Interesting facts from the life of great people. Interesting facts from the life of famous people

Famous personalities differ from us not only in their achievements in a particular area of ​​life. Facts from the life of famous people confirm their oddities. Famous people have such an entertaining biography that you want to study it in full. Interesting Facts from the life of famous people will appeal to both children and adults.

1. captured Italy at the age of 26.

2. Time magazine named Hitler's Man of the Year.

3. Cleopatra was married to her brother.

4. Facts from the life of famous people of America confirm that Andrew Jackson, the President of the United States, considered the Earth to be flat.

5. At the wedding, Queen Victoria was presented with a piece of cheese, the diameter of which was 3 meters, and the weight was 500 kilograms.

6. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' toilet. When there was a ball, his mother felt unwell and soon gave birth to him there.

7. Beethoven always brewed coffee from 64 beans.

8. Beria had syphilis.

9. Celine Dion and Madonna are the cousins ​​of the wife of Prince Charles.

10. almost always fell asleep in front of the fireplace. As a result, he experienced sleep deprivation.

11. Socks were considered the most stupid thing.

12. The most loving man is the king of the island of Tonga, who is located in pacific ocean. His name was Fatafehi ​​Paulah.

13. I have never had children, and intimate relationships too.

14. Facts from the life of famous people of Russia say that Alexander Suvorov did not lose a single battle.

15. always worked on the field on a par with other men. And this happened despite the fact that he was a count.

16. Nikola Tesla had a panicky fear of germs.

17. Andriana Lima, who is considered the famous Brazilian model, remained faithful before the wedding. And exactly 9 months after the wedding, her daughter was born.

18. Paul McCartney, due to his own workload, did not have time to purchase wedding ring own chosen one.

19. Cristiano Ronaldo is the most expensive player in the history of football.

20. Jackie Chan's mother carried him for 12 months and this famous man was born with a weight of more than 5 kilograms.

21. Interesting facts about famous people provide information that Marilyn Monroe, before she became a famous model, worked at an aviation factory.

22. Brad Pitt's first job was to perform on the streets in "chicken" clothes.

24. Marilyn Monroe's bra sold at auction for $14,000.

25. Hiding hair loss, Julius Caesar put a wreath of laurel on his head.

26. Elizabeth the First taxed men who had beards.

27. More than 500 million dollars for charity gave away John Rockefeller for his own life.

28. Winston Churchill smoked at least 15 cigars a day.

29. King Solomon had about 700 wives and 100 mistresses.

30. Moart has never been to school.

31. Sigmund Freud had a panic rhinestone before the number 62.

32. Louis Pasteur was the sponsor of the beer factory.

33. Alexander the Great knew about 30,000 of his own soldiers by sight.

34. Approximately 3,000 outfits were from Queen Elizabeth.

35. Voltaire's body was stolen from the grave.

36. The Dutch artist Van Gogh had bouts of insanity. In one of them he cut off his ear.

37. Yuri Gagarin wrote a farewell letter to his wife before the flight into space, because he did not know how the expedition would end.

38. Luciano Pavarotti was fond of football.

39. Genghis Khan had a panic fear of death. And this is despite his cruelty towards enemies.

40. When Alla Pugacheva was born, cancer was found on her throat. It was removed immediately.

41. Sylvester Stallone was often beaten during his school years.

42. participated in duels more than 90 times.

43. Saddam Hussein wrote the Koran with his own blood.

44. Charlie Chaplin's body was stolen 3 months later by porters who demanded a ransom.

45. When Vladimir Putin worked for the KGB, his code name was "mol".

46. ​​The largest fee in the amount of $ 20 million was first received by Julia Roberts.

47. All shoes for Paris Hillton were made to order, because she has big size feet and it is difficult to find the right shoes.

48. Whoopi Goldberg, who is considered an actress, has no eyebrows.

49. Rihanna didn't even finish school.

50. Beethoven drenched ice water in order to raise your mental tone.

51. In his childhood, Charles Darwin's father considered his son mediocrity.

52. Demosthenes had a speech impediment in childhood.

53. Genghis Khan died in the process of making love.

54. Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote Sherlock Holmes, was an ophthalmologist by profession.

55. Walt Disney was afraid of mice throughout his life.

56. Mozart began composing music at the age of 3. At the age of 35, he already had over 600 works.

57. At the age of 3, Albert Einstein did not say a word.

58. Timberlake is very afraid of spiders.

59. The Italian national flag was created by Napoleon Bonaparte.

60. Queen Anne was the mother of 17 children.

61. The autograph of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar was estimated at $ 2 million.

62. Charles Dickens preferred to sleep only facing north.

63. George Washington's birthday was the only birthday that was a public holiday in the US.

64. Uma Thurman's father was a monk and professor of Eastern religion.

65. Taylor Swift played the guitar for the first time at the age of 10.

66. Ashton Kutcher trained as a biochemist.

67. Riana was a cadet in the Barbadian army.

68. Angelina Jolie in her childhood wore braces and glasses, for which she was teased by the guys.

69. Until the age of 16, Jennifer Garner did not wear thongs and did not use cosmetics, because she was forbidden to do so.

70. Tom Cruise had a dream - to become a priest.

71. Demi Moore had an attempt to commit suicide during her school years.

72. Queen Victoria spent 40 years in mourning after the death of her husband. She did not take off her black dresses at that time.

73. Mussolini was scared to death of cats.

74. Alfred Hitchcock was afraid of eggs in any form.

75. Julio Iglesias played in the Real Madrid football team in his youth.

76. The highest paid actor is Charlie Chaplin.

77. Marilyn Monroe grew up in an orphanage.

78. Tchaikovsky had a law degree.

79. Two children Ricky Martin gave birth to a surrogate mother, and all his life he hid his own orientation.

80. Hitler was a vegetarian.

81. Two of his six spouses were executed by the English King Henry VIII.

82. Paul McCartney's mother was a midwife and helped the kids to be born.

83. Kipling could not write his works in ink due to the fact that they were black.

84. Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the turkey the national bird of the United States of America.

85. Bill Clinton has only sent 2 emails in all his years in office.

86. George Washington did not shake hands when meeting, but only bowed.

87. before starting writing, was a doctor.

