Because metal was scarce; the Oscars given out during World War II were made of plaster.
40
In 1537, England's King Henry VII officially declared February 14th the holiday of St. Valentine's Day.
52
In the 1830s, a Greek prime minister tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren't interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People then started stealing these potatoes so much that the crop spread to all of Greece.
29
In 1518, a "dancing plague" struck Strasbourg, Alsace, whereby hundreds of people danced fervently in the streets over the period of a month. Some suffered heart attacks or strokes, and many others died from sheer exhaustion. It remains unexplained.
19
The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.
149
Leonardo Da Vinci made a robotic lion in 1515 that would walk, sway, open its mouth and move its tail - it even had a compartment that opened to present flowers.
22
There are pictures of Knights fighting Snails in old Medieval manuscripts - and nobody knows why.
23
The oldest stone tools found are dated from 2.7 - 2.9 million years ago. The species that made these tools is unknown.
13