History Facts

Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was left stranded on a deserted island in 1704, but survived for over 4 years, partly by using feral cats to protect him from ravenous rats that attacked during the night.

Ching Shih, once a prostitute, became one of the most powerful pirates to have ever sailed. She commanded one of the most formidable pirate fleets in all of China during the early 1800s, with hundreds of ships under her command.

In 1963, a man found a mysterious room behind a wall in his home that lead to a huge underground city that once housed up to 20,000 people, complete with schools, livestock pens, and food stores, dating back over a millennium.

Before clocks, there were candle clocks that when burned, indicated the passage of periods of time. To set an alarm, you pushed a nail into the desired point and the nail would fall and clank on the metal holder.

Until the 1920s, there was a profession called 'knocker-up', which involved going from client to client and tapping on their windows (or banging on their doors) with long sticks until they woke up.

After World War 2 ended in 1945, a Japanese officer named Hiroo Onoda didn't surrender and continued the war for 29 years because he didn't know that Japan had surrendered and the war was over.

In 1945, a man survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima, dragged himself to an air-raid shelter, spent the night, caught the morning train so he could arrive at his job on time - in Nagasaki - where he survived another atomic blast.

Capt. Robert Campbell, a British officer captured during World War I, was granted leave to visit his dying mother on one condition - that he return to captivity. He kept his word and returned, only to try escaping as soon as he returned.