Biographies Characteristics Analysis

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

Famous people seem almost perfect to everyone else, it seems that they immediately became famous, or that they cannot get into funny and ridiculous situations. But, in fact, they are the same people as everyone else. Not everyone immediately understood what exactly they were talented in, and recognition did not immediately come to some. Reading interesting stories from, you begin to treat them not only as special individuals, but also as people who can make mistakes, get into ridiculous situations and achieve their goals.

Jules Verne

This is not just a writer of adventure novels, but also one of those authors who could foresee some things. Jules Verne also belonged to this category, and his works were favorite books not only for children, but also for adults. They contained not only inventions that were fantastic for that time, but also colorful descriptions of nature and the depths of the sea. And the life of Jules Verne was as bright and a little mysterious as his novels.

  1. Back in 1839, the boy, who was only 11 years old, went to the port of Nantes, where the schooner Coralie was located. It was on her that this boy went as a cabin boy. This ship was supposed to go to the fabulous and mysterious India, where he so dreamed of getting. But he was noticed in time and landed on the shore. Many years later, as an adult, he told others that his vocation was in the maritime business. And he regretted that he could not become a sailor then. This boy was Jules Verne.
  2. People often said that his novels described technologies that would be invented in the future. One of these stories is connected with the legend of the writer's family. Allegedly in 1863, the writer completed work on the novel "Paris in the 20th century." He returned from the publishing house puzzled: the publisher refused to print the manuscript because it was too fantastic! And unexpectedly, in 1989, Vern's great-grandson discovered the very novel and the inventions that were described in the book actually existed.
  3. Jules Verne is one of those writers who popularized science in society, thanks to his writing talent. Therefore, for many designers and engineers of spacecraft, as well as cosmonauts and astronauts, his books have become desktop. His talent and faith in science was rewarded: a large crater on the far side of the Moon was named after him.

The famous Russian writer, whose talent was most clearly revealed in drama, managed to completely change the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat a play should be. In his works, Anton Pavlovich knew how to very accurately select expressions that would describe all the weaknesses of human nature. At the same time, the writer himself was philanthropic and throughout his life urged everyone to "take care of the person in themselves." Chekhov did not like to write about himself, but the writer's notebooks, his letters, the memoirs of people who had a chance to communicate with him, allow you to get acquainted with interesting facts from the life of Anton Pavlovich.

1. There was always a place for medicine in Chekhov's life. After all, initially he saw his calling to be a doctor, and writing stories, plays and playful notes for him was just a way to earn extra money. Among the teachers at the medical faculty, where the writer studied, was the famous Nikolai Sklifosovsky. Later, Anton Pavlovich began to work as a doctor.

After some time, there was a change of priorities, and in January 1886 a sign was removed from his door, which said that the doctor was taking there. The point was not only that Anton Pavlovich began to seriously engage in writing, but in his practice there was a difficult case: two of his patients died of typhus. During his famous trip to Sakhalin, Chekhov wrote that he was already ready to leave medicine.

But, in fact, he always continued to be a doctor. Anton Pavlovich attended various medical congresses to keep abreast of the latest news in this area. In his estate in Melikhovo, he continued to provide medical assistance to all those in need, treated the sick in Yalta. Even being already seriously ill, Anton Pavlovich was ready to go to the Far East not as a writer, but as a doctor.

2. It was Chekhov who "gave" Sakhalin to Russia. In 1890, the playwright made the most difficult expedition to Sakhalin, which was a place of exile for prisoners and convicts. One newspaper wrote about this trip as a significant event. Anton Pavlovich approached the journey responsibly: he studied the history of the Russian prison, all kinds of records about the island, the works of historians, geographers and ethnographers about Sakhalin.

When Chekhov went to Sakhalin, then this place was not fully studied, uninteresting to anyone, there was not even accurate data on the population. The trip lasted three months, during which the writer made a population census, studied the life of convicts. It was thanks to Anton Pavlovich that Russian and foreign researchers became interested in the island.

