Pineapples were such a status symbol in 18th century England that you could rent one for the evening to take to a party.
25
When the Egyptians destroyed Libya in the 13th century B.C. they took 13,230 penises of the conquered enemies as trophies.
220
Napoleon constructed his battle plans in a sandbox.
573
During World War 1, starving wolves amassed in such great numbers that Germans and Russians had a temporary cease fire to fight off the wolf attacks.
45
Contrary to popular belief, the first ironclad warships were built by Korea in the 16th century.
14
The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
79
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
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