1. In 1952 Albert Einstein was offered no less than the chance to become Israel's second president, although he didn't have Israeli citizenship. Although he was touched by the offer, the famous scientist refused. 2. The shortest war in history was fought on August 27th 1896 between the Zanzibar Sultanate and the United Kingdom. It lasted for a whooping 38 minutes. There were no casualties.
3. It wasn't unusual for animals to be put on trial in the Middle Ages (mostly accused of witchcraft) and more often than not put to death.
4. Maybe it is shocking today, but in Ancient Egypt some of the slaves were actually smeared in honey. It wasn't for some bizzare ritual or cosmetic reasons, but it had a practical purpose: to keep the flies and other insects away from the pharaoh.
5. The ancient Persians had an interesting way of deciding if an idea was any good. The particular argument was debated (fiercely) both drunk and sober, and if the idea still made sense it was considered true and good.
6. In 1890, when she was just nine years old, Daisy Ashford wrote a novella, but as she later gave up writing she completely forgot about this early work. It would be published as The Young Visiters in 1919, with a foreword signed by the author of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie. Surprisingly, it was a bestseller, and nobody believed that is was written when Ashford was just a child.
7. Winston Churchill was a passionate cigar smoker, regardless of the health risks. Although, with a touch of humour, he declared that he only smoked 15 cigars a day, which wasn't that much for him.
8. Karl Marx was in 1852-1862 a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune. Not only he published an impressive number of articles about political events in Europe, but his works were also reprinted in other newspapers and magazines from that time.
9. The first postage stamp appeared in Great Britan on May 1st 1840 and it was called the "Penny black".
10. Alexander the Great thought about an interesting spying technique. Which is still very much in use today. He asked for some of his soldiers to write home to their families, then he stopped the messengers and read the letters, thus finding if anybody was preparing a revolt or had something to complain about.
Photo: wikipedia.org
