History

Weird history facts all gathered right here under our history category.  Once you have had your fill of history facts head over to our random fact generator to learn more random factoids!

WTF Fun Fact 13190 – Victorian Pteridomania

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Victorians had a lot of fun quirks, especially when it came to nature and collecting. For example, in 1829, “fern fever,” also called Pteridomania, gripped amateur botanists around Europe and the U.S.

What set off “fern mania”?

The craze for ferns (yes, the plants) came about in part as a result of an invention by a British surgeon. Nathaniel Bagshaw Warn invented the Wardian case. It was a mini greenhouse that could keep plants alive in England despite the dreary weather. Exotic specimens were being collected all over the world. Thanks to the case, they could now be brought back and put on display in greenhouses and in homes with grimmer weather.

According to Atlas Obscura (cited below): “His invention allowed botanist George Loddiges to build the world’s largest hothouse in East London, which included a fern nursery.”

What was Pteridomania?

Ferns were associated with fairies and other mythical creatures, so it wasn’t hard to get people interested in them. But Loddiges needed visitors to keep his hothouse operating. So he spread the (unsubstantiated) word that spending time around ferns could increase intelligence and virility, and improve mood. That was enough to get people interested in not only visiting his fern collection but to start mini collections of their own.

Amateur botany transcended classes, and everyone from aristocrats to miners started collecting ferns as a hobby. When the Victorians weren’t collecting ferns they were reading about them. Roughly 300 books on ferns were published during this time. 

According to Atlas Obscura, things eventually got out of hand.

“Since the fern was not easy to cultivate, even with Wardian cases at hand, prices soon skyrocketed. After all, there were only 40 types of ferns in the English countryside, and collectors needed more. A non-British specimen could cost up to the Victorian equivalent of 1,000 pounds. Professional fern hunters wrote accounts of scouring the West Indies, Panama and Honduras for a never-seen-before fern. If you could not afford to sponsor a scientific expedition to South America or Asia, there was always the notorious underworld to turn to: crimewaves of fern-stealing plagued the countryside for decades.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “How the Victorian Fern-Hunting Craze Led To Adventure, Romance, and Crime” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 13187 – Writing the Oxford English Dictionary

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It’s no surprise that writing the first comprehensive dictionary (complete with linguistic and historical details) took many years. But writing the Oxford English Dictionary took many decades. To give you some perspective, it took the writers five years just to reach the word “ant.”

The history of writing the Oxford English Dictionary

The OED (as it’s abbreviated) project took a long time to get going. It all started in 1857 when members of the Philological Society of London decided that no current English dictionaries were acceptable and that they should spearhead the ultimate version. It wasn’t until 1879 that, according to the OED website (cited below) “the Society made an agreement with the Oxford University Press and James A. H. Murray to begin work on a New English Dictionary (as the Oxford English Dictionary was then known).”

The goal was to produce a 4-volume dictionary of roughly 6,400 words with every English word recorded from 1150 AD to the present. The writers estimated that the project would take 10 years.

However, after five years, the writers had just reached the word “ant” near the middle of the A section. There was a long way to go!

This was partly due to the level of detail necessary to trace the origins of words as well as their evolution. And since language never stops evolving, some work had to be redone during the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary. To this day it remains a “living document,” updated frequently.

The first part (or fascicle) of the OED was planned for an 1884 publication, but that didn’t quite work out. It would take an extra 30 years.

The dictionary required teamwork

As the team of writers grew larger, the work moved more quickly.

Murray directed a growing team and the last fascicle was published in April of 1928. Sadly, Murray did not live long enough to see the completion of the original OED since he died in 1915.

The final version of the OED was far larger than planned. It stretched to 400,000 words and phrases in 10 volumes (instead of the planned six). It continues to be updated to this day. — WTF fun facts

Source: “History of the OED” — Oxford English Dictionary

WTF Fun Fact 13178 – The FBI and “Louie Louie”

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Did you know there’s a connection between the FBI and the song “Louie Louie”? The FBI launched a criminal investigation into the Kingsmen’s song back in the mid-1960s to determine whether the lyrics were obscene. In fact, that investigation lasted two years!

The strange story of the FBI and “Louie Louie”

A letter from a concerned parent in 1964 asking to “stamp out this menace” of obscenity in music is one of many interesting pieces of the available-but-redacted FBI document on the song.

Of course, if you listen to the song, you’re likely to not understand any of the lyrics at all. They’re muddled at best and nonsensical even if you can make them out. But like so many musical conspiracy theorists, a handful of people thought they heard pornographic lyrics if they slowed the record down. The lyrics the complainants came up with said a lot more about the complainers than the artists!