88. Cleopatra preferred to test poisons on her slaves.

89. Winston Churchill had Indian ancestors on his mother's side.

90. Queen Victoria spoke English with a German accent.

91. Henry Ford, who is considered a successful businessman, had only a secondary education.

92. Sarah Jessica Parker is tied to a black little dress, so she even got married in a black dress.

93. At one of his concerts, Ozzy Osbourne bit off the head of a bat.

94. Elizabeth Taylor had a double row of eyelashes.

95. In my school years I was a loser in physics.

96. The Chupa Chups logo was designed by Salvador Dali.

97. Kate Middleton's wedding dress the morning after the celebration could be purchased for $300.

98. Elvis Presley worked for a trucking company when he was young.

99. Napoleon's penis was purchased for $40,000 by an American urologist.

1. Once a famous physicist had a chance to become the president of Israel. However, he refused this position with the proviso that he would not be able to solve state affairs in view of their significance and scale.

2. Perhaps, dying Albert Einstein finally put forward another brilliant theory or said something equally significant. Alas, we will never know about this, as he died in the presence of a nurse who did not understand a word of German.

3. The last will of the founder of the Nobel Prize was a request not to be considered a promoter of violence because of the fact that he invented dynamite.

4. Queen Anne of England was the mother of 17 children and outlived them all.

5. Elizabeth the First imposed a tax on those men who wore a beard.

6. She also passed a law obliging everyone, except for the very rich people, to wear special hats on Sunday.

7. One can only guess what happened during the feasts before Catherine the First issued a law stating that no man has the right to get drunk during the feast before 21.00.

8. For her wedding, among other things, Queen Victoria received a "piece" of cheese, weighing half a ton and three meters in diameter.

9. Lady Astor is credited with the following phrase, said to Prime Minister Winston Churchill: "If you were my husband, I would put poison in your coffee." They say that a worthy answer was received to this: "If you were my wife, I would drink it."

10. And the British Prime Minister himself smoked about 15 cigars a day.

11. An autograph from a famous Roman emperor is valued at $2 million. The problem is that so far no one has been able to find it.

12. The appearance of a laurel wreath on the head of Julius Caesar is associated with his attempt to hide the beginning of hair loss.

13. Loving Israeli king Solomon had about 700 wives and at least a hundred mistresses.

14. This sex icon's bra, which Marilyn wore in the movie Only Girls in Jazz, went up for $14,000 at auction.

15. The famous writer Charles Dickens slept exclusively facing north. He firmly believed that this contributed to the improvement of his writing talent.

16. What would US President Thomas Jefferson think of his descendants if he knew that the house in which he wrote the Declaration of Independence is now ... a diner?

17. George Washington can be proud that his birthday is the only birthday that is an official holiday in all states of America.

18. During the First World War, the future Pope John XXIII served as a sergeant in the Italian army.

19. Isaac Newton was fond of occult and supernatural ideas.

20. John D. Rockefeller gave away over $500 million to charitable causes during his lifetime.

21. Personally, I am overwhelmed with bewilderment from the fact that the two-time owner Nobel Prize was unable to become a member of the prestigious Académie française solely because she was a woman.

22. Mozart never attended school.

23. There was a payphone in the mansion of one of the richest people in the world.

24. The first chairman of the Communist Party of China worked as an assistant librarian at Peking University before taking power.

25. The three most famous names in China are striking in their modesty and originality: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley.

26. John Glenn became the first American astronaut to reach earth orbit.

27. This professional illusionist claimed that his outstanding abilities came to him from the distant planet Huva.

And finally

Usually great people differ from the average layman, and not only in their famous achievements, but also in character and habits. Among these habits there are many oddities that distinguished many famous people. In this post - a selection of oddities of famous people.

Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov was one of the most famous Russian generals. He did not lose a single battle, and all of them were won with the numerical superiority of the enemy. Suvorov was famous for his strange antics: he went to bed at six in the evening, and woke up at two in the morning, and, upon waking up, poured himself cold water and loudly shouted “ku-ka-re-ku!”. With all his ranks, he slept in the hay. Preferring to walk in old boots, he could easily go out to meet high officials in a sleeping cap and underwear. He also gave the signal to attack to his beloved “ku-ka-re-ku!”, And, they say, after he was promoted to field marshal, he began to jump over chairs and say: “And I jumped over this one, and through this - then!"

Often famous people were distinguished by great forgetfulness and absent-mindedness. For example, Diderot forgot the days, months, years and names of loved ones. Anatole France sometimes forgot to get a new sheet of paper or a notebook and wrote on everything that came to hand: envelopes, business cards, wrappers, receipts. But scientists are usually the most scattered.

Newton somehow received guests and, wanting to treat them, went to his office for wine. Guests are waiting, but the owner does not return. It turned out that entering work room, Newton thought so deeply about his next work that he completely forgot about his friends. There is also a case when Newton, having decided to boil an egg, took a watch, noticed the time and after a couple of minutes found that he was holding an egg in his hand, and was cooking a watch. One day Newton had lunch, but did not notice it. And when by mistake he went to dine another time, he was very surprised that someone had eaten his food.

Einstein, having met his friend and, absorbed in thoughts, said: Come to me in the evening. I will also have Professor Stimson. His friend, puzzled, objected: But I am Stimson! Einstein replied: It doesn't matter, come anyway! In addition, Einstein's wife had to repeat the same thing three times before the meaning of her remarks reached the great physicist.

The father of Russian aviation, Zhukovsky, once, after talking all evening with friends in his own living room, suddenly got up, looking for his hat, and began to hurriedly say goodbye, muttering: However, I stayed up with you, it's time to go home!

The German historian Theodor Mommsen once rummaged through all his pockets to find glasses. A little girl sitting next to him handed them to him. "Thanks, little one," Mommsen said. "What's your name?" “Anna Mommsen, papa,” the girl answered.

One day, Ampere, leaving his apartment, wrote with chalk on his door: Ampere will be at home only in the evening. But he returned home in the afternoon. I read the inscription on my doors and went back, because I forgot that he himself was Ampere. Another story that was told about Ampere was this. One day, sitting in a carriage, he wrote a formula with chalk instead of a slate on the coachman's back. And he was very surprised when, having arrived at the place and got off the carriage, he saw that the formula began to move away along with the crew.

Galileo was no less absent-minded. He spent his wedding night reading a book. Noticing at last that it was already dawn, he went to the bedroom, but immediately went out and asked the servant: - Who is lying in my bed? “Your wife, sir,” replied the servant. Galileo completely forgot that he was married.

Some of the greats didn't get married at all. Now you will not surprise anyone with this, but a hundred years ago it was considered a great oddity. Voltaire, Dante, Rousseau, Spinoza, Kant and Beethoven died convinced bachelors, believing that the wife would only prevent them from creating, and the servant would look after the house perfectly.

