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Twinkle twinkle
  • Twinkle twinkle little star has been around for over 200 years
  • The song twinkle twinkle little star is a combination of an English poem “The Star” and a French tune “Ah! vous  dirai-je, Maman”
  • In the French tune, the original lyrics told the story of a girl telling her mother that she was being seduced by a man called “Silvandre”
  • Mozart has also used the tune of twinkle twinkle little star as inspiration for 12 variations of his own work

Crapper, Thomas
  • Contrary to belief, Thomas Crapper did not invent the modern flushing toilet. He did however, patent 3 modifications to the toilet

Olympics
  • The Olympics was once outlawed as a pagan celebration
  • The Olympic torch relay was actually not part of the ancient games but was introduced as part of Nazi propoganda during the 1936 Berlin Olympics
  • In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, only people from the “Aryan race” were allowed to represent Germany. That year, they also topped the medal tally and won the Olympics
  • In the 1956 Melbourne Games, there was a hoax by 9 students where a fake torch made out of a burning pair of underpants and a plum pudding can on the end of a chair leg was presented to the Mayor instead of the Olympic torch
  • The Olympic flame traces back to the original Olympia flame and has never been extinguished (due to several backup fires)
  • The Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece is rekindled every two years using the sun’s rays and a concave reflective mirror
  • At the start of the modern Olympics in 1896, winners were actually awarded Silver instead of Gold
  • The ancient Olympiads only had one race, the first of which was won by a chef. In 2008, there are over 300 events
  • The youngest Olympic athlete participated at the age of 10 (Dimitrios Loundras in 1896) and the oldest was 72 (Oscar Swahn, 1972)
  • The Olympic rings represent the five major regions of the world – Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania
  • Poland’s Stanislawa Walasiewiczowna (Stella Walsh) was the first women to break the 12 second barrier in the 100-meter race at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. She later died in a robbery attempt, after which an autopsy declared her to be a male

Uganda
  • One of the 7 World Baha’¡­ Houses of Worship is located on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda
  • It is stated that almost 50% of Uganda’s population are under 15 years old
  • The butcher of Uganda, Idi Amin, was responsible for genocide. So many bodies were dumped into the Nile river that it clogged up the dam

Tyrannosaurus Rex
  • The Tyrannosaurus Rex (T Rex) has a smell centre in its brain the size of an orange. Ours in comparison is as big as a pea
  • The T Rex had only 2 fingers on each hand that could never reach its mouth
  • The Tyrannosaurus Rex has jaws (4 feet) longer than its arm (3 feet)
  • If the T-Rex tripped while running, the fall could possibly kill it
  • The closest living relative to the T-Rex is the chicken!

X, Malcolm
  • Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little but considered “Little” his slave name and changed it to “X” representing his lost tribal name
  • When Malcolm X was younger, he bleached his hair red brown, and was known as Big Red and Detroit Red
  • Malcolm X dropped out of high school

berserkers
  • Scandinavian berserkers went into “fury” or “berserkergang” not only in battle, but also during laborious work. Source: Fabing, p. 234

Kokoda, PNG
  • To defend Port Moresby along the Kokoda Track, Australia sent militia termed the Koalas (not to be shot at, not to be exported and were protected by the Government) instead of special forces (AIF)

penicillin
  • Without Dr. Howard Florey, Dr. Alexander Flemming might never have been credited with the discovery of penicillin, as it was Florey who supplied Flemming with a working dose of penicillin
  • Of the first 3 patients who received penicillin, only 1 survived. That is a 60% mortality rate

Shakespear
  • In Shakespeare, Rosalind, the heroine of “As You Like It”, has more lines than any of Shakespeare’s female characters. Cleopatra comes in second with 670 lines and third place belongs to Imogen (“Cymbeline”), with 591 lines
  • It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear


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