3. Chekhov did charity work, which was not limited to one medical care. He raised funds for the needy, built schools, opened public libraries, in which he gave away his many books, which were of museum value. Well, of course, he helped all the sick and even arranged for those who had little money to go to the sanatorium. All his life he followed his testament: "Take care of the person in you!".

An outstanding scientist who laid the foundations of chemistry, the creator of the periodic table, a professor - the life of such a talented person as Dmitri Mendeleev was just as interesting. There was a place in it for very entertaining facts that open the scientist from the other side.

1. The most important well-known fact of the scientist's biography is the famous dream in which he had a periodic table of chemical elements. No matter how she gave a certain aura of mystery to the personality of Mendeleev, but this is not so. Dmitry Ivanovich created this table through much research and thought.

The periodic law was discovered in 1869. On February 17, the scientist made a sketch of a table on the back of a letter, in which it was written about a request to come and help the production. Later, on separate cards, Mendeleev wrote the names of all the chemical elements known at that time, as well as the atomic weight, and arranged them in order. Therefore, the trip was postponed, and Dmitry Ivanovich himself plunged into work, as a result of which the periodic table of chemical elements was obtained. And in 1870, the scientist was able to calculate the atomic mass of those elements that have not yet been studied, which is why there were "empty" places in his table, later filled with new elements.

2. Despite his numerous scientific works and important discoveries, Dmitry Ivanovich never received the Nobel Prize. Although he was repeatedly nominated for it, each time it was awarded to a different doctor. In 1905, Mendeleev was among the candidates, but a German chemist became the laureate. In 1906, it was decided to award the prize to Dmitry Ivanovich, but then the Royal Swedish Academy changed its mind and presented the award to the French scientist.

In 1907, a proposal was made to share the prize between the Italian scientist and Mendeleev. But on February 2, 1907, the 72-year-old outstanding scientist passed away. A possible reason why Dmitry Ivanovich did not become a laureate is the conflict between him and the Nobel brothers. It occurred on the basis of disagreements over the imposition of an oil tax, thanks to which the brothers were able to get rich and control some of the Russian shares.

The Swedes started a rumor about the depletion of the oil field. A special commission was created, among whose members was Mendeleev. He was opposed to the introduction of a tax, and refuted the rumor started by the Nobel brothers, which became the cause of the conflict between the Nobels and the scientist.

3. Despite the fact that for most Mendeleev's name is associated with chemistry, in fact, the works devoted to chemistry accounted for only 10% of the total number of scientific research. Dmitry Ivanovich was also interested in shipbuilding and participated in the development of navigation in the Arctic waters. And he devoted about 40 works to this area.

Mendeleev took an active part in the construction of the first Arctic icebreaker "Ermak", which was launched on October 29, 1898. For his active participation in the study of the development of the Arctic, a ridge was named after him, which is under water in the Northern Ledovite, discovered in 1949 .

The facts written above are only a small part of the cases that happened to these prominent people. But these stories show that famous personalities did not always immediately determine their vocation, they tried to set an example for other people and follow their principles. Therefore, interesting stories from the lives of great people can inspire humanity to do something important for the development of science or to contribute to the arts or simply to help other people.

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1. Napoleon was 26 years old when he captured Italy.
2. The University of Baghdad awarded Uday, the eldest son of Saddam Hussein, a doctorate in political science. Although he did not even have a secondary education. His dissertation was titled "The Decline of American Power by 2016".
3. In 1938, Time magazine named Hitler "Person of the Year."

4. During his service in the KGB, Vladimir Putin had the nickname "Moth".
5. Hitler was a vegetarian.
6. The Egyptian queen Cleopatra tested the effectiveness of her poisons by forcing her slaves to take them.
7. Cleopatra married her own brother - Ptolemy.
8. Cleopatra was not an Egyptian. She had Macedonian, Iranian and Greek roots.

9. Lafayette became a general in the US Army at 19. His full name is: Mary Joseph Paul Yves Rocher Gilbert de Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
10. The Minister of Culture of the RSFSR in the 50s, Alexei Popov, was a well-known swindler.
11. The Mongol conqueror Timur (1336-1405) played something like polo with the skulls of the people he killed. He created a pyramid of their severed heads 9 meters high.
12. At the time of Lenin's death, his brain was only a quarter of its normal size.

