France’s King Louis XIV was offered biological weapons by an Italian chemist. He not only refused, but also paid the chemist an annual salary to never reveal the technology to anyone else.
21
Pineapples were such a status symbol in 18th century England that you could rent one for the evening to take to a party.
25
A baboon called Jackie became a private in the South African army in World War I.
65
A WW2 observation pilot, bored of not being in combat, decided to strap 6 bazookas to his plane. He destroyed several enemy tanks and vehicles. His name was Lt. Col. Charles Carpenter, aka Bazooka Charlie / The Mad Major.
40
In the 1930's, American track star Jesse Owens used to race against horses and dogs to earn a living.
50
There is a 600 year old 240 paged book called the Voynich Manuscript, that’s written language is still completely unknown today.
15
