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Gibraltar forgot it was a city for 180 years.  

  • Pinpointing location of Gibraltar
Pinpointing location of Gibraltar
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Author Michael Nordine

October 10, 2024

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As both a city and a British overseas territory, Gibraltar has held a unique status since Queen Victoria granted it cityhood in 1842. It seems no one wrote that down in 1842, however, because the territory bid to become a city in advance of the queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022 — leading some to remark that Gibraltar itself simply forgot it was a city. After the bid, researchers realized that Gibraltar had already held that vaunted status for 180 years, but due to a technicality with the paperwork, its cityhood was overlooked by future officials and largely forgotten. 

Only four other locations outside the United Kingdom have received similar recognition as British cities: Hamilton, Bermuda; Jamestown, St. Helena; Douglas, Isle of Man; and Stanley, Falkland Islands. It’s up to the monarch to make the final decision on such matters, though they do so on the advice of ministers who consider such factors as population and whether a would-be city has a cathedral or university. In the case of Gibraltar, one can only assume that having a very large rock proved advantageous as well. 

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There are wild monkeys in Gibraltar.

If you want to see wild monkeys in Europe, look no further than Gibraltar. Barbary macaques roam the city — including the Rock, where there are thought to be some 230 of them — and are among its most popular attractions. They’re the only wild monkeys on the European continent; they’re also endangered. Direct interaction with the macaques is thus strongly discouraged, not that tourists — or the monkeys themselves — always listen. 

Napoleon was actually average height.

  • Napoleon at St. Helena
Napoleon at St. Helena
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Author Michael Nordine

September 29, 2023

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Despite having an unfortunate complex named after him, Napoleon Bonaparte was of average height for his time. Some of the confusion about his stature stems from the nickname “le petit caporal,” which makes him sound “little” but was actually a term of endearment among his troops. There’s also the fact that inches were measured differently in 19th-century France than they are today. Back then, an inch was equivalent to 2.71 centimeters, whereas the current measurement is 2.54 centimeters. That explains why Napoleon was reported as being 5 feet, 2 inches tall when he died. Most estimates put him closer to 5 feet, 6 inches or 5 feet, 7 inches by today’s measurements — not exactly a towering figure, but average or slightly above average by 18th-century standards.

Little else about Napoleon’s life was average. A descendant of Italian nobility born on the island of Corsica, where his first language was not French but the local dialect, he came to be feared and respected in equal measure as the world’s foremost military strategist, and ascended to emperor of the French by the time he was 34 years old. He has been described as “the most competent human being who ever lived,” and his legacy remains complex to this day — especially in France, where his height is mentioned less often than his massive influence on reshaping the country.

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No one’s sure how Napoleon died.

Though it’s synonymous with his downfall, Napoleon didn’t die during the Battle of Waterloo. After abdicating the throne in the wake of his defeat and surrendering to the British on July 15, 1815, Napoleon spent six years in exile on the island of Saint Helena before dying on May 5, 1821. More than two centuries later, the circumstances of his passing are still debated. He was treated harshly by the British, and wrote, “I die before my time, murdered by the English oligarchy and its assassin,” just three weeks before his death. This has led some to believe he was poisoned, a suspicion bolstered by the fact that locks of his hair tested positive for arsenic in 1961, though researchers have chalked that up to the then-common practice of using arsenic for preservation or traces of hair powder containing arsenic. The physicians who performed his autopsy in 1821 concluded that Napoleon had died, much less suspiciously, of stomach cancer exacerbated by bleeding ulcers. This stands to reason, as he was treated with a heavy dose of calomel — a compound thought to be medicinal at the time that actually contained mercury — the day before he died.

Spectators brought picnics to watch a Civil War battle.

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Spectators watching war
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Author Kevin McCaffrey

September 29, 2023

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The Battle of Bull Run was the first major land battle of the Civil War, and it drew a group of spectators to watch the action on July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia. Onlookers gathered with something of a sporting atmosphere, as many Northerners expected the war to end in a swift Union victory. Describing the scene for The Times of London, Irish war reporter William Howard Russell wrote, “A lady with opera glasses shouted loudly at each discharge of cannon: ‘That is splendid. Oh my! Is not that first rate?’” Union Captain John Tidball later wrote that people came “in carts loaded with pies and other edibles.” In fact, so many people brought food and drink to the hill overlooking Bull Run Creek that the conflict became known as “the picnic battle.” The crowd even included some prominent politicians: Senators Benjamin Wade from Ohio, Zachariah Chandler from Michigan, James Grimes from Iowa, and future Vice President Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, who brought and distributed sandwiches. 