13. Napoleon was not born in France, but on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. His parents were Italian and they had eight children.
14. The national flag of Italy was designed by Napoleon.
15. One of Napoleon's drinking bowls was made from the skull of the famous Italian adventurer Cagliostro.
16. The founder of the theory of communism Karl Marx has never been to Russia.
17. The first American Chief Justice, John Jay, bought slaves to free them.

18. The first person in history to be hit by a train was British MP William Huskinson.
19. The ancestors of Winston Churchill on the maternal side were ... Indians.
20. US President Andrew Jackson believed the Earth was flat.
21. During the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a tax on men's beards. However, Peter the Great did not favor bearded men either.

22. Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar ordered the execution of her subjects if they appeared to her in dreams without her permission.
23. Queen Victoria was given a piece of cheese 3 meters in diameter and weighing 500 kilograms at her wedding.
24. King Henry VIII of England executed two of his six wives.
25. President of Uganda and one of the most ruthless dictators in the world, Idi Amin, served in the British Army before coming to power.
26. British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston died in 1865 on a pool table where he was making love to his servants.

27. At the court of the King of Spain, Alfonso, there was a special position - a hymnal. The fact is that the king had no musical ear at all, and he himself could not distinguish the anthem from other music. The hymnal had to warn the king when the national anthem was played.
28. The Roman emperor Nero married a man - one of his slaves named Skorus.
29. The Roman emperor Nero forced his teacher philosopher Seneca to commit suicide.

30. The height of Peter the Great was approximately 213 cm. Despite the fact that in those days the average height of men was significantly lower than today.
31. Sir Winston Churchill smoked no more than 15 cigars a day.
32. Tom Cruise at the age of 14 went to study at the seminary to become a priest, but left it after a year.
33. The French king Louis XIV had 413 beds.
34. The Israeli king Solomon had about 700 wives and several thousand mistresses.

35. King Louis XIV of France, known as the "Sun King", had over 400 beds.
36. Napoleon had ailurophobia - fear of cats.
37. Winston Churchill was born in the women's room of the Blenheim family castle. During the ball, his mother felt unwell and soon gave birth.
38. Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr and his brother, renowned mathematician Harald Bohr, were football players. At the same time, Harald was a member of the Danish national team and even took second place at the 1905 Olympics.
39. The phrase "The king is dead, long live the king" was uttered by Catherine de Medici when she learned about the death of her son Charles IX.

40. The Swedish King Charles VII, who was killed in 1167, was the first king of the state with the name Charles! Charles I, II, III, IV, V and VI never existed, and it is not clear where the prefix "seventh" came from. A couple of centuries later, King Charles VIII (1448-1457) appeared in Sweden.
41. Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, was an ophthalmologist by profession.
42. Attila the Barbarian died in 453 on his wedding night immediately after the wedding.
43. Beethoven always brewed coffee from 64 grains.
44. The British Queen Victoria (1819-1901), who ruled Britain for 64 years, spoke English with an accent. She had German roots.

45. In 1357, a dead woman was crowned Queen of Portugal. She became Princess Ines de Castro, the second wife of Pedro I. 2 years before, her father-in-law, Alfonso "Proud", who hated her for being a commoner, secretly ordered his people to kill her and her children. When Pedro became king, he ordered the removal of Inés' body from the grave and forced the nobility to recognize her as Queen of Portugal.
46. ​​In 1849, Senator David Atchison became President of the United States for only 1 day, and most of that day he ... overslept.
47. The Grand Vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassim Ismail (who lived in the 10th century) never parted with his library. If he went somewhere, the library "followed" him. 117 thousand book volumes were transported by 400 camels. Moreover, the books (together with the camels) were arranged in alphabetical order.
48. The great Genghis Khan died while having sex.
49. Hannibal died in 183 BC. e. taking poison when he learned that the Romans had come to kill him.