True, in Beethoven's house, the servants were powerless to maintain at least some semblance of order: sheets with symphonies and overtures were scattered throughout the office mixed with bottles and plates, and woe to the one who tried to collect them, breaking this mess! And the owner himself at this time, despite any weather conditions, jogged around the streets of the city.

The famous satirist Lafontaine also liked to take a walk. At the same time, he loudly recited the lines and rhymes that came into his bright head, waving his arms and dancing. Fortunately for him, the people then treated such personalities quite calmly, and no one called the orderlies.

The famous writer Leo Tolstoy was famous among his contemporaries not only for his works, but also for his quirks. As a count, he worked in the field on a par with the peasants. At the same time, working in the field side by side with the peasants was not an extravagant hobby for him, he sincerely loved and respected hard physical labor. Tolstoy, with pleasure and, what is important, with skill, sewed boots, which he then presented to his relatives, mowed grass and plowed the land, surprising the local peasants who were watching him and grieving his wife.

Over the years, Tolstoy was increasingly captured by spiritual quests, and he paid less and less attention to everyday life, striving for asceticism and “simplification” in almost everything. The count is engaged in hard peasant labor, sleeps on the bare floor and walks barefoot until the very cold, thus emphasizing his closeness to the people. Just like that - on a bare foot, in a belted peasant shirt, simple trousers - Ilya Repin captured him in his picture.

Lev Nikolaevich maintained physical vigor and strength of mind until the very last days. The reason for this is the count's passionate love for sports and all kinds of physical exercises, which, in his opinion, were mandatory, especially for those who are engaged in mental work. Walking was Tolstoy's favorite discipline; it is known that already at the fairly respectable age of sixty, he made three foot crossings from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana. In addition, the count was fond of skating, mastered cycling, horseback riding, swimming, and started every morning with gymnastics.

Already at the advanced age of 82 years, the writer decided to go wandering, leaving his estate, leaving his wife and children. AT farewell letter to his Countess Sophia, Tolstoy writes: “I can no longer live in those conditions of luxury in which I lived, and I do what old people of my age usually do: they leave worldly life in order to live in solitude and quiet the last days of their lives” .

And among scientists, Nikola Tesla was known as one of the most eccentric people. Tesla did not have his own house or apartment - only laboratories and land. The great inventor usually spent the night right in the laboratory or in hotels in New York. Tesla never married. According to him, a solitary lifestyle helped develop his scientific abilities.

He was terribly afraid of germs, constantly washed his hands, and in hotels he could demand up to a couple of dozen towels a day. By the way, in hotels he always checked whether the number of his apartments would be a multiple of three, otherwise he flatly refused to be settled. If a fly landed on the table during lunch, Tesla demanded that the waiters bring it all over again. In modern psychiatry, there is a special term for this kind of oddity - “misophobia”.

Tesla counted steps while walking, the volume of bowls of soup, cups of coffee and pieces of food. If he failed to do this, then the food did not give him pleasure, so he preferred to eat alone.

Having become the author of many inventions that changed the life of modern civilization, Nikola Tesla left behind even more rumors and conjectures about incredible discoveries, which for some reason never reached their publication and application.

ABOUT COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES

• 1. The flag of Alaska was created by a 13-year-old boy.
• 2. Military honor in no country is given with the left hand.
• 3. International telephone code Antarctica - 672.
• 4. Captain Cook was the first person to set foot on all the continents of the Earth except Antarctica.
• 5. The Matami tribe of West Africa plays football with a human skull.
• 6. In Australia, the fifty cent coin originally contained two dollars worth of silver.
• 7. Most often in English libraries the Guinness Book of Records is stolen.
• 8. The National Band of Monaco is bigger than its army.
• 9. In the Sahara desert once - February 18, 1979 - it was snowing.
• 10. Canada is larger in area than China, and China is larger than the United States.
• 11. The only country where no births were registered in 1983 is the Vatican.
• 12. The Nile froze twice - in the 9th and 11th centuries.
• 13. In Siena, Italy, you can't be a prostitute if your name is Maria.
• 14. In ancient Rome, a man taking an oath or taking an oath put his hand on the scrotum.
• 15. Tickling was forbidden by law in some ancient countries of the East, as it was considered a sinful exciting activity.
• 16. Las Vegas casinos don't have clocks.
• 17. In the Eskimo language, there are more than 20 words for the name of snow.
• 18. There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada.
• 19. In France, the law prohibits the sale of dolls with a non-human face, such as "aliens".
• 20. Canada has been declared the best country to live in by the UN 4 times in the last 5 years.
• 21. In Ancient Rome if the patient died during the operation, the doctor's hands were cut off.
• ABOUT CULTURE
  
• 22. As the x-ray showed, under the “Mona Lisa” known to us, there are three more of its original versions.
• 23. John Lennon was inspired to create the song "I'm a Walrus" by the sounds of a police siren.
• 24. The most frequently performed song in the world is " happy birthday to you" is under copyright protection.
• 25. There is only one Western directed by a woman.
• 26. George Harrison's toilet seat sang "Lusy in the sky with diamonds."
• 27. During the Second World War, in order to save metal, Oscar statuettes were made of wood.
• 28. The original name of "Gone with the Wind" - "Be-be, black sheep."
• 29. In Cameroon's film Titanic, the most frequently spoken word is "Rose".

