HISTORICAL FIGURES
- Admiral Byrd took a refrigerator on his expedition to the Antarctic to keep the crew's food from freezing, since the refrigerator was warmer than the outside temperature.
- Abdul Kassem Ismael, Grand Vizier of Persia in the 10th century, carried his library with him wherever he went. The 117 thousand volumes were carried by 400 camels trained to walk in alphabetical order.
- Al Capone's business cards said he was a used furniture dealer.
- Alexander the Great was raised alongside a pack of wolves in order to "toughen him up."
- Attila the Hun was a dwarf.
- Benjamin Franklin was nearly killed by his early experiments with lightning; he survived only because he luckily didn't receive a strong enough charge. Twice he was knocked senseless--once when he attempted to treat a paralyzed man with electric shock and another time preparing to kill a turkey by electric shock.
- Benjamin Franklin was not entrusted by his peers with the assignment of writing the Declaration of Independence because they feared that he might conceal a joke in it.
- Caesar had achuphobia-the fear of sitting in the dark.
- Catherine II of Russia kept her wigmaker in an iron cage in her bedroom for more than three years.
- Columbus had with him on his first voyage to the New World a copy of Marco Polo's book about his 13th century, 22-year odyssey to China and back.
Sources: A Book of Days for the Literary Year, ed. Neal T. Jones: The Emperor who Ate the Bible: and more Strange Facts and Useless Information, by Scot Morris: Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts, by Isaac Asimov; www.publishingcentral.com.
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