The battle ended with what was a surprising outcome for the spectators, as the Confederate forces managed to drive the Union Army back, sending soldiers retreating through the crowd. Senators Chandler and Wade attempted to stop the retreat — Chandler by blocking the road, and Wade by picking up a rifle and threatening deserters — but they were ultimately unsuccessful. Many Union soldiers had only signed up for a 90-day war (as that was all the President could mandate by law), and the Confederate victory at Bull Run was a chilling sign that the fight was likely to stretch on longer than anyone had anticipated. 

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Tailgating can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome.

In the U.S., football season is synonymous with tailgating season, but tailgate-style parties reflect a cultural tradition that dates back long before either football or literal tailgates existed. Green Bay Packers fans claim to have originated the term itself in 1919, but the concept of tailgating can be traced back to the Greek symposium and Roman convivium, both of which were ritualized public gatherings where people ate, drank, and celebrated together. These parties were often centered around the harvest, which happens to coincide with modern-day football season. In a research study on the subject, University of Notre Dame anthropologist John Sherry called tailgating a “vestaval,” relating it to Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth. “As in ancient times, people celebrate the massive abundance of the season while they can,” he wrote. “It’s one last blowout before we hunker down for winter.” 

Roman Emperor Nero had a rotating dining room.

  • Emperor Nero’s Golden Palace
Emperor Nero's Golden Palace
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Author Sarah Anne Lloyd

October 10, 2024

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Revolving restaurants reached their peak in the “space age” of the mid-20th century, when futuristic aesthetics were all the rage. But at least one rotating dining room emerged 1,900 years before those atop the Space Needle and the CN Tower. Roman Emperor Nero, who reigned from 54 to 68 CE, was known for his lavish lifestyle and general debauchery, and among his excesses was a spinning banquet hall in Domus Aurea, his palace on Palatine Hill. The ancient historian Suetonius reported that the “coenatio rotunda” (round dining hall) “revolved perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies.” He also noted that the ceilings in Nero’s dining rooms were lined with ivory and had special pipes that could shower perfume and flowers on his guests. 

In 2009, archaeologists found corroborating evidence for Suetonius’ account — at least the rotating part. A team uncovered a dining room more than 50 feet across resting on a pillar more than 13 feet in diameter, surrounded by arched braces that connected it to an exterior wall. Researchers believe the rotating mechanism was powered by water from a nearby aqueduct, which activated a series of gears. The restaurant floor itself likely rotated on spherical rollers similar to ball bearings.

Nero died in 68 CE, the same year his palace was completed, so the engineering marvel didn’t get much use. After his death, the building was stripped of anything valuable, filled in, and used as a foundation for other buildings. It was found in an embankment overlooking Rome, so the rotating dining room had probably served the same purpose as modern ones: offering gorgeous 360-degree views.

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Nero once competed in the Olympic Games.

The ancient Olympic Games were typically limited to Greeks, but that didn’t stop Emperor Nero. He showed up with a large entourage, weaseled his way into the competition (he may have bribed officials), and entered the four-horse chariot race — with 10 horses. According to one story, the emperor was thrown from his overpowered chariot and never even finished the race. Regardless, he was declared the winner.

Bea Arthur was a Marine.

  • Bea Arthur on screen
Bea Arthur on screen
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Author Bennett Kleinman

September 29, 2023

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Long before she portrayed such iconic TV characters as the outspoken feminist Maude Findlay on Maude and the sarcastic-yet-compassionate Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls, Bea Arthur acted in a very different role, as a member of the U.S. Marines. On February 18, 1943, a 20-year-old Arthur — then named Bernice Frankel — enlisted in the Marine Corps to support the American war effort in World War II. Her decision came just five days after the organization began recruiting women as part of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. Arthur was called to active duty on March 18, 1943, and reported to U.S. Naval Training School in the Bronx, New York. 