50. Hans-Christian Andersen could not write almost a single word without errors.
51. Henry IV often flogged his son, the future Louis XIII.
52. The Danish king Frederick IV was a bigamist. He married twice while his wife Queen Louise was alive. His first lover died in childbirth, his second lover was only queen for 19 days after the death of Queen Louise. All the children from both of his mistresses either died at birth or in infancy, as he believed for his sinful life. He later became extremely religious.
53. Jack the Ripper, the most famous killer of the 19th century, always committed his crimes on weekends.

54. Dr. Alice Chase, who wrote the book "Healthy Eating" and many books on proper nutrition, died of malnutrition.
55. Once the merchant Krasnobryukhov turned to Alexander I with a request to change his surname, and he allowed him to be called ... Sinebryukhov. After that, the merchant went to Finland with grief and founded the famous Koff brewing company there.
56. When the Russian Queen Elizabeth I died in 1762, more than 15,000 dresses were found in her wardrobe.
57. Mozart started composing music at the age of 3.
58. There is not a single living descendant of William Shakespeare left on Earth.
59. Before composing music, Beethoven poured a bucket of cold water on his head, believing that it stimulated the brain.

60. Thomas Edison wrote 40,000 pages while designing the light bulb.
61. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Felix Mendelssohn wrote at the age of 17. It became his most famous work.
62. Beria suffered from syphilis.
63. More than 100 descendants of Johann Sebastian Bach became organists.
64. In the ZZ Top group, only one member does not have a beard. And his name is Beard, which in English means ... "beard".

65. Since 1932, only Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush have not been elected to the United States for a second term as president.
66. Ilf and Petrov discarded ideas that came to both minds at once - in order to avoid clichés.
67. When Beethoven wrote the famous Ninth Symphony, he was completely deaf.
68. Composer Franz Liszt was the father-in-law of the German composer Richard Wagner.
69. Paul McCartney's mother was a midwife.

70. Writer Rudyard Kipling couldn't write in ink unless it was black.
71. Writer Charles Dickens wrote with his face to the north. He also always slept with his head to the north.
72. The Roman emperor Commodus gathered dwarfs, cripples and freaks from all over the Roman Empire to arrange fights between them in the Colosseum.
73. The Roman emperor Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath on his head to hide his growing baldness.
74. Russian composer Alexander Borodin was also a well-known chemist in St. Petersburg.

75. The smallest of the American presidents is James Madison (1.62 m), and Abraham Lincoln is the tallest (1.93 m).
76. The shortest British monarch is Charles I. His height was 4 feet 9 inches (about 140 cm). After his head was cut off, his height became even smaller.
77. The body of Voltaire, who died in 1778, was stolen from the grave and was never found. The loss was discovered in 1864.
78. Balzac has a whole book dedicated to ... a tie.
79. The British Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) had about 3,000 outfits.

80. American Pete Ruff knocks an apple off his own head with a boomerang.
81. American industrial tycoon and billionaire John Rockefeller donated over $550 million. to various foundations and institutions.
82. American President Benjamin Franklin advocated that the national bird of America was the turkey.
83. In 1856, the English chemist William Perkin, while trying to obtain quinine from aniline, invented the first artificial dye, mauveine.

84. In the village of Lobovskoe, Saratov region, there lives a beekeeper who is able to withstand 40 hours in a hive with bees completely naked.
85. In the period from 1952 - 1966, 5 children were born in the family of Ralph and Carolyn Cummins and all of them have a birthday on February 20th.
86. Galileo Galilei was the first person to propose using a pendulum to measure time.
87. Hannibal died in 183 BC after taking poison when he learned that the Romans had come to kill him.
88. Grover Cleveland was the only US president to marry in the White House.

89. James Madison was the smallest of the American presidents (1.62 m), and Abraham Lincoln was the tallest (1.93 m).
90. Dr. Alice Chase, who wrote the book Healthy Eating and many books on proper nutrition, died of malnutrition.
91. For 35 years, Mozart created over 600 works. But after his death, the widow did not have money for a separate place in the cemetery
92. Famous 19th century bullfighter Lagarijo (born Rafael Molina) killed 4867 bulls.
93. When the German physicist A. Einstein died, his last words went with him. The nurse who was nearby did not understand German.