For the record, here are the actual lyrics to “Louie Louie”:

Louie, Louie,
me gotta go.
Louie, Louie,
me gotta go.

A fine little girl, she wait for me;
me catch a ship across the sea.
I sailed the ship all alone;
I never think I’ll make it home

Three nights and days we sailed the sea;
me think of girl constantly.
On the ship, I dream she there;
I smell the rose, in her hair.

Louie, Louie,
me gotta go.
Louie, Louie,
me gotta go.

A fine little girl, she wait for me;
me catch a ship across the sea.
I sailed the ship all alone;
I never think I’ll make it home

Three nights and days we sailed the sea;
me think of girl constantly.
On the ship, I dream she there;
I smell the rose, in her hair.

Nothing obscene there!

Closing the investigation

The FBI never contacted singer Jack Ely during the two years of the FBI investigation. In fact, they closed the case saying: “, the man who sang the words of the song in the first place. At the end of the two years, the FBI didn’t even exonerate “Louie Louie,” they simply said that “the lyrics of the song on this record was not definitely determined by this Laboratory examination, it was not possible to determine whether this recording is obscene.” —WTF fun facts

Source: “The FBI Investigated the Song ‘Louie Louie’ for Two Years” — Smithsonian Magazine

WTF Fun Fact 13176 – A Mortician’s Job Title

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The funeral industry has a number of job titles. But what was once known as an “undertaker” wasn’t getting enough interest back in the late 19th century. That’s when the industry decided to change its name to “mortician.” A mortician’s job title was the result of a PR campaign and a magazine plea.

The term mortician was invented as part of a PR campaign by the funeral industry, which felt it was more customer-friendly than “undertaker.” The term was chosen after a call for ideas in Embalmer’s Monthly.

A PR boost for a mortician’s job

According to Mental Floss (cited below), the more customer-friendly “mortician” came after a plea for new ideas on renaming the undertaker’s position in the 1895 edition of the trade magazine The Embalmers’ Monthly. If you’re missing that particular issue, Mental Floss can fill in the blanks.

It appears that the job title of mortician was believed to be “more customer-friendly than undertaker, which originally referred to the contractor who undertakes all the funeral arrangements, but had become tarnished by its centuries-old association with, well, death.”

But there was more to a mortician’s job than just a name change. As embalming became more widespread, those who had the skill wanted to distinguish themselves from “the undertakers of the past…”

Mental Floss notes that “Embalmers’ Monthly put out a call for suggestions. The next month they declared mortician the winner: It elegantly combined the Latin root for death, mort-, with physician, referencing embalming’s scientific, high-status connection with the medical profession. Of course, everyone except the morticians hated it.”

Grammarians hated the fact that it was an unattested word in Latin (one made up from pieces of the language and never used in the ancient world). The Chicago Tribune even banned the use of the word. And yet, today, we use it without thinking.

Eventually, people simply forgot it was a made-up word. — WTF fun facts

Source: “How Morticians Reinvented Their Job Title” — Mental Floss

WTF Fun Fact 13173 – Augusta and Adeline Van Buren

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While still in their 20s, sisters Augusta and Adeline Van Buren were the first women to travel from New York to California on solo motorcycles. (They were the second and third women to drive motorcycles across the continental U.S.)

Who were Augusta and Adeline Van Buren?

Augusta Van Buren was born on March 26, 1884, and her sister Adeline on July 26, 1889. They came from a wealthy New York family and were descendants of U.S. President Martin Van Buren.

They became known for partaking in traditionally male activities, like boxing and motorcycle riding, early in their lives. They were also part of the U.S. Preparedness movement, part of which involved showing that women could help enhance the military’s war effort during WWI.

In 1916, the Van Buren sisters each rode a solo motorcycle 5,500 miles in 60 days across the continental U.S.

According to the Women in Exploration website (cited below): “The Van Buren sisters set out to prove to their country that women were capable of serving in the military as dispatch drivers. They also hoped to remove one of the primary arguments for denying women the right to vote. The Van Buren’s ride was successful, but their applications to be military dispatch riders were rejected. However, both women went on to pursue careers. Adeline achieved a law degree from New York University and Augusta became a pilot and flew in Amelia Earhart’s Ninety-Nines, an international organization dedicated to creating a supportive environment and opportunities for female aviators.“

The Van Buren sisters’ adventure

Augusta was 32 at the time of the ride, while Adeline was 26. They rode Indian Powerplus motorcycles, which sold for $275 at the time.

Augusta and Adeline Van Buren’s adventure began in New York City, after which they headed to Springfield, Massachusetts to visit the motorcycle factory. Their journey across the country followed what is now known as Interstate 80.