After being promoted to private first class on May 1, 1943, Arthur asked for a transfer to Motor Transport School in North Carolina, after which she worked in noncombat roles as a driver and dispatcher. In 1944, she married fellow Marine Robert Alan Aurthur. When they divorced three years later, she kept his surname, but changed the spelling to “Arthur.” In January 1945, Arthur was promoted to staff sergeant, the final position she held prior to being formally discharged on September 26, 1945. For reasons unknown, Arthur later denied her involvement with the Marines, though paperwork confirms she played a pivotal role alongside 20,000 female Marine reservists of the time. 

Arthur began studying drama in 1947, and got her breakthrough acting role in a 1964 Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. She later starred in the sitcom Maude from 1972 to 1978, and appeared as Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992. Interestingly, a few of her Golden Girls co-stars also had military ties: Betty White helped out in the American Women’s Voluntary Services in 1941, and Rue McClanahan was mistakenly drafted into military service after high school.

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Jimmy Stewart saw combat during World War II.

During World War II, Jimmy Stewart put his life as a leading man in Hollywood on hold to join the U.S. Army, becoming the first major actor to do so. On February 27, 1941, Stewart received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Philadelphia Story. Just a few weeks later, on March 22, Stewart formally enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces, and was welcomed into basic flight training as he had logged over 400 flight hours as a civilian pilot. Stewart was deployed to England in 1943 and began flying combat missions, including a particularly harrowing experience in the winter of 1944. While flying above the German countryside, an anti-aircraft shell struck Stewart’s plane, forcing him to make an emergency landing, after which the plane cracked in half. In total, he participated in 20 combat missions before returning to Hollywood after the war with the release of It’s a Wonderful Life in 1946. Stewart remained in the United States Air Force Reserve until formally retiring on May 31, 1968.

People have been painting their nails for 5,000 years.

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Woman's nails painted
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Author Sarah Anne Lloyd

October 10, 2024

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The modern manicure came along in the 19th century, but nail painting goes back so far, it’s hard to pinpoint its exact origin. In China, people were painting their nails with a small brush around 3000 BCE at least, and ancient peoples in North Africa and India dyed their nails with henna. In ancient Babylon, kohl — a dark-colored ink made from minerals that’s still used for cosmetic purposes today — was the nail coloring of choice for men. 

We don’t have a wealth of information about the earliest Chinese manicures, but during the Zhou dynasty (1046 to 256 BCE), they mastered artificial nails. Metal nails were designed to be worn on fingertips, and like today’s acrylics, they could be enameled and decorated with jewels; sometimes they featured elaborate metalwork. One of the earliest formulas for nail polish also comes out of China: During the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644 CE), people used a mixture of egg whites, gelatin, beeswax, vegetable dyes, and gum arabic to paint their nails. 

There’s a long history of nail art in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America, but in the United States and Europe, early nail aesthetics mostly focused on keeping them clean and trimmed in a pleasing shape. Added color didn’t show up until the late 19th century, and started with subtle rosy tints — although people who wanted to go further would pierce their nails and wear jewelry on them. 

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Modern nail polish comes from auto body paint.

Nitrocellulose is a precursor to plastic that’s highly flammable, but dries quickly into a sturdy film. In the early 20th century, it gained popularity as an industrial lacquer, mainly used as auto body paint. Soon after, clever women seeking a strong, chip-free shine started requesting paint samples from auto body shops. It didn’t take long for cosmetic companies to catch up, and in 1924 Cutex and Glazo released lacquer specially formulated for nails. Nitrocellulose is still used in nail polish today.

Tomato pills were once sold as medicine.

  • Heinz ketchup bottle
Heinz ketchup bottle
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Author Bennett Kleinman

September 28, 2023

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Long before tomatoes were eaten in salads and sliced on sandwiches, they were advertised as medicine. In the early 1800s, many Americans found tomatoes unappetizing, and some even believed they were poisonous. That perception began to change in 1834, after Ohio physician John Cook Bennett advertised tomatoes as a medical panacea. Bennett propagated the idea that tomatoes could cure indigestion, jaundice, and other ailments, even though his claims proved untrue. He also debuted tomatoes in a new pill form, solidifying the fruit’s dubious reputation as a medicinal tonic. The tomato health fad faded in the 1850s, but the versatile fruit saw a resurgence as a culinary treat soon after, thanks in part to the introduction of a new tomato-based condiment: ketchup. 