94. The maximum number of crossword puzzles was Andrian Bell. From January 1930 to 1980, he sent 4,520 crossword puzzles to The Times.
95. Robert Lincoln, son of President Lincoln, was rescued from a car accident by one Edwin Booth. As it turns out, Edwin is the brother of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. The father tried to kill the father, and their children saved each other
96. The first American president to use the telephone was James Garfield.
97. The concept of a negative number was first introduced by the Italian merchant Pisano in 1202, denoting his debts and losses.
98. The world's largest private collection of meteorites belongs to the American Robert Haag - from the age of 12 he collected 2 tons of heavenly stones.
99. Thomas Edison had a collection of birds in 5000 copies.

100. Frenchmen Jeanne Louise and Guy Bruty made a crossword puzzle on a sheet of paper 5 m long and 3 m wide, from 18 thousand words and 50 thousand cells.
101. Shakespeare mentioned roses more than 50 times in his poems.
102. Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, was the only president to make his own clothes.
103. Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day - February 12, 1809. The scientist lived almost 20 years longer than the politician.
104. Bill Clinton has sent as many as two emails throughout his presidency, one of which was a test to check that everything is working properly. I wonder who the second letter was to? Maybe Monica?

105. In 1759, Arthur Guinness leased St. Gate's brewery for 9,000 years at a rent of £45 a year. The famous Guinness beer was brewed there.
106. In 1981, Deborah Ann Fontan, Miss New York, was disqualified for excessive use of cotton stuffing in a swimsuit competition.
107. George Washington did not shake hands when meeting - he preferred to bow
108. The only president of the United States, concurrently being the chairman of any union - Ronald Reagan, head of the Guild of Actors (Screen Actors Guild).

109. If you remember a little school physics course, then you know that there is a Richter temperature scale. So this same Charles Richter was a malicious nudist, because of which his wife left him.
110. If you read the works of the writer Stephen King, you should notice that most of the actions of his stories take place in Maine. Paradoxically, this state has the lowest crime rate in the United States.
111. The founder of psychoanalysis has a lot of oddities. Freud was terrified of the number 62. He refused to book a hotel room with more than 62 rooms for fear of accidentally getting a room with the number 62. He used cocaine, like many of his contemporaries.
112. The famous entrepreneur Henry Ford preferred to hire people with physical disabilities - among the workers of his factories in 1919, there was one disabled person for four healthy people.

113. Research Louis Pasteur sponsored a beer factory. They also paid him a ticket to an international congress. When Pasteur was given the floor at the congress, the first thing he did was to hang advertising posters with beer on the stage. And he began his speech with the words that this beer is the best. And then he got down to business.
114. Madonna and Celine Dion are cousins ​​of Prince Charles's wife, Camilla
115. The father of the famous comedian Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun, etc.) served as a policeman in Canada, and his brother worked in the Canadian Parliament
116. The father of tennis player Andre Agassi represented Iran at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. He was... a boxer

It is customary to call great people with a capital letter those individuals who have made an invaluable contribution to the science or culture of mankind. For many, they are role models. These people have made and continue to make history. They are the progress of our existence. Therefore, we have selected for you the most unusual and interesting facts about great people that will allow you to overestimate humanity as a whole.

  • 1. Napoleon Bonaparte - the great French commander and statesman - had a drinking cup made from the skull of Cagliostro, a recognized adventurer and mystic. At the age of 26, Bonaparte captured Italy. It is also surprising that Napoleon had a fear of cats.
  • 2. Queen Cleopatra of Egypt tested the effectiveness of poisons on slaves by giving them a drink from a cup. There is evidence that this great woman was married to her brother Ptolemy. It is also interesting that Cleopatra was not actually an Egyptian. Macedonian, Greek and Iranian blood flowed in her veins.
  • 3. Lafayette (full name Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette) became an American army general at the age of 19.
  • 4. John Jay (the first American justice of the US Supreme Court from 1789 to 1795) bought slaves in order to free them.


