Random facts

Alexander Hamilton and his son, Philip, both died on the same spot, and both during duels. Philip went first, 3 years before his father would be killed in that same field by Aaron Burr.

Bounty Mutineer Fletcher Christian went to the same school as Mr Bean.

The first German soldier killed in WW II was killed by Japanese in China. The first American soldier killed in WW II was killed by the Russians in Finland.

Ibrahim I, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1640 until 1648, was known to have had an obsession with obese women, urging his agents to find the fattest woman possible.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Boris Yeltsin holds the world record for being the most hospitalized political figure.

Florence Nightingale served only two years of her life as a nurse. She contracted fever during her service in the Crimean War, and spent the last 50 years of her life as an invalid.

Both Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the Spanish author who wrote Don Quixote and William Shakespeare died on the "same day" April 23rd, 1616.However, it is the same date, but not on the same day. Britain was still using the Julian calendar, whereas Spain had already adopted the Gregorian calendar. They actually died on different days.

Napoleon was short, he was actually five feet six inches tall (1.676 meters), an average height for a Frenchman in those days.

King Charles VII, who was assassinated in 1167, was the first Swedish king with the name of Charles. Charles I, II, III, IV, V, never existed. No one knows why. To add to the mystery, almost 300 years went by before there was a Charles VIII (1448-57).

Lafayette was a major general in the United States at the age of 19. Lafayette's whole name takes up an entire line on a page: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

For the first 14 years of Islam, the early Muslims prayed towards Jerusalem. Only after the move to Medina and strife with Jewish tribes near there did Mohammed have the faithful turn around towards Mecca.

Winston County, Alabama declared itself an independent Republic during the Civil War, and was sympathetic to the Union side. Similar stories are told about Jones County, Mississippi although the degree to which Jones Country broke with the Confederacy is debated. In general many areas of the South outside the plantation zones were far less supportive of breaking the Union.Austria-Hungary created an 80 key word Slavic language during WWI to attempt to overcome the fact that half the army, many Slavic, didn't speak German.

Khubilai Khan's mother was a Christian woman. Of course, she was also the mother of Möngke Khan(the Great Khan before Khubilai) and Hulagu Khan(the founder of the Ilkhanate in Persia).

Warren Harding was the first US president who could drive a car.

Winston Churchill, prime minister of England during World War II, superstitiously feared January 24 because he was certain it was destined to be the day of his death. Churchill's father had died on that date. Churchill did indeed die on January 24, 1965.

Five members of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's family were killed at the Battle of little Big Horn. They were Tom and Boston, two half-brothers, Harry Armstrong Reed, a nephew and a brother-in-law, James Calhoun.