The first recipe for tomato-based ketchup was published by Philadelphia scientist James Mease in 1812, but the condiment didn’t really take off until the F. & J. Heinz Company released its ketchup in 1876. While previous ketchups decomposed too quickly, Heinz used vinegar in the preservation process, which made the condiment more shelf stable. Heinz ketchup was sold in the now-iconic clear glass bottles, chosen to showcase the product’s purity. Starting in 1896, Heinz (by then rebranded as the H.J. Heinz Company) began featuring the number “57” on its packaging, though it had nothing to do with the number of varieties sold. Founder Henry John Heinz chose “57” for the branding because it combined his lucky number, five, with his wife’s favorite number, seven.

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The Supreme Court declared tomatoes are vegetables.

In a botanical sense, tomatoes are classified as fruits, because they contain seeds and grow from a flowering plant. But legally, the U.S. Supreme Court established a different truth. The decision stemmed from the Tariff Act of 1883, which required taxes on imported vegetables, whereas imported fruits remained tax-free. That law was tested during the 1893 case Nix v. Hedden, in which the Nix family — who sold produce in New York City — sued Edward Hedden, the tax collector at the Port of New York. The Nixes claimed they were being unfairly taxed on tomato fruits, and sought to recover fees they had incurred. However, the Supreme Court sided with Hedden by a unanimous 9-0 vote, ruling that the Tariff Act extended to tomatoes. Justice Horace Gray wrote that while tomatoes are “fruit of a vine,” they’re treated as vegetables in “the common language of the people.”

Before gas stations, drivers used to buy gas in a can from the pharmacy. 

  • Electric-powered car, 1890s
Electric-powered car, 1890s
Electric-powered car, 1890s
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd

October 3, 2024

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When the automobile was first taking off, gas pumps as we know them today didn’t exist. In fact, the very first motor vehicles were powered not by gasoline, but rather by steam, electricity, or in some cases, kerosene. In the early days of oil drilling in the mid-1800s, when the first gas-powered cars were still decades away, oil companies were after kerosene for lamp fuel. Gasoline was just a byproduct of creating kerosene, and was often burned or discarded. The predecessor to the gas pump wasn’t designed for cars; the first one was installed in a grocery store in 1885 to measure and dispense kerosene for lamps.

In the 1890s, car inventors realized gasoline made great motor fuel, and what was once disposable suddenly became valuable. In the early days of gas-powered vehicles, there weren’t any gas stations to dispense the fuel, so customers bought gasoline the same way they bought kerosene: in a can at the pharmacy, blacksmith shop, or grocery store. Although its inventor, Sylvanus Freelove Bowser, didn’t anticipate it at the time, the pump originally designed for kerosene ended up being extraordinarily useful for filling cars with gasoline. In 1905, Bowser added a long hose to one of his pumps so motorists could fill up curbside. While there’s some disagreement on what the very first gas station was, the first drive-up service station is usually cited as the Gulf Refining Company pump that opened in downtown Pittsburgh in 1913.

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The first hybrid car debuted in 1900.

Hybrid cars didn’t become a practical choice for consumers until the Toyota Prius became available in the late 1990s, but the Prius wasn’t the first car to run on both gasoline and electricity. As early as 1900, both electric and gas vehicles were common, and auto engineer Ferdinand Porsche — who went on to found the eponymous sports car manufacturer — developed a novel system to use both. He used electric motors that could be refueled by a gas-powered generator, giving the car a much wider driving range than other electric vehicles at the time. A later version of the car was on the market for more than a decade, but the vehicles were prohibitively expensive and unpleasant to ride in, so they never took off.

Cucumbers used to be called “cowcumbers.”

  • Pickled cucumbers
Pickled cucumbers
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Author Sarah Anne Lloyd

September 22, 2023

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In Old English, cucumbers were called “eorthappel,” or “earth apples.” The word “cucumber” came from the Latin “cucumerem,” and arrived in the English language either via Old French (“cocombre”) or through a 14th-century translation of the Bible that may have pulled directly from the Latin root. Over the next few centuries, however, the name evolved to a somewhat less-elegant pronunciation: “cowcumbers.” Given that the term sounds like a bovine pun, one theory for this pronunciation is that cucumbers were not well liked and were thus regarded as only fit for livestock.