  • 5. The ancestors of the famous statesman of Great Britain and the greatest Briton in history (according to a BBC poll in 2002), Winston Churchill, were Indians on the maternal side.
  • 7. One of the wedding gifts to Queen Victoria was an enormous cheese. Its diameter was 3 meters, and its weight was half a ton.


  • 8. At the court of the Spanish king Alfonso there was a position of a hymnal. This man was supposed to tell the king when the anthem was playing. The fact is that Alfonso had absolutely no hearing.
  • 9. The emperor of Rome, Nero, was married to ... a man, one of his slaves.


  • 10. The growth of Peter I the Great, the last Tsar of All Russia of the Romanov dynasty and the first Emperor of All Russia, was 2 meters 13 centimeters. In those days, such parameters were very rare, since even the average growth rates of men were less than those of modern representatives of the stronger sex.
  • 11. Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, had 413 beds.


  • 12. Niels Bohr and his brother Haralt Bohr, known worldwide as a physicist and mathematician, were also football players. At the same time, Harald even played for the Danish national team.
  • 13. Interesting facts about great people relate to their unusual addictions. So, the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven brewed coffee strictly from 64 grains.


  • 14. Queen Victoria of Britain, who ruled from 1819-1901, spoke English with a German accent.
  • 15. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an Austrian composer, began composing music at the age of 3.


  • 16. English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote his works only in black ink.
  • 17. No less famous writer Charles Dickens worked facing north. He also slept, lying with his head in this direction. In addition, after writing 50 lines of his work, he drank a glass of hot water.


  • 18. The emperor of Rome, Julius Caesar, wore a laurel wreath on his head in order to cover the emerging bald spot.
  • 19. The work of the artist Rodin "The Thinker" is a portrait of the poet Dante.


  • 20. The first to explain why the sky is blue was Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian artist, scientist, sculptor, writer and inventor rolled into one.
  • 21. Henry Ford, a successful businessman, had only a secondary education.


  • 22. French fashion designer Coco Chanel once worked as a saleswoman in a knitwear store. Soon it was her hobby, making exquisite hats, that conquered the female world of Paris.

Facts fill our lives, they are everywhere! The more facts are revealed to us, the more educated and erudite we become. And this is also a fact! This article contains some interesting and amazing moments in the life of famous people that not many people know about.

Actor Woody Harrelson's father was a contract killer

Famous people often have famous parents, but not all of them became famous thanks to good deeds. The father of Hollywood actor Woody Harrelson was the famous criminal Charles V. Harrelson, who was sentenced to 2 life terms on charges of murdering federal judge Jonathan Wood.


Subsequently, the son often visited Charles in prison, and, according to his confession, he was a well-read and educated person. Woody even tried to challenge the court's decision, but he failed.
An interesting fact: Charles Harrelson for some reason claimed that he was involved in the Kennedy assassination, but later retracted his words. Conspiracy theorists still consider Charles Harrelson to be one of the suspicious vagrants found near the murder site, but this is nothing more than speculation.

Duchess Margherita Maultash was not at all "the ugliest woman in the world"

According to popular belief, the 14th-century Countess of Tyrol and Duchess of Bavaria, Margarete Maultasch, is considered "the ugliest woman in history." As a “proof” of this statement, the portrait that you now see in front of you, and the very nickname of Margarita, often acts. It is only one letter different from the German word Maultasche - "dumpling", or literally "purse mouth".
However, some researchers believe that the word "maultash" did not mean the duchess's ugly appearance, but came from the name of her castle in South Tyrol. As for the portrait, it was painted by the Flemish painter Quentin Masseys in the 16th century and is a caricature.
If we look at other images of Margarita, including the one in her lifetime on her personal seal, then we will see, if not a written beauty, but quite an attractive woman with a good figure.


So where did the myth of "the ugliest woman in history" come from? The fact is that Margarita dared to impudence, unheard of at that time: she kicked out her disgusted husband, whom she was married to at the age of 11, and became the wife of her beloved.