Poor maps, dangerous weather, and bad roads were all challenges on the cross-country trip, especially once they got west of the Mississippi River.

Once they got outside of Chicago, they were often harassed by law enforcement and locals because it was illegal for women to wear pants in many states. And as you might imagine, they weren’t wearing dresses on those bikes!

Regardless, they made it. On the way, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren because the first women to reach the top of Pike’s Peak on motorized vehicles.

Their journey ended at the U.S.- Mexico border just two months after they started out.

Adeline died at age 59 (in 1949( and Augusta at age 75 (in 1959). In 2002, the sisters were inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Augusta & Adeline Van Buren” — Women in Exploration

WTF Fun Fact 13168 – The Dot Over the i

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We’ll be honest, we’ve never actually wondered what the dot over the i or j (in lowercase, of course) was called. But if you’ve been curious, kudos to you for noticing the small things! And to answer your question, it’s called a “tittle.”

Why do we have marks over letters and characters?

Many languages have what we call diacritic marks over a character in order to change its sound or meaning. But English only has two letters with a diacritic – lowercase i and j. They’re always there and don’t change anything about the sound or meaning of the letter (in English, at least).

According to Dictionary.com: “The small distinguishing mark you see over a lowercase i and a lowercase j is called a tittle—an interesting name that looks like a portmanteau (combination) of tiny and little, and refers to a small point or stroke in writing and printing. Generally, a diacritic dot such as a tittle is also referred to as a glyph, a mark that adds meaning to the written letter. However, in regards to i and j, the removal of the mark is still likely to be read as I or J; as such, these are not true examples of a glyph.”

Why is the dot over the i and j called a tittle?

Who comes up with these things anyway?

Well, tittle comes from the Latin word “titulus.” A titulus is an inscription or heading. The word appeared for the first time in the 11th century as monks were copying manuscripts from the ancient world. Back in that day, handwriting was very different, and letters could easily get confused or blend together. As you may have guessed, i and j posed particular problem. That’s why copiers needed to come up with a diacritic to distinguish them from other letters.

It wasn’t until the 1400s when the printing press and typefaces were invented that the diacritical mark turned into just a small dot above each letter.

In other words, they’re simply a relic of a time when everything was handwritten. — WTF fun facts

Source: “What’s The Name For The Dot Over “i” And “j”?” — Dictionary.com

WTF Fun Fact 13163 – The Goodyear Blimp Redondo Beach Connection

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In 1983, the city of Redondo Beach, CA adopted a resolution “recognizing the Goodyear Airship Columbia (aka Goodyear blimp) as the “Official Bird of Redondo Beach.”

What’s the Goodyear blimp Redondo Beach connection?

To many, the Goodyear blimp is simply a novelty or publicity stunt. But some people in southern California have more of a connection to the airships. In fact, the Goodyear ships have even received “get well” cards after they’ve been in accidents.

But nothing tops Redondo Beach’s connection with the Goodyear blimp, or more specifically, the fleet ship known as the Columbia. That’s the official bird of the city.

Rather than act as a simple billboard (after all, we don’t know how many tired the blimp has convinced people to buy), the airships become sights for sore eyes. Even neighborhood mascots. There’s a sense of fun and familiarity when you catch sight of one.

To be fair, it is cool and pretty rare to see a blimp. We’ve just never thought about making one our official “bird.”

The blimps were once used to escort military flights across the Atlantic. Now they’re largely used for aerial shots in live televised events. You can even take a ride in the blimp – and over 1 million people have!

The Goodyear Columbia (later “Eagle”)

In 1984, the Olympics were held in Los Angeles, California. Nearby cities, such as Redondo Beach, would be featured during the games, but wanted a way to stand out. Enter the aerial shots provided by the blimp.

The Goodyear blimps have always provided free video shots in exchange for their own publicity during the events (just count how many times it’s mentioned during the Superbowl). Since Redondo Beach didn’t have any control over how many times the blimp got mentioned in return for aerial footage, they went so far as to honor the specific ship taking footage, the Columbia, by declaring it the city’s official bird a year prior to the event.

Of course, the move made headlines across the nation.

In the early 1990s, the Goodyear Columbia had its name changed to the Eagle and given a new paint job.

—WTF fun facts

Source: Redondo Beach Meeting Minutes

WTF Fun Fact 13162 – Viking Burials and Board Games

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Viking burials included board games. According to archaeologists, in addition to their weapons, men’s boats were set adrift with game pieces to keep them occupied in the afterlife.

What’s the deal with Viking funerals?