ABOUT THE LITTLE BROTHERS

• 30. A cat that falls from the 12th floor is more likely to survive than a cat that falls from the 7th.
• 31. When the Europeans first saw the giraffe, they called it the "camelopard", deciding that it was a hybrid of a camel and a leopard.
• 32. The animal with the largest brain in relation to the body is an ant.
• 33. About 70 percent of the living beings of the Earth are bacteria.
• 34. In their youth, the Black Sea perches are mostly girls, but by the age of 5 they radically change their sex!
• 35. The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.
• 36. The zoo in Tokyo closes for 2 months every year so that the animals can take a break from the visitors.
• 37. Anteaters prefer not to eat ants, but termites.
• 38. When a giraffe gives birth, her cub falls from a height of one and a half meters.
• 39. Despite the hump, the camel's spine is straight.
• 40. Female dogs bite more often than dogs.
• 41. Every year more people die from bee stings than from snake bites.
• 42. Sharks are immune to cancer.
• 43. Gorillas are affected by birth control pills.
• 44. A pig orgasm lasts 30 minutes.
• 45. Starfish can turn your stomach inside out.
• 46. ​​The animal that can not drink for the longest time is a rat.
• 47. The only animals that suffer from leprosy, except for humans, are armadillos.
• 48. Hippos are born underwater.
• 49. Orangutans warn of aggression with a loud burp.
• 50. A mole can dig a tunnel 76 meters long in one night.
• 51. A snail has about 25,000 teeth.
• 52. A black spider can eat up to 20 spiders a day.
• 53. With a lack of food, a tapeworm can eat up to 95 percent of its body weight - and nothing!
• 54. Crocodiles are responsible for more than 1,000 deaths on the banks of the Nile a year.
• 55. The ancient Egyptians taught baboons to serve them at the table.
• 56. The St. Bernards, famous climber rescuers, don't wear brandy flasks around their necks at all.
• 57. It takes 4 hours to hard boil an ostrich egg.
• 58. Inside the lion pride, 9/10 of the prey to the "family" is supplied by lionesses.
• 59. Sloths spend 75% of their lives sleeping.
• 60. Hummingbirds can't walk.
• 61. A moth has no stomach.
• 62. Europeans, having arrived in Australia, asked the natives: “What are these strange jumping animals here?” The natives answered: “Kangaroo”, which meant: “We don’t understand!”
• 63. The easiest way to distinguish a vegetarian animal from a predator: predators have eyes located on the front of the muzzle to see the prey. Vegetarians - on both sides of the head to see the enemy.
• 64. Bat is the only mammal that can fly.
• 65. 99% of the living beings that lived on Earth became extinct.
• 66. To make a kilogram of honey, a bee must fly around 2 million flowers.
• 67. Grasshopper's blood is white, lobster's blood is blue.
• 68. The only animals that have sex for pleasure are humans and dolphins.
• 69. Over the past 4000 years, not a single new animal has been domesticated.
• 70. Penguins can jump up to a height of more than one and a half meters.
• 71. The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
• 72. Chimpanzees are the only animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror.
• 73. The word "orangutan" means in some African languages ​​"man from the jungle"
• 74. Emu in Portuguese means "ostrich".
• 75. Elephants and humans are the only mammals that can stand on their heads.
• 76. Crocodiles swallow rocks to dive deeper.
• 77. Polar bears can run at a speed of 40 km/h.
• 78. Dogs have elbows.

ABOUT THE GREAT

• 79. "Thinker" Rodin - a portrait of the Italian poet Dante.
• 80. Singer Nick Cave was born with a ponytail.
• 81. Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same day - April 23, 1616.
• 82. English. Virginia Woolf wrote most of her books standing up.
• 83. Sarah Bernhardt played 13-year-old Juliet at 70.
• 84. When Walt Disney was a child, he tortured an owl. Since then, he decided to bring animals to life in cartoons.
• 85. Beethoven was once arrested for vagrancy.
• 86. Buzz Aldrin, one of the astronauts who visited the Moon, has his mother's maiden name Moon (Moon).
• 87. When Einstein died, his last words died with him: the nurse did not understand German.
• 88. Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath to hide his beginning baldness.
• 89. D. Washington grew marijuana in his garden.
• 90. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never called his mother and wife: they were both deaf.
• 91. Saint Patrick, the patron saint of the Irish, was not Irish.
• 92. Leonardo da Vinci invented an alarm clock that rubbed the sleeping legs.
• 93. Napoleon suffered from ailurophobia - the fear of cats.

ABOUT PEOPLE

• 94. The nose grows throughout a person's life.
• 95. Only one child in 20 is born on the day prescribed by the doctor.
• 96. The ancient Greeks believed that boys grow on the right side of the abdomen, and girls - on the left.
• 97. If you remove the space from all the atoms of the human body, then what remains can slip through the eye of a needle.
• 98. In the Middle Ages in dark spots Moon people saw the figure of Cain, carrying an armful of brushwood.
• 99. Sperm is the smallest single cell in the body. The egg is the largest.
• 100. If a real woman had the proportions of a Barbie doll, she could only walk on 4 limbs.
• 101. Blond beards grow faster than dark ones.
• 102. In Russian and English there is no word for the back of the knee.
• 103. In the 15th century, it was believed that the red color heals. Patients wore red and surrounded themselves with red things.
• 104. The imprints of the tongue are individual for all people.
• 105. When you blush, your stomach turns red too.
• 106. The human body has enough body fat for 7 bars of soap.
• 107. 80% of the heat of the human body leaves the head.
• 108. A person has less muscles than a caterpillar.
• 109. At the time of death, Lenin's brain was a quarter of its normal size.
• 110. The world's highest IQs on standardized tests belong to two women.
• 111. Most people lose 50% of their sense of taste by age 60.
• 112. house dust 70% consists of shed skin.
• 113. A tooth is the only part of a person that is deprived of the ability to self-repair.
• 114. The brain is 80% water.
• 115. More living organisms live on the body of one person than people on Earth.
• 116. One hair can support a weight of 3 kg.
• 117. Medium human head weighs 3.6 kg.
• 118. In his entire life, a person produces so much saliva that it would be enough for 2 large pools.

