User:Andrew Davidson/DYKs
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Did you know that ...
- ... that Punch honoured Agnata Ramsay's exam success with a cartoon?
- ... that Alfred Clark pioneered continuity, plot, and special effects in The Execution of Mary Stuart? (click right to view)
- ... that Alfred Ezra learnt how to keep hummingbirds in captivity using baby food?
- ... that Althea McNish is not American, but she is descended from a Merikin?
- ... that a pioneer of women's rowing, Amy Gentry, assisted Barnes Wallis with his experiments to develop a bouncing bomb?
- ... that Amy Richlin teaches ancient sex?
- ... that Annie Nicolette Zadoks Josephus Jitta's unusual name inspired a book?
- ... you can buy a monkey's fist at Arthur Beale?
- ... Dr. Ben Goldacre argues in Bad Pharma that "medicine is broken," because the evidence on which it is based is systematically distorted by the pharmaceutical industry?
- ... that big-game hunter Bali Mauladad won the Shaw & Hunter trophy for leading a client to a tiny Oribi antelope?
- ... that Barbara Bradby was the first woman to ride a bicycle at Oxford University, where her academic prowess inspired a limerick?
- ... that stale beer tends to smell like cat pee and then cardboard?
- ... that Laura Ashe believes the Gawain Poet used the beheading game to criticize the emptiness of chivalry?
- ... that Bertha Bracey was a Hero of the Holocaust?
- ... that in the late 1970s Beryl Rawson used computers to analyse the family life of Roman slaves?
- ... that the Black Destroyer marked the start of science fiction's Golden Age and inspired other works including Alien?
- ... that The Black Swan at Oldstead is rated the best restaurant in the world by TripAdvisor?
- ... that Bocca di Lupo serves chocolate pudding with pig's blood?
- ... Lord High Treasurer William le Scrope was beheaded at the Bristol High Cross?
- ... the Britannia Coco-nut Dancers bang their nuts together each Easter in Bacup?
- ... that a substantially cracked Chinese brush pot was sold for £360,000?
- ... that Camilla Palmer QC founded the Women's Equality Network?
- ... that Castle Folds is surrounded by Great Asby Scar?
- ... the Chelsea Bun House sold almost a quarter of a million hot cross buns on its last Good Friday?
- ... an apprentice chinaman only earned about £25 a year in the 18th century?
- ... chinamen formed a ring at the auctions of the East India Company?
- ... that "Christmas Day in the Workhouse" was a criticism of the harsh conditions in English workhouses under the 1834 Poor Law?
- ... that Claire Ptak baked the lemon and elderflower wedding cake for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle?
- ... that the ancient Clattern Bridge was a medieval football goal and scolds were ducked there too?
- ... Cleveland Hall was the base for anarchists and international revolutionaries in London?
- ... that Colonel Johnson, who was imprisoned by the British at the age of seven, became famous for eating tomatoes?
- ... in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, Dr. Watson was first told about Holmes in the Criterion Bar
- ... "I love you ... and especially you, size nine" was one of the catchphrases of Dandy Dan Daniels, one of the Good Guys?
- ... that David Nott is often styled the "Indiana Jones of surgery"?
- ... in a scientific paper, Equasy, David Nutt compared the risk of taking the drug ecstasy with the risk of horse riding?
- ... that "Papa" De Hem's oyster-house in Soho was patronised by poets, spies and rock-stars?
- ... the first female professor at Glasgow University, Delphine Parrott, was especially good at vivisecting mice?
- ... London's Denmark Street , home to several music shops, is thought to have been named after Prince George of Denmark?
- ... one of the many interpretations of the anecdotal meeting of Diogenes and Alexander was that of Samuel Johnson, who related it to wasting other people's time?
- ... that, with today's 12-round distance, the Fight of the Century may have had the opposite result and Rocky Marciano, the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated, would have lost?
- ... in Jewish mysticism, even angels cannot endure seeing the divine countenance directly?
- ... that the beer at the Dog & Bull has been blessed by the vicar of Croydon Minster?
- ... the rogues and whores who frequented the Dog and Duck caused it to lose its licence?
- ... that the first female British professor of Greek, Dorothy Tarrant, analysed Plato's style to conclude that he did not write the Socratic dialogue on beauty?
- ... pioneering petrographer Eleanora Knopf was the daughter of General Tasker H. Bliss?
- ... female physicist Elizabeth Laird came out of retirement during WWII to research radar?
- ... UBS Warburg had an email disclaimer of more than 1,000 words?
- ... the five chromolithographs in The Flask, Hampstead, a London pub, were produced by the appropriately-named artist Jan van Beers?
- ... that Foxwarren Park was the inspiration for Toad Hall, a location for Robin Hood and test site for the bouncing bomb?
- ... artist Fred Andrews made thirty thousand roof tiles for his house himself?
- ... that Queen Furra executed men for being bald, old and short?
- ... that Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn campaigned to save Gaby's Deli?
- ... Gavin Patterson, the new CEO of BT, is known for his open shirt collar?
- ... that Gilmore, the flying lion, was named after the Gilmore Oil Company?
- ... Hawksmoor serves steaks from Ginger Pig longhorns?
- ... that an MP crawled to save The Glad?
- ... the first person to isolate Vitamin E, Gladys Anderson Emerson, taught history before starting her career in biochemistry?
- ... the termite Globitermes sulphureus uses autothysis, a form of suicidal altruism, to entangle intruder ants in a sticky substance?
- ... people tend to see the world as a grey gloom when they are depressed?
- ... mathematician Grace Bates was the only woman allowed to study differential equations in her final year at college?