You’ve probably seen an approximation of a Viking burial on TV. But there’s one step involved in fictional accounts rarely performed during real Viking funerals – the flaming arrow. Usually, after the corpse is laid on a boat and set out to see, someone shoots a flaming arrow from the shore and sets the boat alight. That likely only happened to the highest-ranking members of a clan.

If bodies were burned, it was on a funeral pyre, not a boat. And sometimes the boats were buried rather than set out to sea.

It turns out Viking funerals were more complex than we’ve been led to believe by television shows. Go figure.

The role of game pieces in Viking burials

Archaeologists studying Viking burial boats have discovered some other interesting things about these funerals (which all appear to have been for men). In a study published in the European Journal of Archaeology authors say game pieces were included on burial boats to show the importance of gameplay “at home, on board ship, and in the hall of the gods.”

Mental Floss (cited below) took a closer look at the research by Mark A. Hall, who is a curator at the Perth Museum & Art Gallery in the UK. They note that “In his new paper, Hall considers the Vikings’ motivations for including board games in 36 burial boats recovered from 14 different countries. The oldest of the boats could date back to the year 150 CE; the youngest set to sea around the year 1000.”

Most of what archaeologists had previously found on Viking burial boats included weapons. But items resembling chess pieces have been found with men. They were typically made of materials like ivory, bone, glass, whalebone, and amber.

While we normally think of Vikings as conquers, a person simply can’t conquer all day. There has to be some downtime. It makes sense that they would have come up with games to keep themselves occupied (and competitive).

Think about how common it was for Egyptians to bury grave goods to see a person on to the afterlife. The Vikings also included items for use after death (and to honor those who had departed). Some objects were symbolic, and others were practical. Mental Floss quipped that “the Vikings may have thought they could prevent their loved ones from haunting them by simply keeping them busy.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “Viking Burials Included Board Games” — Mental Floss

WTF Fun Fact 13160 – The Niels Bohr Beer Supply

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After winning the Nobel Prize, Danish physicist Niels Bohr received a lifetime supply of kegs, bottles, and crates of beer from Carlsberg Brewery from 1932 until his death in 1962.

Niels Bohr Beer Supply (and the myth of the pipes)

You may have actually heard something about Niels Bohr’s beer prize. But that’s likely because you’ve heard an oft-repeated myth that the beer company had the beer piped right into his house.

For some reason, enough of us don’t know enough about pipes to realize that such a story would be both gross and impossible. But it’s ok – most of us aren’t plumbers.

So, first, let’s do away with the myth that Bohr had some magic beer sink or tap right inside his home. That would be cool, but it’s not true.

Instead, the physicist (who worked on the Manhattan Project) was gifted the beer in the form of bottles and kegs. We’re guessing he was also treated to a pint wherever he went. People were pretty excited about his Nobel Prize. And at the time they were both horrified and grateful for the Manhattan Project’s development of the atomic bomb.

Beer prize

Dr. Christian Joas, the director of the Niels Bohr Archives confirmed that “…it is true that Niels Bohr received a life annuity from Carlsberg Brewery in the form of kegs, bottles and crates of beer, which were delivered to him from 1932 until his death in 1962.”

The blog Beerena (cited below) has a great account of the myth and the real story.

They note that “the origin of the story of the beer pipeline at Bohr’s house” is likely due in part to chemistry professor and YouTuber Martyn Poliakoff (of the Periodic Videos channel).

“In 2011, he published a video in which he discusses the origin of the element bohrium, named after Niels Bohr, and mentions the urban legend of beer. When asked where he got it from, he replied that he believed he had read it in Richard Rhodes ’book Creating an Atomic Bomb.”

Trust us, there’s no such story in the book. But the book is long and full of detail, so we can see why he might assume the anecdote originated there. Sadly, that leaves us without the origin of the story. But it hardly matters – these types of things often spiral out of control. It’s interesting enough that Bohr had a beer connection to Carlsberg, we don’t really need to believe he had an underground beer pipe installed in his home. — WTF fun facts

Source: “The Myth of Niels Bohr’s Beer Pipeline” — Beerena

WTF Fun Fact 13157 – First Use of the Word Unfriend

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In the Appeal of Injured Innocence, the word “unfriend” was coined in 1659 by Church of England clergyman Thomas Fuller.

What’s the context around the first use of the word unfriend?

Did you think “unfriend” was a word before Facebook? We did, and we were wrong.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first citation of the word “unfriend” (AND “muggle”!) was in a 13th-century epic Middle English poem Brut by Layamon. There are two uses of the word in the poem.

Of course, it’s a little hard to read English from this time, but it may be easier to say it out loud: “We sollen … slean houre onfrendes and King Learwenden after Brenne.” And “Wend to oure onfreondes and drif heom of blonde.”