Margarita Maultash simply did not let her first husband Johann Heinrich (he is on the left) go home to the castle when he returned from hunting. Apparently, the husband did not enjoy great love not only from his wife, but also from the citizens of Tyrol, since they all refused him shelter.
Annoyed, Johann found support from the Patriarch of Aquileia, as a result of which Margarita and her new husband Ludwig of Bavaria (he is on the right in the picture) were excommunicated for a long time, and ridiculous rumors spread about the duchess.

Marie Antoinette ordered to build a village for herself in which she could lead the life of a "commoner"

The brilliant atmosphere of Versailles and the need to observe court etiquette had a depressing effect on the queen, so as an outlet, she ordered to build for herself a tiny village near the Petit Trianon Palace with a mill, a farm, a dovecote, a pond and a cottage, which was much more comfortable than the palace chambers. All this reminded Marie Antoinette of her childhood, which was spent in the gardens of the Vienna Palace, where she played with relatives, governesses and dogs.


In her private village, the Queen dressed up as a regular shepherd or milkmaid and walked with her children and closest friends, and it seems that it was there that she was truly happy. After the French Revolution, the village of Marie Antoinette was abandoned, but it has now been restored and is open to the public.

Abraham Lincoln gave a speech so impressive that none of the journalists could record it

On May 29, 1856, in Bloomington, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that is traditionally considered lost, since all the reporters present at this event were literally mesmerized by the words of the future president (Lincoln became one in 1861) and simply forgot to write down from it at least one word. We have no doubt about the oratorical talent of "Uncle Abe", but, you see, it still sounds implausible.


There is another version, according to which the text was deliberately lost, since Lincoln's speech was filled with a passionate condemnation of slavery, for the abolition of which, alas, not everyone advocated at that time. Nevertheless, the “lost speech” made a huge impression on the listeners, and a memorial plaque was subsequently erected in honor of this event, which still exists today.

Queen Victoria's best friend was groom John Brown

The British Queen Victoria is a rare exception among monarchs (at least in the old days) for the reason that she married for love and continued to adore her husband Prince Albert all her life. Is it necessary to explain that his early death was the hardest blow for her?
And who knows how she would have survived this event, if not for the support of the Queen's best friend. It was the Scottish groom John Brown (John Brown), who, like his relatives, faithfully served the Queen in Balmoral Castle. Walking and talking with John helped Victoria recover from the loss, although she never removed the mourning for Albert until the end of her life.
Of course, evil tongues immediately ridiculed the relationship, which, according to Queen Victoria herself, was a warm and loving friendship (so warm and loving friendship). There were scathing cartoons like the one you see now, and the Queen began to be called "Mrs Brown" behind her back.


Be that as it may, Victoria was strongly attached to John Brown and highly appreciated him, because after his death she ordered a statue to be erected in his honor, which was done. It is believed that before her death, the queen bequeathed to bury her along with a portrait of her beloved husband Albert in one hand and a portrait of John's best friend in the other.
The story of Victoria and John Brown was filmed in 1997, and 10 years later another film called Victoria and Abdul was released. It tells about the relationship of the queen with another "favorite", whose name was Abdul Karim.
As expected, this friendship was also condemned, although it is known for certain that the queen signed her letters to the young handsome man as “your loving mother”.

Composer Arnold Schoenberg was so afraid of the number 13 that he called it "12a". He died on July 13, 13 minutes before midnight.

The founder of the new Viennese school, composer Arnold Schoenberg (pictured with his wife Gertrude and daughter Nuria) had a rare phobia - fear of the number 13, or triskaidekaphobia. Schoenberg was born on the 13th and throughout his life considered this figure a bad omen.
As we have already mentioned, the composer renamed 13 to 12a, and the same fate affected his last opera, which Schoenberg called "Moses and Aron" ("Moses und Aron") instead of "Moses and Aaron" ("Moses und Aaron") only for so that the number of letters in the name is not 13.
And yet the last day of the life of Arnold Schoenberg was precisely the fateful number. On July 13, 1951, he lay in bed all day, feeling that death was approaching. The wife tried to persuade the composer to "stop these stupid things" and get up, but he refused, and at 11:47 pm he actually died, having uttered the word "harmony" before that.