By the end of the 18th century, “cowcumber” had become a standard pronunciation, and even spread to the U.S., although some academics yearned for a return to the original form of the word. In the 19th century, the tide started to change, as more educated Brits began calling the plant a “cucumber.” Eventually, how you said the word became a class marker. Charles Dickens even used the difference as a literary device to indicate lower-class characters, and an 1890 slang dictionary listed “cowcumber” as a “vulgar… corruption of ‘cucumber.’” American author Louisa May Alcott also joked about “cowcumbers” in an 1870 letter to her sister Anna. Even after the English-speaking world came back around to the word “cucumber,” regions of the U.S. clung to the butchered pronunciation until the 1930s, and some stragglers even kept the term alive until the late 1960s. The word “cowcumber” is still in use today as a name for a specific kind of magnolia tree — not to be confused with the cucumber tree, a different kind of magnolia.

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“Cool as a cucumber” comes from an 18th-century poem.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “cool as a cucumber,” meaning “calm and composed,” but you might not know that the produce-inspired idiom is around 300 years old. Writer John Gay, best known as the author of The Beggar’s Opera, first used the phrase in his poem “A New Song of New Similes”: “Pert as a pear-monger I’d be / If Molly were but kind / Cool as a cucumber could see / The rest of womankind.” (By this point, “cool” had already taken on the meaning of “composed,” in addition to referring to temperature.) It’s a shame that “pert as a pear-monger” didn’t catch on quite as well. For the record: The inside of a cucumber is around 20 degrees cooler than the air around it.

It took 117 years for “The Star-Spangled Banner” to become the national anthem.

  • U.S. national anthem score
U.S. national anthem score
Credit: Ministries Coordinator/ Unsplash
Author Timothy Ott

October 3, 2024

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Many history buffs can explain how “The Star-Spangled Banner” was penned by Francis Scott Key after he witnessed the failed British bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry in 1814, and some may also know that the song became the U.S. national anthem in 1931. Lesser known are the details of the 117-year journey that shepherded its transformation from inspired poem to officially sanctioned emblem of American patriotism.

Originally printed under the title “Defence of Fort M’Henry” and set to the then-popular melody of “The Anacreontic Song,” “The Star-Spangled Banner,” as it later became known, quickly struck a chord among the citizens of an expanding nation. Rewritten versions of the tune were created to publicize such causes as abolition, temperance, and women’s suffrage. Although it was disowned by the short-lived Confederacy, which adopted anthems such as “Farewell to the Star Spangled Banner,” Key’s song reemerged as a symbol of the enduring union in the aftermath of the Civil War. The U.S. Navy provided its imprimatur in 1889 by making “The Star-Spangled Banner” an official part of flag-raising ceremonies, and in 1904, the Army established the custom of having servicemen “stand at attention and uncover” as the song played.

Shortly after President Woodrow Wilson ordered “The Star-Spangled Banner” to be performed at all military occasions in 1916, Representative John Linthicum of Maryland began a push to establish the song as the country’s national anthem. A vocal minority opposed this designation, on grounds ranging from the ditty’s violent imagery and its roots as an alleged drinking song to its vocal complexities. However, Linthicum eventually submitted a petition of more than 5 million signatures and letters from 25 governors to support his bill. After Congress voted in favor of the legislation, President Herbert Hoover delivered his signature on March 3, 1931, formally recognizing the song that had long served as the all-but-official anthem of the United States.

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Francis Scott Key wrote another poem set to the melody of "The Anacreontic Song."

The music for "The Anacreontic Song," which provided the backing for "The Star-Spangled Banner," was written by composer John Stafford Smith for England's Anacreontic Society gentleman's club in the mid-1770s. Despite being composed as a showcase for the club's trained singers, the melody became familiar to American ears of the late 18th century after it was repackaged for songs such as "Adams and Liberty," John Adams' reelection campaign song of 1800. Clearly, Key was a big fan of this musical arrangement: Well before he dashed off "The Star-Spangled Banner," he set his 1805 poem "When the Warrior Returns" to the same tune, with phrases such as "star-spangled flag" and "brows of the brave" foreshadowing his more famous work to come.

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