Ok, that might seem like cheating. But unfriend was a word used throughout the Middle ages to denote one who is not a friend (but not quite an enemy).

Unfriend becomes a verb

Unfriending someone seems very Facebook-specific, but the word was also used for a very long before the 21st century (though still not as a verb). We have Shakespeare to thank for using ‘unfriended’ to refer to someone who has lost their friends. For example, in Twelfth Night, he wrote “Being skilless in these parts; which to a stranger, / Unguided and unfriended, often prove / Rough and unhospitable.”

In King Lear: “Sir, will you, with those infirmities she owes—. / Unfriended, new adopted to our hate.”

It was used as a verb in the 17th century when, in 1658, Church of England clergyman Thomas Fuller wrote to Peter Heylin, who had criticized Fuller’s The Church History of Britain from the birth of Jesus Christ until the year 1648,

“I hope, Sir, that we are not mutually un-friended by this difference which hath happened betwixt us. And now, as duellers, when they are both out of breath, may stand still and parley, before they have a second pass, let us in cold blood exchange a word, and, mean time, let us depose, at least, suspend, our animosities.
[…] I conceive our time, pains, and parts may be better expended to God’s glory, and the Church’s good, than in these needless contentions. Why should Peter fall out with Thomas, both being disciples to the same Lord and Master? […]
Who knoweth but that God, in his providence, permitted, yea, ordered, this difference to happen betwixt us, not only to occasion a reconciliation, but to consolidate a mutual friendship betwixt us during our lives, and that the survivor (in God’s pleasure only to appoint) may make favourable and respectful mention of him who goeth first to his grave?”

But as Interesting Literature (cited below) points out, Facebook still doesn’t take the cake for the first to use the word for social media purposes. “But even in social media circles, ‘unfriend’ predates Facebook, with which it is not most closely associated.

“Its origin, or at least its first recorded use, was on Usenet in 2003: ‘I have been “unfriended” by somebody in the LJ world today.”

—WTF fun facts

Source: “The Curious Origin of the Word’ Unfriend'” — Interesting Literature

WTF Fun Fact 13155 – The First Item Sold on eBay

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The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer. It sold for $14.83 in 1995 (when the site was still called Auction Web).

More about the first item sold on eBay

According to eBay, “Mark Fraser purchased the first item that eBay founder Pierre Omidyar listed on the site in 1995: a broken laser pointer.”

All of this was revealed at the eBay Seller Summit fireside chat. Back when the site was still called Auction Web, Omidyar listed the laser pointer over the Labor Day weekend and was shocked when someone purchased it for $14.38.

The buyer’s identity and motivation had long remained a secret.

Fraser finally came forward at the eBay event in 2005. He explained that he had been on the road traveling for work and giving a lot of presentations. He has seen laser pointers in the ’90s and wanted one, but at the time they cost over $100.

Being an electronics “geek,” Fraser assumed he could fix a broken one, making his eBay purchase a potentially wise financial decision. He had already tried to build one from scratch and it needed too many components, so this was a great find for him.

Continued purchases

Fraser said he was still making eBay purchases and his broken laser pointer was the first in a long line of them. In fact, he’s made over 2000 purchases!

When he heard stories from eBay’s 20th anniversary celebration and the strange first purchase, he thought he was being “dissed,” so he contacted the company to explain how it all went down.

Funny enough – he still had the broken laser pointer. And yes, it’s still broken!

We assume that’ll end up in a museum someday – or at least at eBay headquarters somewhere! — WTF fun facts

Source: “Meet the Buyer of the Broken Laser Pointer” — eBay

WTF Fun Fact 13152 – The Cadaver Synod

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In 897, Pope Stephen VI held what is now known as the “Cadaver Synod.” He put Pope Formosus on trial. The catch was that Pope Formosus had been dead for about seven months. In what could (but should probably not) be described as a medieval Weekend At Bernie’s, the pope’s corpse was propped up on the papal throne throughout the interrogation.

What was the Cadaver Synod?

There’s no getting around the fact that this was a weird moment in papal history.

Pope Stephen VI even had Pope Formosus’ corpse dressed up in ecclesiastical robes for his “trial.” He hired a deacon to “speak” on the corpse’s behalf. All this is to say that Pope Stephen VI really felt like he was owning a corpse.

And if you think this all sounds crazy, consider the fact that there was an earthquake in the middle of the trial. One that the current pope was said not to notice he was so obsessed with his interrogation.