Well, Miscellaneous

• Repellents don't keep mosquitoes away - they hide you. Substances contained in repellents block the receptors by which mosquitoes find their prey.
• Dentists recommend keeping your toothbrush at least two meters away from the toilet.
• No sheet of paper can be folded in half more than seven times.
• Donkeys are killed every year on earth more people than die in plane crashes.
• You burn more calories while you sleep than when you watch TV.
• The first product with a barcode was Wrigley's chewing gum.
• The wingspan of a Boeing 747 is greater than the distance of the first flight of the Wright brothers.
• American Airlines saved $40,000 by removing just one olive from salads served to first-class passengers.
• Venus is the only planet solar system, rotating counterclockwise.
• Apples help you wake up in the morning better than coffee.
• The plastic pieces at the ends of shoelaces are called aiguillettes.
• Marlboro's first owner died of lung cancer.
• Michael Jordan received more money from Nike than all the workers in the company's factories in Malaysia.
• Marilyn Monroe had six toes on her feet.
• All US presidents have worn glasses. Some people just don't like to wear them in public.
• Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, was afraid of mice.
• Pearls dissolve in vinegar.
• Among people posting marriage ads, 35 percent are already married or married.
• Three most expensive titles trademarks on earth it's Marlboro, Coca-Cola and Budweiser, in that order.
• You can make a cow go up stairs, but you can't make it go down.
• Duck croaking doesn't echo, no one knows why.
• The reason American fire departments have spiral staircases goes back to the days when pumps and other heavy loads were lifted by horses. The horses crowded below, unable to figure out how to climb the straight-spanned stairs.
• Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president to have all the letters of the word "criminal" in his name.
• The second was Bill Clinton (William Jefferson Clinton).
• On average, 100 people die each year from choking on a ballpoint pen.
• 90 percent of New York taxi drivers are immigrants.
• The elephant is the only animal that cannot jump.
• The chance to live to 116 years has one person in two million.
• Women, on average, blink twice as often as men.
• It is anatomically impossible for a person to lick his own elbow.
• Indiana State University's main library building sinks one inch each year because engineers didn't take into account the weight of the books it contained.
• Snails can sleep for up to three years.
• Crocodiles can't stick out their tongues.
• The lighter was invented before matches.
• Every day, US residents eat 18 hectares of pizza.
• Almost everyone who read this text tried to lick their elbow.
• Learning that, according to Plato, Man is a biped without feathers, Diogenes plucked the rooster and, bringing it to the Academy, announced: "Here is Plato's man";)
• If you scream for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, then the amount of acoustic energy that you generate will be enough to heat one cup of coffee.
• If you fart continuously for 6 years and 9 months, then the amount of gas that you release will be enough to create an amount of energy equal to the explosion of an atomic bomb.
• When pumping blood in the body, the human heart creates enough pressure to eject blood 10 meters forward.
• You will burn 150 calories if you bang your head against a wall for an hour.
• An ant can lift 50 times its own weight and pull 30 times its own weight. And when an ant is poisoned with chemicals, it always falls on its right side.
• A cockroach is able to live 9 days without a head, after which it will die of hunger.
• The male praying mantis is not capable of copulation when he has a head. Therefore, sexual intercourse in praying mantises begins with the fact that the female tears off the male's head.
• Some types of lions can copulate up to 50 times a day.
• Butterflies taste food with their feet.
• Elephants are the only animals that are unable to jump.
• Cat urine glows under ultraviolet light.
• An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
• The starfish has no brain.
• All polar bears are left-handed.
• Humans and dolphins are the only animal species that have sex for pleasure.
• Cockroaches have existed on Earth for 250 million years and have not undergone any evolutionary changes since then.
• Crocodiles have never lived in the Australian Alligator River.
• Drinkers began to clink glasses in ancient times. It was believed that in this way they drive away evil spirits.
• Thanks to gravity, a person weighs a little less when the moon is at its zenith.
• Polar bears have black skin.
• "Spain" means "land of rabbits".
• In order for acorns to grow on an oak tree, it must be at least 50 years old.
• Pacific Tiwi girls are married at birth.
• In the 1970s, the issue of a sex tax was seriously discussed in the United States. The fee was supposed to be $2.
• Bees have five eyes.
• Peanuts are used in the manufacture of dynamite.
• The first cologne in history appeared as a means of preventing the plague.
• There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos.
• Every second, 1% of the world's population is dead drunk.
• The beard consists of 7-15 thousand hairs. And it grows at a rate of 14 centimeters per year.
• The ant has the largest brain of all living creatures. In relation to the body, of course.
• To commit suicide with coffee, you need to drink 100 cups in a row.
• Hans Christian Andersen could not correctly write almost a single word.
• On Mondays, there are 25% more back injuries and 33% more heart attacks.
• Every day, an average of 33 new products appear in the world. 13 of them are toys.
• The average person spends two weeks in their lifetime waiting for a traffic light to change.
• A person becomes addicted to tea faster than to heroin.
• Toilet paper was invented in 1857.
• Every day, Americans throw 20,000 televisions, 150,000 tons of packaging materials and 43 thousand tons of food.
• Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day is equivalent to drinking a coffee cup of nicotine every year.
• The ancient Egyptians used eye shadow to ward off conjunctivitis and trachoma.
• The body of a sleeping person is half a centimeter longer than an awake one.
• Mosquitoes are attracted to the smell of people who have recently eaten bananas.
• Hockey puck can develop a speed of 160 kilometers per hour.
• The Neanderthal brain was larger than ours.
• In some public toilets Singapore has karaoke video boxes installed.
• Yaks have pink milk.
• The shortest river in the world is the Saginaw in the US state of Michigan.
• The average ATM makes a mistake of $250 a year - and not in its favor.
• Christopher Columbus was blond.
• The penguin can jump up to three meters in height.
• Multiplying 111.111.111 by 111.111.111 gives 12345678987654321.
• In 1863, Jules Verne wrote the book "Paris in the 20th century", in which he described in detail the car, the fax machine and the electric chair. The publisher returned the manuscript to him, calling him an idiot.
• Gasoline accounts for the largest turnover in the world. Second is coffee.
• AT South Korea marriages between the same family are prohibited.
• The English nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" is dedicated to King Richard III, who actually fell off the wall during the battle of 1485.
• During the year, the human ribs make 5 million movements.
• Mantis - single insect which can turn its head.
• Michael Jordan receives more money annually from Nike than all the workers in its factories in Malaysia put together.
• In the world, only 1 theft out of 7 is solved.
• The 3 smartest dog breeds are the Border Collie, Poodle and German Shepherd, the dumbest are the Afghan Hound, Bulldog and Chow Chow.
• Some types of toothpaste contain antifreeze.
• Icelanders drink the most Coca-Cola, the Scots drink the least, preferring Irn-Bru to it.
• If a person is put on soap, 7 pieces will come out of it.
• No language in the world has a word for the back of the knee.
• Only 55% of Americans know that the Sun is a star.
