 1835, after years as an art instructor, exhibitor (after inheriting Curtius’ Paris exhibits) and traveling showman, she established her first permanent display in The Bazaar, Baker Street, London. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “Chamber of Horrors”?
http://www.madame-tussauds.co.uk/history.htm
[Stated “fact”: John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.] It appears quite possible that Edwin Booth saved Robert Lincoln’s life by pulling him from the space between a railway station platform and a train that was beginning to move.
http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton1/Lincoln59.html
[Stated “fact”: The youngest pope ever was eleven years old.] Actually, the youngest pope was John XII who was either 16 or 18 – no one is sure. He apparently was also one of the worst popes and had an affinity for hunting and fast women.
http://www.saint-mike.org/Apologetics/QA/Answers/Church_History/h991210Carraway.html
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08426b.htm
Dr. Seuss pronounced his name “Soyce” – as in rhymes with “rejoice”.
http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa020401b.htm
Vincent Van Gogh produced all of his work, 864 paintings, 1,037 drawings, 150 watercolors, plus graphic works and letter sketches during the last ten years of his life. Most of his best-known work was produced in the final two years of his life, and in the three months before his death he painted 76 pictures.
http://www.vggallery.com/painting/by_period/auvers.htm
[Stated “fact”: Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime – Red Vineyard at Arles; Pushkin Museum, Moscow.] Possibly, but there is evidence to suggest that a couple more paintings may have been sold earlier.
http://www.vggallery.com/forum/works.htm#_redvineyard
Virginia Dare was the first child born of English parents in America – in 1587.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dare
After a couple of business failures, Milton S. Hershey’s first really successful business was focused on making… chocolate? Nope, his first success was with his Lancaster Caramel Company. He sold the company in 1900 for one million dollars so he could concentrate on chocolate. I’d say it worked out rather well…
http://www.hersheys.com/discover/milton/milton.asp
Physicist Murray Gell-Mann named the sub-atomic particles known as quarks for a line in James Joyce’s novel Finnegan’s Wake, "Three quarks for Muster Mark!"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bpgell.html
Cleopatra's family name was Ptolemy, and she was Greek rather than Egyptian. And yeah, she married her brother. They did things differently back then…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cleopatra_vii.shtml
[Stated “fact”: Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.] Nah, it was a fairly ordinary bedroom that had been used as a cloakroom for the dance – and the dance had been over for some time when baby Winston arrived. Check the details at:
http://www.snopes.com/history/world/churchill.asp
[Stated “fact”: Anne Boleyn (English queen who wound up loosing her head) had six fingernails on one hand.] Assuming that statement is strongly implying that she also had six fingers on one hand, it’s highly unlikely it is accurate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn
Samuel Colt, inventor of the revolving-breech pistol, may have gotten his inspiration from a ship’s wheel while he was at sea as a young boy. In 1855, in his new firearms manufacturing facility in Hartford, Connecticut, he “implemented several new ideas in manufacturing including interchangeable parts, production lines and advanced precision machinery.”
http://www.netstate.com/states/peop/people/ct_sc.htm
[Stated “fact”: Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain was born on a day in 1835 when Haley's Comet came into view. When He died in 1910, Haley's Comet came into view again.] Not too far off mark. Halley’s comet was at perihelion (closest part of an orbit to the sun) on Nov. 10, 1835 – Samuel Clemens was born on Nov. 30th. In 1910, Halley’s comet was at perihelion on April 20 - Samuel Clemens died on April 21st. And yes, he humorously predicted the timing of his death.
http://www.twainquotes.com/19100423b.html
http://www.twainquotes.com/Halley%27s_Comet.html
Abraham Lincoln had less than a year of formal education in his entire life.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0859295.html
America’s first man in space was Alan Shepard who on May 5, 1961 achieved an altitude of 115 miles during a 15 minute flight aboard the “Freedom 7” capsule. In February, 1971, as commander of Apollo 14, he spent a record 33 hours on the surface of the moon.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/shepard-alan.html
[Stated “fact”: The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before that.] Well, yes there was – and it may have even been used as a boy’s name at one time. “Peter Pan” was the main reason for “Wendy’s” increased popularity though.
http://www.wendy.com/wendyweb/history.html
Ralph Lauren's (American fashion designer) original name was Ralph Lifshitz.
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=366
Alphonse (better known as “Al”) Gabriel Capone’s selective service registration identifies his occupation at age 19 as “paper cutter” at the United Paper Box Company in Brooklyn. Later in life, his business card reportedly identified his occupation as a used furniture dealer.
http://www.archives.gov/southeast/exhibit/popups.php?p=4.1.3
Copyright 2006, etc., etc. by fairlyuselessfacts.com. All rights reserved.