The verdict and aftermath

You’ll probably be unsurprised to know that Pope Formosus was found guilty of usurping the papcy. According to JSTOR Daily (cited below): “Stephen VI declared all his acts as pope null and void: all consecrations, all appointments, all ordinations were undone. Formosus’ body was stripped of its rich garments and dressed in rags. Three of his fingers—the fingers of the benediction, with which, in life, he had given blessings—were cut off, and his body was cast into the Tiber River.”

The living pope may have felt like a winner, but he was imprisoned and strange to death within months of the trial, having been pope only around one year.

The papacy was a particularly high-stakes position in the Middle Ages since the pope got to appoint the Holy Roman Emperor. The following pope lasted around a year and the next only roughly three weeks. But at least there were no more corpse trials.

Why did this happen?

You’re probably why Pope Stephen VI would go to so much trouble as to hold the trial of a corpse. To this we defer to JSTOR Daily:

“To understand this, you have to understand the importance of relics in the medieval era. The dead body of a holy person was more than rotting flesh; it was transformed by death into a holy relic, a source of miraculous power. These relics were the center of religious life. 

As historian Lionel Rothkrug writes:

“Through their relics, saints continued to be members of the community: hearing the pleas of petitioners, responding to the needs of the people with divine intercession, and receiving their gifts of thanks. They were participants in the daily lives of the people that venerated them. In this sense, they were still alive.”

Apparently, Stephen VI wanted Pope Formosus both dead and forgotten. — WTF fun facts

Source: “The Cadaver Synod: Putting a Dead Pope on Trial” — JSTOR Daily

WTF Fun Fact 13151 – Franz Liszt Sent Fans Dog Hair

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In the 1830s, pianist Franz Liszt became one of the first celebrities. Women were so enamored of him (and his hair) that they sent requests to him for a lock of it. Eventually, Liszt bought a dog to clip hair from to fulfill their requests.

The first celebrity

Long before The Beatles made women go mad, there was Franz Liszt (1811-1886). The Hungarian musician was the star of concert halls all over 19th-century Europe. And not only was he talented, but people also found him very attractive. Word of his beauty spread like wildfire in a time before anyone could even share photos.

It’s probably no coincidence that the word “celebrity” began to appear in the dictionary around the time of his popularity in the 1830s.

It probably helped that Liszt’s talent was matched by his luscious locks, which he threw around in a frenzy as he played piano. And since he gave around 8000 concerts in just eight years alone, plenty of people got a chance to see him.

Fans were so mad about Franz Liszt that his biographer described the height of his popularity as “Lisztomania.” According to the BBC, “One eyewitness recalled that ‘on one occasion a woman snatched up a half-smoked cigar that Liszt had cast aside and in spite of repeatedly retching she continued to smoke it with feigned delight’. Baronesses and countesses tore at each other’s hair in trying to lay hands on a glass or handkerchief that Liszt had used.”

Eventually, women were throwing themselves at his feet and tearing at both his and their own clothing while doing so. Then there was the fanmail.

Franz Liszt and the hair conundrum

Women would often try to get a piece of hair or a broken piano string in his presence. One story that’s often repeated is that Liszt got lots of fanmail asking for the locks of his beautiful mane.

It may be an apocryphal story. But legend has it that he got so many requests for hair that in order to fulfill them, Liszt bought a dog that he could snip hair from.

To this day, people claim to have locks of his hair that likely belong to a dog (if the story is indeed true). — WTF fun facts

Source: “Forget the Beatles – Liszt was music’s first ‘superstar'” — BBC

WTF Fun Fact 13150 – When Moscow Ran Out of Vodka

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On May 9, 1945, reports that Nazi Germany had surrendered to the USSR resulted in a 22-hour celebration. The Soviets partied so hard that the entire country briefly ran out of vodka.

How the Soviets ran out of vodka

On May 9, 1945, a radio report in the USSR announced that Germany had officially surrendered to the Soviet Union. There was every reason to celebrate immediately. Joseph Stalin, the country’s leader, would address citizens later that day, but revelers were too overjoyed to wait.

While the country probably wasn’t entirely devoid of vodka, those who stayed up to celebrate drank the store shelves dry. And grain was in short supply in wartime, leaving few vodka reserves on hand to replenish the shelves.

War History Online notes that in the book History of Russia, author Walter Moss wrote, “During the famine of the early 1930s, Stalin ensured that sufficient grain and potatoes were still available for vodka production, and vodka revenues in this period provided about one-fifth of government revenues.”

There was also a state monopoly on alcohol. Stalin made its production a national priority, even during the widespread famine. So it’s likely that the shortage didn’t last long since vodka production never stopped.

In any case, by the time Stalin officially addressed the nation on that fateful day in 1945, those who hadn’t celebrated had to find another way to do so. Those who had were probably nursing one heck of a hangover.