- ... that the Great Turnstile was originally built to keep cattle out of Holborn?
- ... the case of the Hammersmith Ghost was tried at the Old Bailey and the accused was sentenced to death by hanging and dissection?
- ... that Hanging Sword Alley was also known as "Blood Bowl Alley" after its infamous night life?
- ... freethinker Harriet Law was the only woman on the general council of the First International, and was praised by Eleanor Marx and Karl Marx?
- ... that Sir Henry Wade saved the leg of Norman Dott, who then became a surgeon too?
- ... that Hetty Reckless was born in 1776, escaped from Salem, and boasted of seeing George Washington?
- ... that in 1770, Parliament considered an act concerning high heels and now, in 2016, it is making a fresh inquiry?
- ... there were Hill Street blues in 18th-century London?
- ... the historical figure Lady Godiva probably did not ride naked through the streets?
- ... the first major idiom dictionary of American English was created for deaf people?
- ... that the Black Middens were avoided by aligning the Lights of North Shields?
- ... pedestrians walking along Malet Street hear the sound of a stick hitting an iron railing ... though there's no railing in sight?
- ... James Middleton, the brother of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, baked 21 cakes for HELLO! magazine's 21st birthday?
- ... Jean-François Autié was one of three brothers who worked as Marie Antoinette's hairdresser Monsieur Léonard, and he fled Paris to escape the guillotine?
- ... philosopher Julia Gulliver was the only woman in a department of 200 men when she studied in Leipzig?
- ... Keith Martin developed a technique for printing eye cells?
- ... that the Kepler space telescope has seen unusual patterns in the light from KIC 8462852?
- ... the ancient Scottish estate of Killiechassie, now the home of J. K. Rowling, is noted for its dovecote?
- ... that the King's Foundery for casting cannon (pictured) became the first Methodist chapel in London after a great explosion?
- ... early members of the Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club would often take off their long skirts to climb in knickerbockers?
- ... that in one study, a newt was able to regenerate the lens of its eye eighteen times?
- ... Marie Antoinette's hairdresser, Léonard Autié, invented the pouf and founded the Théâtre de Monsieur?
- ... Lilian Bland was the first woman to design and build her own aircraft, in 1910, but gave up flying when offered a motorcar instead?
- ... that Lucy Finch founded the first hospice in Malawi, a country where about a million people are living with HIV/AIDS?
- ... that classical scholar Miriam T. Griffin believes that the Roman emperor Nero was hounded by fear, panic, and persecutory delusions at the end of his reign?
- ... George Osborne, in his first speech as the new UK Chancellor, announced a new independent Office for Budget Responsibility to take the politics out of economic forecasting?
- ... that Benjamin Franklin played chess at Old Slaughter's Coffee House?
- ... not only does Paratarsotomus macropalpis run at a speed equivalent to a human running at 1,300 mph (2,092 km/h), it also does so at temperatures lethal to most animals?
- ... that the BBC is taking liberties with Parliament?
- ... celebrity chef and baker Paul Hollywood created what is thought to be the most expensive loaf of bread in Britain?
- ... "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty", the hymn that inspired Bach's cantata BWV 137, has been published in more than ten English translations?
- ... Robert Pitcairn was only fifteen when he discovered the island which is now named after him?
- ... Samuel Pepys drank purl in a bawdy house behind the House of Lords?
- ... Queen Elizabeth II has owned over 30 corgis since she ascended the throne in 1952?
- ... an unexpurgated journal of Queen Victoria records her delight that Prince Albert put on her stockings?
- ... that the renovation of the nuclear weapon arsenal of the United States resulted in the setting of Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight?
- ... the cursed Ring of Silvianus may have inspired J. R. R. Tolkien to write The Hobbit?
- ... Rock on Top of Another Rock is a rock on top of another rock?
- ... a hacker tried to ransom the email account of journalist Rowenna Davis?
- ... timber from the Ruislip Woods was used in the construction of the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, the Palace of Westminster, and the manor of the Black Prince in Kennington?
- ... royal midwife Mrs. Cannon collected exotic animals and curiosities such as Oliver Cromwell's nightcap?
- ... at English fairs, women enjoyed sticking pins into Silly Billy's legs?
- ... that bouncing bomb experiments were conducted at Silvermere?
- ... Soho Pam liked to give her patrons a cuddle?
- ... spectra, London's giant tower of light, will be turned off on Monday?
- ... St Mungo's sheltered the homeless in a Marmite factory?
- ... that the headmistress of the progressive school St Trinnean's was heartbroken by its satirical parody?
- ... the meter maids in Surfers Paradise top up the parking meter rather than issuing fines?
- ... that Susanna Elm's book Virgins of God draws on little-known sources such as the Letter to the Virgins Who Went to Jerusalem?
- ... Tall Jawa is now known as "The Rock"?
- ... Simon Cowell signed the Teletubbies to his record label for their hit single "Teletubbies say Eh-oh!"?
- ... that the artist Theyre Lee-Elliott, who created the Speedbird logo, represented England at table tennis?
- ... Frederick Ashton's first ballet, A Tragedy of Fashion, was inspired by a chef who killed himself when his fish delivery was late?
- ... the wits of the Kit-Kat Club would sup their summer ale at the Upper Flask?
- ... that Jimmy Wales wants WikiTRIBUNE to counter fake news?
- ... that Martin Luther King was originally scheduled to speak at Williston High School on the day that he was assassinated?
- ... aspiring politician Will Straw is the candidate for a constituency next to his father's?
- ... Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush and Goats Do Roam are examples of wine humour?
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