Beethoven, was told by a music teacher that he had no talent for music. In fact, this teacher once remarked, “As a composer he is hopeless.”
184
The word 'mile' is derived from the Latin word for 1,000 - the number of paces it took the average Roman!
6
In 1918, a homing pigeon saved over 190 American soldiers by delivering a message to nearby support despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, covered in blood, and with a leg hanging on by just a tendon.
22
50 years ago Cheerios were called Cheerioats.
99
In the 1830s, a Greek prime minister tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren't interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People then started stealing these potatoes so much that the crop spread to all of Greece.
29
Genghis Khan exempted the poor and clergy from taxes, encouraged literacy, and established free religion, leading many peoples to join his empire before they were even conquered.
28
Ma Yu Ching’s Bucket Chicken House in Kaifeng, China is considered the world’s oldest operating restaurant, first opening in 1153 AD during the Jing Dynasty.
11