Accounts of the vodka shortage

According to Mental Floss (cited below): “As one reporter put it, ‘I was lucky to buy a liter of vodka at the train station when I arrived because it was impossible to buy any later… There was no vodka in Moscow on May 10; we drank it all.‘”

War History Online quoted naval navigator Nikolai Kryuchkov, who recalled:

“On May 9, 1945, with the permission of the commander, I left for 3 days in Moscow. It was impossible to tell what happened on that day in Moscow…. We celebrated Victory Day with my family, the owner’s apartments and neighbors. They drank for the victory, for those who did not live to see this day and for the fact that this bloody massacre would never be repeated. On May 10, it was impossible to buy vodka in Moscow, because it was completely drunk.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “The Time Russia Ran Out of Vodka” — Mental Floss

WTF Fun Fact 13147 – Lay-Z-Boy Tank Seats

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During World War II, Lay-Z-Boy had to stop producing recliners because of the war effort. As a result, they used their production facility to mass produce (presumably very comfortable) seats for tanks and other military vehicles.

The history of Lay-Z-Boy

Lay-Z-Boy is pretty much synonymous with recliners. The Monroe, Michigan company produces about 30,000 units per week!

The company was founded in 1927 by cousins Edwin Shoemaker and Edward Knabusch, a cardboard factory worker and a farmer, respectively. They were both interested in woodworking and began designing furniture.

Eventually, they built a reclining porch chair out of crates. But realizing that it wasn’t going to be very useful in the snowy Michigan winter, they followed up on a suggestion from a local furniture store owner to upholster it so it could be used inside.

Their “Automatic Adjustable Chair” wasn’t much of a marketing hit, so they held a contest to rename it. According to AdWeek (cited below), “suggestions included the Slack Back and the Sit-N-Snooze,) but “the founders settled on La-Z-Boy.”

An interruption in sales

It would take decades for the brand to become a household name. And the real secret to its success was the popularity of home televisions in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, the 1940s were a tough time for the company. After hardly being able to keep up with demand, Lay-Z-Boy built its first stand-alone 27,000-square-foot factory. However, production was interrupted one year later because of WWII.

As a result of the war, the company stopped lounge chair production and used its factory to mass produce plane parts as well as seats for war machines like ships, tanks, torpedo boats, and armored cars.

We’re guessing they didn’t recline.

Luckily, the pent-up demand during the way meant the Lay-Z-Boy was back in business in the 1950s. They installed an assembly line to help meet demand and invented the reclining rocker.

The 1960s were the real golden era for Lay-Z-boy. AdWeek notes that “Between 1961 and 1970, sales went from $2M to $50M.” Today, the chairs’ prices make them a near-luxury item. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Kicking Back With La-Z-Boy” — AdWeek

WTF Fun Fact 13146 – Oldest Library in the World

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Al-Qarawiyyin Library is the oldest library in the world. It is located in Fez, Morocco, and was part of the oldest continually operating university in the world, al-Qarawiyyin University. The university opened in 859. (If you’re thinking this can’t be right because Oxford is the oldest university, note that it’s simply the oldest in the English-speaking world. Even the University of Bologna was founded after al-Qarawiyyin.)

Al-Qarawiyyin had a library, but sultan Abu Inan Faris founded the one we consider the oldest continually operating library in 1349. He was able to collect some of the world’s most precious manuscripts.

How the al-Quarawiyyin Library came to be

Al-Qarawiyyin university, its library, and a mosque were founded by a woman (around the same time algebra was invented!).

Her name was Fatima El-Fihriya, and she even attended the university. Born in Tunisia around 800 AD, her family became wealthy as a result of her father’s successful merchant business and migrated to Fez.

Both well-educated, Fatima and her sister Maryam went on to found mosques in Fez. Fatima’s wealth was a result of her father having only two daughters to leave his riches to, and Fatima’s husband and father died shortly after her wedding. However, we know little else about their lives. A fire in 1323 destroyed most of the records that could tell us more about her life.

It appears Fatima El-Fihriya’s goal was to make Morocco an educational hub, which she did. In fact (while it’s disputed), she likely influenced the future of educational institutions around the world.

Al-Qarawiyyin offered many courses on the Qur’an, but eventually expanded to include the study of medicine, grammar, mathematics, music, and astronomy. It drew intellectuals from all over the world.

Once accessible only to academics, the library is now open to the public thanks to a full renovation Canadian-Moroccan architect Aziza Chaouni began in 2012 and finished in 2017.