• When a gorilla gets angry, it sticks out its tongue.
• Most Rolls-Royces per capita are in Hong Kong.
• Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors.
• The area of ​​human alveoli is equal to a tennis court.
• Over the past 4 thousand years, man has not tamed a single new species of animal.
• The Speaker of the English House of Lords is forbidden to speak during the sittings.
• The bee has two stomachs - one for honey, the other for food.
• Every minute there are 2 earthquakes in the world.
• To fall asleep normal person takes an average of 7 minutes.
• The word "doctor" comes from the word "to lie." In Russia, healers often treated with conspiracies and spells. Mumbling, chatting all the way up early XIX centuries have been called lies.
• There are about 10 million bricks in the Empire State Building skyscraper.
• Most lipsticks contain fish scales. And every woman in her life eats an average of about 4 kilograms of this cosmetic product.
• Watching color TV is less harmful than black and white: bright colors stimulate the color-perceiving apparatus of the eye, relieving some of the load from the accommodative muscles.
• All swans in England are the property of the Queen.
• On average, a person drinks 60560 liters of liquid during his life.
• Before the eighteenth century, people did not use soap.
• The elephant is the only mammal that cannot jump.
• Humans and dolphins are the only animals that can have sex for pleasure.
• The Republic of San Marino has the smallest army in the world (12 people).
• Drinking vodka (and other strong drinks ...) is much more harmful than having a snack.
• Las Vegas is visible from space as the brightest place on Earth.
• Astronaut Neil Armstrong took his famous "small step of one man - and a huge step of all mankind" to the moon with his left foot.
• Cholera bacilli die in beer within a few hours and the disease does not develop. The discoverer of cholera pathogens, Professor Koch, recommended beer as a medicine.
• The mass of the human brain is 1/46 total mass body, the mass of the brain of an elephant is only 1/560 of the body mass.
• Every year on July 4, more than 150 million hot dogs are eaten in the United States.
• About 100 lightning strikes on Earth every second.
• The human eye is able to distinguish between 130-250 pure color tones and 5-10 million mixed shades.
• The eagle owl can turn its head 270 degrees.
• Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue produced by the human body.
• Full adaptation of the eye to the dark takes 60-80 minutes.
• On his deathbed, Salieri repented of all sins, but his confession was considered the delirium of a dying person.
• Australia has twice as many kangaroos as people.
• The surface pattern of a cat's nose is as unique as a human fingerprint.
• A man swallows an average of 21 milliliters of liquid in one gulp, and a woman 14 milliliters.
• March 8 - International Day for Women's Rights and international world.
• If someone wanted to count all the stars in the Galaxy - and began to count them at a rate of one star per second - then it would take the "astrologer" about 3000 years.
• If you scream for 8 years 7 months and 6 days, you will generate enough acoustic energy to boil a glass of water.
• An ant poisoned with chemicals always falls on its right side.
• The polar bear is left-handed.
• A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
• The word "mouse" comes from the ancient Sanskrit word "mus", meaning "thief".
• If someone annoys you and you make a face, there are 42 muscles involved.
• You only need to use 4 muscles to hit someone in the head.
• When you bang your head against a wall, you expend 150 calories per hour.
• A flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a person jumping over a football field.
• Catfish have over 27,000 taste buds.
• The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue!
• In one of the issues of the "Moscow Gubernskie Vedomosti" for 1848, one can read the following: "The tradesman Nikifor Nikitin will be exiled to the remote settlement of Baikonur for seditious speeches about flying to the moon"
• In ancient Greece, women considered their age not from the day of birth, but from the day of marriage. By this they showed that only married life had meaning for them.
• Over the past 200 years, 150 species of the animal world have become extinct. The next 600 animal species are on the verge of extinction.
• To fill a half-liter suck with honey, the bees are forced to collect nectar from almost 2,000,000 flowers.
• Boiling water extinguishes the fire faster than cold water, as it immediately takes away the heat of vaporization from the flame and surrounds the fire with a layer of steam, which makes it difficult for air to enter.
• Today, the average person weighs 5 kg more than in 1960.
• The Russian word "banya" goes back to the Latin "valneum" (bathing, bathing), which has another meaning - "the expulsion of sadness."
• Among the Indians of the Kwaktul tribe living in British Columbia, there is a funny custom: if someone borrows money, he leaves his name as a pledge. Until the debt is repaid, the person remains nameless. At this time, other Indians call him with a movement of his hand or inarticulate cries.
• In the movie Pulp Fiction, the word "fuck" is used 257 times (plus minus a couple for a gagged Marcellus).
• Tickling was forbidden by law in some ancient countries of the East, as it was considered a sinful exciting activity.
• In the Eskimo language, there are more than 20 words for the name of snow.
• There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada.
• In France, the law prohibits the sale of dolls with a non-human face, such as "aliens".
• Canada has been declared the best country to live in by the UN 4 times in the last 5 years.
• In ancient Rome, if a patient died during an operation, the doctor's hands were cut off.
• King Louis XIX ruled France for a total of 15 minutes.
• In Nebraska more cows than people.
• In the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" by S. Kubrick, the astronauts used the enraged HAL supercomputer, if in word H-A-L change each letter to the one following it alphabetically, we get I-B-M.
• Bulls do not distinguish colors, red is used for brightness, beauty and blood is less noticeable on it.
• The web is stronger than steel
• The most durable of all that nature has created is shark teeth.
• A shark has about 1,000 constantly changing teeth.
• The largest shark that ever lived could fit a full-length human in its mouth. (something hit me on the sharks)
• Cats sometimes lay out dead mice in a strict semicircle with their tails out / in, and put another one in the center.
• at dusk, red appears redder.
• Some people are able to live long ice water.
• In an unconscious state in the water, a person does not breathe.
• From lack of air, a person falls asleep.
• A person is immune to mad cow disease, which means that even Europeans, no matter how they boasted of good manners, traded in cannibalism.
• Herbivores do not spread rabies.
• Red cockroaches are not Russian (Prussians).
• Animals dream.
• Wasps kill more people than cars (old fact, could change)
• Plastic almost does not decompose.
• The spider is the only insect with eight legs.
• In a jumping spider, intelligence is comparable to that of a small rodent, due to the "scanning" look.
• Ruff has purple eyes.
• Some frogs can change sex.
• In an apartment with an open window, it is impossible to die from hydrocyanic acid.
• The first condoms appeared under Tutankhamen.
• Crabs and lobsters lack a central nervous system.
• Gogol suffered from manic-depressive psychosis.
• A martyr in the old concept is a great martyr and should not at all own death kill more innocent people.
• octopus has 10 legs
• goat and octopus have rectangular pupils.
• The bite of vampire mice leaks more blood than she drinks.
• It is anatomically inconvenient for a vampire to drink blood with fangs - they are designed to hold the victim, but they have hands for that. In order to drink blood, they need sharp incisors, not fangs (like bats)
• there is only one species of crocodile that can run on land.
• Crocodiles can't chew.
• The yew grows out of itself.

