Animals
This wooly animal lived during the age of the ancient Egyptian pyramids.
Wooly Mammoth. The last died out around 3,700 years ago, centuries after the pyramids started being built.
This Egyptian pharaoh lived closer in time to the moon landing than to the building of the pyramids!
Cleopatra (69-30 BCE). Completion of the pyramids was 2490 BCE. The moon landing was 1969.
This famous Chinese structure was finally completed two years after the world's first telephone call.
Great Wall - 3rd century BCE to 1878. First phone call was in 1876.
A samurai could have, in theory, sent a fax (electronic message) to this American president.
Abraham Lincoln. The samurai ended around 1868. The electric printing telegraph was invented in 1843. Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
True or False? There were female gladiators.
TRUE.
There were female gladiators in Ancient Rome! A female gladiator was called a gladiatrix (plural gladiatrices). They were extremely rare, unlike their male counterparts.
During World War II, what animal was awarded a Blue Cross Medal for extinguishing an incendiary bomb by peeing on it?
A Great Dane named Juliana was awarded the Blue Cross Medal.
Cleopatra was actually not Egyptian! What was she?
Greek.
She was a descendant of Alexander the Great's Macedonian general Ptolemy.
This English university is older than the Aztec Empire.
Oxford University, built around 1096. The Aztec Empire originated around 1325.
This hugely popular movie was released the same year France executed its last convict by guillotine.
Star Wars. The movie was released in 1977, the same year the French cut off the head of Hamida Djandoubi.
In 18th century England, what fruit became a high status symbol?
Pineapples.
Those rich enough to own a pineapple would carry them around to signify their personal wealth and high-class status. In that day and age, everything from clothing to houseware was decorated with the tropical fruit.
In 1836, the French executed this species of animal for attacking a child who later died from their wounds.
Pig.
The pig was arrested, kept in prison, and then sent to court where it stood trial for murder, was found guilty, and then executed by hanging!
Which American president is in the wrestling hall of fame?
Abraham Lincoln.
The 6'4" president had only one loss among his around 300 contests. He earned a reputation for this in New Salem, Illinois, as an elite fighter.
In what ancient civilization did they believe redheads became vampires after they died?
Ancient Greece.
This was partly because redheaded people are very pale-skinned and sensitive to sunlight—unlike the Mediterranean Greeks, who had olive skin and dark features.
This popular condiment was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
Ketchup.
In 1834, it was sold as a cure for an upset stomach by an Ohio physician named John Cook. It wasn't popularized as a condiment until the late 19th century!
The shortest war in history lasted only 38 minutes. Name one of the nations who fought in that war.
It was between Britain and Zanzibar.
It is known as the Anglo-Zanzibar War. This war occurred on August 27, 1896. It was over the ascension of the next Sultan in Zanzibar and resulted in a British victory.
British poet and politician Lord Byron kept what animal as a pet in his dorm while studying at Cambridge University?
Bear.
Known for being an avid animal lover, when he found out he couldn’t bring his dog, he decided to bring a tame bear to live with him on campus instead. He was even known to take it on walks with a leash!
How many people did the famous serial killer, Hungarian Countess, Elizabeth Bathory de Ecsed, supposedly kill?
Over 650 women.
Most of them were between the ages of 10 and 14.
In what area of the world was death by elephant a popular form of execution?
Ancient Asia
They could be taught to slowly break bones, crush skulls, twist off limbs, or even execute people using large blades fitted to their tusks. In some parts of Asia, this method of execution was still popular up to the late 19th century.
Ancient Romans often used what as mouthwash?
Stale urine.
The main ingredient in urine is ammonia which acts as a powerful cleaning agent. Urine became so in demand that Romans who traded in it actually had to pay a tax!
In 1945, a balloon bomb launched by Japan landed in Oregon, killing the only World War II casualties on US soil. How many people died?
6.
It fell upon a woman and five children, who died when it exploded.
While in power, Pope Gregory IX declared that what animal were to be associated with devil worship and had them exterminated?
Cats.
Some believed that the disappearance of those cats helped rats spread the bubonic plague, aka the Black Death, that killed millions of people in the 1300s.
Which English king had servants who were called "Grooms of Stool," whose job was to wipe his bottom after he went to the bathroom?
Henry VIII.
During his reign, he had all of those four such people knighted.
A railroad in this African country once employed a baboon.
South Africa
The South African railway once employed a baboon. In his eight years of service, he never made a single mistake.
Back in the 16th century, what did the wealthy elite used to eat to cure diseases?
Dead bodies.
It was rumored the cadavers could cure diseases. The highest delicacy? Egyptian mummies.
100 million years ago, the Sahara Desert was inhabited by what galloping animal (now extinct)?
Crocodiles
Back then, the Sahara Desert was a lush oasis full of life and full of predators. In 2009, fossil hunters found the remains of crocodiles that had large land-going legs that were capable of galloping across the land at breakneck speeds!