—WTF fun facts

Source: “The Fascinating History of the World’s Oldest Library; Al-Qarawiyyin Library and University, Fez” – Odyssey Traveler

WTF Fun Fact 13141 – Making Champagne Secular

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As you likely know, champagne production for the masses started with a Benedictine monk named Dom Perignon. And while it might seem odd that we have a French Abbey to thank for our New Year’s bubbles (after all, he made it so they could be mass-produced and shipped worldwide), it actually took time for the drink to lose its religion and to make champagne secular.

How champagne became secular

Fr. Dom wasn’t the reason champagne was associated with religion, to begin with. In fact, he’s one of the reasons it became a worldwide phenomenon.

You see, bubbly was not only difficult but dangerous to produce because bottles would explode. For a long time, sparkling wine was confined within the walls of the institution that made it. That is until the French kings got involved. Eventually, it became a celebratory drink for things like baptisms and coronations.

As VinePair (cited below) puts it:

“Before the abolition of the French monarchy, France’s royal family had longstanding ties to the Champagne region. The multi-century connection began in 496, when reigning monarch Clovis I was baptized in a small church in Reims. The city and that exact spot (which was eventually replaced by a grand cathedral) went on to become the traditional location for French coronations, and cemented the link between region and royalty.”

In other words, wine from Champagne (pre-bubbles) started out as a holy wine.

Of course, red Burgundian wine was long the official celebratory wine of France. But when secondary fermentation was discovered by Dom Perignon in 1668, things changed…slowly.

Rise of the champagne industry

In the 18th century, King Louis XV became a champagne lover, making it very fashionable. It was also chic because he made sure it was the only wine that could be sold in glass bottles (which also made it dangerous because of all the exploding glass, but that’s not really a matter for kings to care about).

Eventually, if you wanted to be cool in France, you had to buy wine from Champagne.

At this point, champagne had made it out of the Abbey walls and into castles. However, this is all pre-French Revolution, in a time when kings and Catholics ruled.

Then came the Revolution. Heads came off, heads of state were replaced, and people became far more skeptical of powerful institutions, including the church.

There’s no one moment (that we know of) when champagne became untangled from production by religious workers, but the Revolution certainly changed the nature of all things elite.

Marketing secular champagne

By 1796, George Washington was serving champagne at a state dinner.

And, according to VinePair, “Within a century, one didn’t even have to hold office to toast with Champagne. In the latter half of the 1800s, increasing supply and better worldwide distribution channels made Champagne a commodity most middle-class families could afford…The period also saw significant marketing efforts from Champagne houses to place their bubbles asthecelebratory beverage. The images and language on many bottle labels targeted newly engaged couples and soon-to-be parents…”

It was no longer associated with religion, but with any kind of celebration. —WTF fun facts

Source: “Religion, Royalty, and Bubbles: How Champagne Became the Go-To Drink for Celebrating” — VinePair

WTF Fun Fact 13140 – Champagne and NYE

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Have you ever wondered why champagne became associated with New Year’s Eve? Sure, popping the bubbly does seem festive, but one doesn’t suggest the other’s presence…or does it? Champagne is difficult to make, and real champagne only comes from one small region in France (called Champagne). Thanks to the association of champagne and NYE, the productionof the beverage actually shot up between 1800 and 1850 from 300,000 to 20 million bottles a year!

Why are champagne and NYE associated?

Sixteenth-century European aristocrats loved to pop the champagne. It didn’t hurt that their king Louis XIV loved it as well. Champagne was once part of religious rituals (but more on that in the next fun fact). Obviously, it became a secular celebratory mechanism.

Dom Perignon may have been a monk, but as the creator of the elite new bubbly drink all those centuries ago, we might also say he’s the father of parties. He made the bottles safer and the drink easier to produce, which also made them cheaper to create and sell.

By the 1700s, champagne could be marketed to those in the relative middle class because the price of creating it went down. And as you can imagine, people being able to afford things made them more popular. And champagne because associated with joy for all.

It’s all about the bubbles

Whether you’re drinking real champagne or sparkling wine from elsewhere in the world, that festive feeling you get from hearing the cork pop (although it’s not supposed to make a noise if you open it properly) is one that goes back centuries. The bubbles as well (although sometimes indicative of a dusty glass) feel celebratory. And so does New Year’s Eve.

As champagne production rose, exports rose. Champagne was a smashing success – even for ship christenings. This is just another way it became associated with joyous celebrations.

And if you’ve ever tried to pour a glass, chances are you’d had to struggle with those bubbles overflowing. Your cup runneth over, as they say – which is a toast to good luck and fortune for a reason. Champagne and NYE are a marketing match made in heaven. —WTF fun facts

Source: “Why everyone drinks champagne on New Year’s Eve” — Business Insider