Keep Up With the World
NOV EMBER 1937
◆ Scores of famous persons in history could not write legibly. Some of Shakespeare’s work never has been definitely deciphered. Several of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s manuscripts remain unpublished today because no one has been able to read them. And Napoleon Bonaparte’s letters were almost in a class by themselves, some of them being mistaken for maps of battlefields.
◆ In 18th-century England, political corruption was carried on openly. Men seeking lucrative government positions could buy them from the officeholders, who would advertise them for sale in the newspapers.
◆ Sweden’s citizens still maintain but deplore their old custom of addressing everyone by the title that designates his or her business or profession. They say, “Will Mr The Lawyer Smith come to dinner?” or “May I offer Mr The Editor Jones another drink?” or “How is Mrs The Retailer Williams today?”
◆ A most extraordinary enterprise of the early 19th century, before steam transportation and artificial refrigeration, was the shipping of ice from Boston to Calcutta, India, a sailing distance of more than 12,000 miles (19,000 kilometres).
◆ As the killing of monkeys is forbidden in the colonies of France, Kabyle farmers in Algeria rid their fields of them by catching a monkey and sewing on it a red flannel suit, covered with little bells. Turned loose, the monkey rejoins his troop, which, terror-stricken by his appearance and noise, is soon on the other side of the mountain.
◆ In some LatinAmerican countries, movie theatres ring a ‘lovers’ warning bell’ a minute before the house lights are turned on. Indeed, a Havana theatre temporarily lost its licence because the projectionist had suddenly turned on the lights when a film broke – to the embarrassment of a famous citizen.
◆ Centuries ago, in many lands, particularly Persia, the mourning of the death of a great man was often enhanced by having his horses, as well as his family and friends, shed tears during the funeral procession. This was done by placing mustard seeds in the nostrils of the animals.
◆ Set up in Naples in 1924 as a memorial to operatic tenor Enrico Caruso, the largest candle in history, so far as is known, measured 18 feet (5.5 metres) in height and seven feet (2.1 metres) in circumference, and weighed three tons. Lit for 24 hours every year on All Souls’ Day, it is expected to last 1800 years.
◆ In 1880 Czar Alexander II of Russia was nearly killed by a bomb in his great winter palace in St Petersburg. The guards searched the 1000-odd rooms but did not find the anarchist. However, they did discover, in an unused boudoir on an upper floor, a peasant and his cow. Both of them had lived there for a number of years.
◆ The most famous sanctuary of medieval England was the Cathedral in Durham. Anyone, irrespective of his or her crime, was safe from all pursuers when they reached its front door and grasped its bronze Sanctuary Knocker. For 37 days the person was given food and a bed and then, if no pardon had been obtained, allowed to make their escape from the country on condition that they never return.
◆ The sense of taste varies more than any other sense in humans. Tasting paper treated with phenylthiocarbamide proves the point. To some persons it will be tasteless; to others it will be bitter, sour, sweet or salty.
◆ The greatest riot in history over a decision in a sporting event occurred during a chariot race in the Hippodrome of Constantinople in 532 AD. The fight lasted several days, a large part of the city was destroyed, and 30,000 citizens were killed.