Ripley's Believe It or Not!

[tv star collector]

The first practical lawn mower was invented by Edwin Budding, in 1830.

If a Guernsey cow ate petals from the common St. John's Wort, it would give
red milk.

Francis Scott Key, best known as the writer of "The Star-Spangled Banner,"
was only an amateur poet. His real profession was a lawyer.

The Dracula legend was inspired by a real person: 15th century Romanian
prince Vlad the Impaler.

Rita Hayworth and Ginger Rogers were cousins.

Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., was
a former British spy during World War II.

Elvis Presley and Winston Churchill had the same chauffeur, Gerald Peters.

Since the fiddle had not been invented yet, Roman emperor Nero did not
fiddle while Rome burned. In fact, he wasn't even there. He was at his villa
in Antium, 50 miles away. What instrument did he know how to play? The
bagpipe.

At the age of five, Wolfgang Mozart composed a children's song that is still
familiar today: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

The top of the Empire State Building was originally designed to be a mooring
place for dirigibles.

Walter Diemer invented bubble gum in 1928.

We all know that Marco Polo brought back spaghetti from China, but who
introduced it to the U.S., in 1787? Thomas Jefferson.

Before becoming a comedy team, Dan Rowan was a bartender and Dick Martin
was a used car salesman.

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright called television "chewing gum for the eyes."

Famous actress Sarah Bernhardt, who died in 1923, had a strange sleeping
habit: she liked to sleep in her coffin.

Emperor Shah Jehan had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb for his wife.

Abraham Lincoln is the only president to have received a patent. It was for
lifting vessels over shoals.

Edgar Allan Poe was thrown out of West Point in 1831 ... for showing up for
inspection stark naked.

Garrett A. Morgan invented two life-saving devices: the gas mask and the
electric traffic light.

Cartoonist Thomas Nast created the image of Santa Claus as we recognize
him today. He also created the Republican party elephant and the Democratic party donkey.

At the age of thirteen, Elizabeth Taylor wrote and illustrated a book about
her pet chipmunk, "Nibbles and Me."

Spanish explorer Cortez introduced the chocolate drink to Europe. It
originally came from the Aztecs of Mexico.

There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet (A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O,
P, U and W).

In 1893, ten years after graduating from Northwestern University, Dr. Daniel
Hale Williams, achieved the first successful operation on a human heart.

In his youth, "Ol' Blue Eyes" (Frank Sinatra) did some boxing under the name
Marty O'Brien.

The Hindenberg disaster made news in another way by being the first
transcontinental radio broadcast.

[Courtnee]

The Dracula legend was inspired by a real person: 15th century Romanian
prince Vlad the Impaler.
Mhm, rumor has it that he used to eat the people he killed.

[Hollow]

mozart only wrote variations of "twinkle twinkle little star" rather than composed it, although he did compose a few pieces that are still known today (just not very well) at five years old. trivial pursuit is apparently responsible for the misconception.

[tv star collector]

Sir Winston Churchill, whose father died on Jan. 24, 1895, had expressed a wish to die on the anniversary of his father's demise. Sir Winston died on the
70th anniversary of his father's death--within 90 minutes of the exact hour.

The Republican presidential ticket of 1892, with Benjamin Harrison the candidate for President and Whitelaw Reid the nominee for Vice President, is
the only one in American history in which both candidates were graduates of
the same university. They attended Miami University of Ohio.

Benjamin F. Butler was the only man in U.S. history to serve in two cabinet
posts simultaneously--for 10 months in 1836 and 1837 he was Attorney
General and also Secretary of War.

Nicholas Heyendahl (1658-1733) of Walhorn, Belgium, after having been kidnapped by
pirates, wandered into a church and witnessed his own funeral. He mother had mistakenly
identified the body of a vagrant at that of her own son.


General William Compton, royalist commander of Banbury during its siege by
Cromwell, never went to bed or even lay down for 14 weeks (July 19-Oct. 26, 1644).

A baby born to the Amharas of Ethiopia is given as a name the first word uttered by
the mother after the infant's birth.

Francis and Mary Huntrodds of Whitby, England, were both born on the same day,
Sept. 19, 1600, were married on their birthday--and both died in 1680 on their birthday.

In 1939, "Billy," a homing pigeon owned by Hugh Perkins of Summersville, West Virginia, appeared
at the window of the boy's hospital room in Philippi ten days after the owner had left home--having
traveled 105 miles and located the proper window ledge. A band on the pigeon's leg was positive
identification.

The entire cost of Abraham Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency of the U.S.--including even the
fares of the delegates--was less than $700.

Nicholas Heyendal (1658-1733) of Walthorn, Belgium, after having been kidnapped by pirates, wandered into a church and witnessed his own funeral. His mother had mistakenly identified
the body of a vagrant as that of her own son.


Dr. Theophrast Renaudot was the man who originated newspaper advertising.
As publisher of the Gazette de France, in Paris, he added a supplement devoted to merchandise advertising, in 1633.

Stephan Gerlach (1546-1612), dean of the University of Tubingen, Germany,
could remember almost every line he ever read--yet he constantly forgot his
own name.

Regina Leininger, kidnapped by Delaware Indians at the age of 10 during the
Penn's Creek Massacre of 1755, had forgotten her name and family by the time she was rescued eight years later, but recognized her mother when she
sang a hymn familiar from her childhood.

Matt Warner (1864-1938) of Utah, after spending three years in prison for
manslaughter and a career as a bank robber and cattle rustler, served the last
38 years of his life as a deputy sheriff, detective, policeman and justice of the
peace.