Once again, we want to invite you to combine business with pleasure and learn a lot of new and interesting things during the breaks caused by the most different reasons. Fill the time of forced waiting with reading easy and at the same time useful information for broadening one's horizons. This time, the most incredible and little-known facts from world history are offered to your attention. Thanks to its convenient design, the book can be used in almost any environment.

* * *

The following excerpt from the book Required reading. 1000 new interesting facts for the mind and entertainment (E. Mirochnik, 2014) provided by our book partner - the company LitRes.

Chapter 2

Great Losers

Beethoven's teacher considered him a completely mediocre student. The great composer, until the end of his life, never mastered such mathematical action like multiplication.

Darwin, who had abandoned medicine, was bitterly reproached by his father: “You are not interested in anything but catching dogs and rats!”

Walt Disney was fired from the paper for lack of ideas.

Edison's mentor said of him that he was stupid and could not learn anything.

Einstein did not speak until the age of four. His teacher described him as mentally retarded.

The father of Rodin, the great sculptor, said: “My son is an idiot. He failed three times in art school.”

Mozart, one of the most brilliant composers, Emperor Ferdinand said that in his "The Marriage of Figaro" "too little noise and too many notes."

Our compatriot Mendeleev had a triple in chemistry.

When we look at Ford cars, we mean that their creator, Henry Ford, has always been a wealthy, successful businessman. We see this huge empire that has been living for more than a hundred years. But few of us know that before achieving financial success, Ford declared himself bankrupt several times, went bankrupt clean - a man who changed the course of history, putting the world on wheels.

Henry Ford never had a driver's license.

When Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio and told his friends that he would transmit words over a distance through the air, they thought he was crazy and took him to a psychiatrist. But within a few months, his radio saved the lives of many sailors.

Nikolai Gogol, oddly enough, wrote rather mediocre compositions at school. Some progress he noted only in Russian literature and drawing. In addition, Nikolai Vasilyevich was an extremely shy person: for example, if a stranger appeared in the company, Gogol simply quietly left the room.

The great silent film actor Charlie Chaplin learned to read much later than he got his first role in the theater. He was terribly afraid that someone would discover his illiteracy, so he avoided situations in every possible way where he could be forced to read excerpts from the role.

The eminent politician Winston Churchill was an excellent orator. But as a child, he stuttered and lisped, and only thanks to a good speech therapist, speech defects were corrected.

In addition, Churchill literally hated the school. He was the worst student in the class and often received cuffs from teachers. When the father noticed that his son was fond of toy soldiers, he suggested that he enter the military academy. Churchill entered there ... on the third attempt.

The famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen wrote with grammatical and spelling errors until the end of his life. He had particular difficulties with punctuation marks. Therefore, a lot of money was spent on paying for the work of people who rewrote his works before they get to the publishing house.

Alexander Pushkin, as we know, was a lyceum graduate. But he got into it by pull - his uncle attached him there. And when the lists of graduates were prepared for the graduation party, Pushkin was listed second in his academic performance ... from the bottom.

The author of the law of universal gravitation, Isaac Newton, was a member of the House of Lords. We must give him his due - he attended all meetings of the chamber regularly, but for many years he did not utter a word there. And then one day he still asked to give him the opportunity to speak. Everyone literally froze, waiting for the significant speech of the great scientist. And in absolute silence, Newton said: “Gentlemen! I ask you to close the window, otherwise I may catch a cold! And that's it! This was his only performance.

The university graduation certificate of the German philosopher Georg Hegel stated: “A young man with sound judgments, but did not differ in eloquence and did not show himself in philosophy in any way.”

Little is known about the biography of Sylvester Stallone to a wide range of viewers who admire their favorite hero on the screen, and meanwhile the future action star was known at the school where he studied as a real gangster! His teachers unanimously insisted that Stallone would definitely kill someone and end his life in prison, with a life sentence, or be executed! Probably for this reason, young Sylvester changed several schools every year, of which there were 15 in the end!

Colombian singer Shakira was kicked out of her school choir at the age of 10 because her teacher didn't like her voice. Then she practically abandoned her dream of a musical career.

A woman with outstanding forms, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez at one time simply could not pass the very first selection in her life for filming in television commercials. The fact is that the experts who evaluated the contenders for the role of the girl who will advertise the jeans unanimously declared that Lopez simply would not fit into them.

The strangest deeds and habits of great people

The 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe, whose research helped Sir Isaac Newton create the theory of universal gravitation, took an untimely farewell to life because he did not go to the toilet on time. In those days, to leave the table before the end of the feast meant to inflict a grave insult on the owner of the house. Being a courteous man, Brahe did not dare to ask permission to leave the table. His bladder burst, and, after suffering for 11 days, the astronomer died.

Jean-Baptiste Lully, a 17th-century composer who wrote music for the French king, died from an excess of devotion to his work. Once, during the rehearsal of the next concert, he got so excited that, knocking his cane on the floor, he broke his own leg and died from blood poisoning.

The great illusionist Harry Houdini died after being punched in the stomach by a fan. Houdini let people hit him, demonstrating the wonders of impenetrable abs. He died in the hospital from internal injuries.

The twelfth president of the United States, Zachary Taylor, after a ceremony on a particularly hot day on July 4, 1850, ate too much ice cream, fell ill with indigestion and died five days later, having been president for only 16 months.

Jack Daniel, the father of the famous Jack Daniel's whiskey, died of blood poisoning after suffering a leg injury: he broke his finger kicking his safe, to which he forgot the combination.

Vincent van Gogh painted for days, drank absinthe in buckets, cut off his left ear and painted a self-portrait in this form, and at the age of 37 he committed suicide. After his death, by the way, more than 150 medical diagnoses were made public by doctors, which were made to the great painter during his lifetime.

Gustave Flaubert, while working, groaned along with the characters he portrayed, wept and laughed, big steps quickly walked around the office and loudly chanted words.

Honore de Balzac was afraid of getting married more than anything. For many years he was in love with Countess Evelina Hanska. Balzac resisted for another eight years, but still the countess insisted on the wedding. From fear, the writer fell ill and even wrote to his bride: they say, my health is such that you would rather accompany me to the cemetery than have time to try on my name. But the wedding took place. True, Honore was taken down the aisle in an armchair, since he himself could not walk.

The French artist Henri Matisse, before starting to paint, had an acute desire to strangle someone.

Voltaire drank up to 50 cups of coffee a day.

Ivan Krylov had an inexplicable mania: he loved to look at the fires and tried not to miss a single fire in St. Petersburg.

When the blues attacked Ivan Turgenev, he put a high cap on his head and put himself in a corner. And he stood there until the longing passed.

Anton Chekhov liked to say unusual compliments: “dog”, “actress”, “snake”, “crocodile of my soul”.

William Burroughs at one of the parties wanted to surprise the guests. The writer planned to repeat the act of the archer William Tell, who hit an apple standing on the head of his own son. Burroughs placed the glass on the head of his wife, Joan Vollmer, and fired his pistol. The wife died from a bullet in the head.

Ivan the Terrible in the mornings and evenings personally rang the bells on the main belfry of Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. Thus, they say, he tried to drown out mental suffering.

Lord Byron became extremely irritated at the sight of a salt shaker.

Charles Dickens always washed down a sip of hot water every 50 lines of writing.

Johannes Brahms "for inspiration" constantly unnecessarily cleaned shoes.

Isaac Newton once welded a pocket watch while holding an egg and looking at it.

Ludwig van Beethoven went constantly unshaven, believing that shaving hinders creative inspiration. And before sitting down to write music, the composer poured a bucket of cold water on his head: this, in his opinion, should have greatly stimulated the brain.

Alexander Pushkin was very fond of shooting in the bathhouse. They say that in the village of Mikhailovskoye, almost nothing authentic since the time of the poet has been properly preserved, but the wall at which Pushkin fired was surprisingly intact.

Fyodor Dostoevsky could not work without strong tea. When he wrote his novels at night, his desk there was always a glass of tea, and the samovar was always kept hot in the dining room.

Johann Goethe worked only in a hermetically sealed room, without the slightest access to fresh air.

Commander Alexander Suvorov was famous for his strange antics: an unusual daily routine - he went to bed at six o'clock in the evening and woke up at two in the morning, an unusual awakening - he doused himself with cold water and loudly shouted "ku-ka-re-ku!", unusual for we lay the commander in bed - with all the ranks, he slept in the hay. Preferring to walk in old boots, he could easily go out to meet high officials in a sleeping cap and underwear.

He also gave the signal to attack to his beloved “ku-ka-re-ku!”, And, they say, after he was promoted to field marshal, he began to jump over chairs and say: “And I jumped over this one, and through this - then!"

Suvorov was very fond of marrying his serfs, guided by a very peculiar principle - he lined them up in a row, selected those who were suitable for their height, and then married 20 couples at a time.

Emperor Nicholas I did not like music and, as a punishment for officers, gave them a choice between a guardhouse and listening to Glinka's operas.

Emperor Nicholas I ordered to hang portraits of his ancestors in the toilet. Hard time he is pleased to feel the support of relatives. In addition, Nikolai Pavlovich transferred his library to the closet.

Arthur Schopenhauer he was famous for his excellent appetite and ate for two; if someone made a remark to him on this score, he answered that he thought for two.

He used to pay for two seats so that no one could sit down at his table.

At dinner, he used to talk loudly with his poodle Atman, and at the same time every time he addressed him as "you" and "sir" if he behaved well, and "you" and "man" if he was a master in something upset.

Sigmund Freud hated music. He threw away his sister's piano and did not go to restaurants with an orchestra.

French writer Guy de Maupassant was one of those who annoyed the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, he dined daily at her restaurant, explaining that this was the only place in Paris where the tower was not visible.

Hunter Thompson came to the set before filming the film adaptation of his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The role of Raoul Duke was played by Johnny Depp. The writer, being intoxicated, personally cut the movie star's hair, making a huge bald patch on Depp's head.

The third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, independently designed his tombstone and wrote a text for him that did not indicate that he was President.

The sixteenth US President Abraham Lincoln always wore a tall black top hat on his head, inside which he kept letters, financial papers, bills and notes.

The Chinese statesman and politician of the 20th century, Mao Zedong, never brushed his teeth. And to the words that it was unhygienic, he answered: “Have you ever seen a tiger brush his teeth?”

English footballer David Beckham can't stand mess. The surrounding objects must be carefully selected in color, shape and size, and their number must be a multiple of two.

Funny cases from the life of famous people

Once, Albert Einstein was riding a tram in Leipzig. And in this very tram there was a conductor. The conductor approached the physicist and asked him to pay the fare. Einstein quite calmly counted out the required amount and handed it to the conductor. He counted the money and said that another 5 pfennigs were missing.

- I carefully considered! It can't be! Einstein objected.

Galileo Galilei spent his wedding night reading a book. Noticing that it was already dawn, he went to the bedroom, but immediately went out and asked the servant: “Who is lying in my bed?” “Your wife, sir,” replied the servant. Galileo completely forgot that he was married.

Once Voltaire was invited to a dinner party. When everyone was seated, it turned out that the maestro found himself between two grumpy gentlemen. Having drunk well, Voltaire's neighbors began to argue how to properly address the servants: "Bring me some water!" or "Give me water!". Voltaire unwittingly found himself right at the epicenter of this dispute. Finally, tired of this disgrace, the maestro could not stand it and said:

- Gentlemen, both of these expressions are inapplicable to you! Both of you should say: "Take me to the watering hole!"

Once Vladimir Mayakovsky had to speak in front of a whole hall of writers. This was not uncommon for him, but that performance of the proletarian poet became special. While he was reading his poems on the podium, one of the poet's ill-wishers, who were enough in those years, shouted:

I don't understand your poetry! They are kind of stupid!

“It's okay, your children will understand,” Vladimir Vladimirovich replied.

- And my children will not understand your poems! - continued the ill-wisher.

“Well, why are you talking about your children right away,” the poet replied with a grin. “Maybe their mother is smart, maybe they will follow her.

Once, speaking at a polytechnic institute at a debate about proletarian internationalism, Vladimir Mayakovsky said:

- Among Russians I feel like a Russian, among Georgians - a Georgian ...

What about fools? Suddenly, someone shouted from the hall.

“And for the first time among fools,” Mayakovsky replied instantly.

Traveling in France, Mark Twain traveled by train to the city of Dijon. The train was passing, and he asked to wake him up in time. At the same time, the writer said to the conductor:

- I sleep very soundly. When you wake me up, maybe I will scream. So ignore it and be sure to drop me off at Dijon.

When Mark Twain woke up, it was already morning and the train was approaching Paris. The writer realized that Dijon had passed and became very angry. He ran to the conductor and began to reprimand him.

“I have never been as angry as I am now!” he shouted.

"You're not as angry as the American I dropped off at Dijon last night," replied the guide.

Mark Twain, being a newspaper editor, once printed a devastating denunciation of a certain N. It contained the phrase: "Mr. N does not even deserve a spit in the face." This gentleman sued, which ordered the newspaper to publish a refutation, and Mark Twain showed himself to be a "law-abiding" citizen: in the next issue of his newspaper it was printed: "Mr. N deserves a spit in the face."

End of introductory segment.