Winston Churchill loved animals, and one of his pets was a lion

The British Prime Minister was a big animal lover. At various times, the cats Nelson and Jock, the poodle Rufus, the bulldog Dodo, as well as cows, pigs, fish, butterflies, swans and other pets lived with Churchill.
But, perhaps, the most unusual of the pets was a lion named Rota, who was presented to the prime minister as a gift as a kitten, and after a while, he prudently assigned the growing king of beasts to the London Zoo. Rota grew up and became the father of 4 cubs, and Churchill visited him at the zoo and fed him meat with his own hands.

Pablo Escobar was photographed in front of the White House in the USA

Drug lord Escobar wasn't always on the run. In 1981, he quite legally visited the United States and even took pictures with his son Juan Pablo in front of the White House in Washington. This photo was taken by Pablo's wife Maria Victoria and was first shown in the movie Sins of My Father, based on the book by Juan Pablo Escobar, who legally changed his name to Sebastian Marroquin and now lives in Argentina.

Steve Jobs rarely showered because he believed his diet suppressed bodily odors. He was wrong

Every person has their own oddities, and great people are no exception. According to colleagues who worked with Steve Jobs at Atari, he believed that his plant-based diet prevented the smell of sweat, and therefore it was no longer necessary to take a shower every day. But Jobs was wrong. And so much so that in the company he was quickly transferred to the night shift, where there was especially no one to complain about the unpleasant smell.

Princess Diana stopped wearing Chanel after her divorce from Prince Charles for a very personal reason

According to designer Jayson Brunsdon, after her divorce from Charles, Lady Dee refused to wear shoes and, possibly, other things from Chanel, due to the fact that the logo of this brand reminded Diana of her unfaithful husband and rival Camilla Parker-Bowles (you see her in the photo next to Diana).


The letters on the CC logo - the initials of Coco Chanel (Coco Chanel) - turned for Diana into "Charles and Camilla" (Camilla & Charles). It is not known if she subsequently changed her mind, but Bransdon assures that Lady Di had nothing against the brand itself, she simply could not see these ill-fated letters CC.

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Interesting stories from life famous of people .

the site believes that each of us can become a famous person, the main thing is to always believe in yourself and move forward. We have collected stories and facts from the life of famous people from all over the world.

Roman emperor Julius Caesar always wore a laurel wreath on his head to hide his progressive baldness.

In the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan died while having sex.

And the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Arthur Conan Doyle, was an ophthalmologist by profession.

The creator of Mickey Mouse, the famous Walt Disney?, was afraid of mice all his life.

The eminent Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh sold only one of his works during his lifetime, Red Vineyard at Arles.

And the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began composing music at the age of 3. For 35 years, Mozart created over 600 works. But after his death, his widow did not even have money for a separate place in the cemetery.

The theoretical physicist Albert Einstein did not speak a word until the age of 3, but at the age of 12 he understood Euclidean geometry.

The German poet, statesman, thinker and naturalist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once tasted Franconian wine from Bavaria and was so impressed that from then on he demanded to send him 900 Franconian liters a year.

Many of Remarque's characters, like himself, prefer Normandy apple brandy - Calvados - from alcoholic drinks.

M the Macedonian king from the Argead dynasty, commander Alexander the Great? knew by sight 30,000 soldiers of his army.

On May 24, 2000, the Clay Institute of Mathematics (Cambridge, USA) offers a million dollars for solving each of the seven mathematical "millennium problems", including the Poincare conjecture formulated in 1904. On November 1, 2002, the Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman posted on the website of the mathematical archive the first of three articles, according to the results of which he will be recognized as a scientist who defeated one of the most difficult problems in topology. In March 2010, the Clay Institute awards Perelman a million dollar prize. On July 1, 2010, Perelman refuses the prize, as he had previously rejected the "mathematical Nobel Prize" - the Fields medal. The refusal is explained by ethical reasons: Perelman believes that he owes success to the mathematician Hamilton, on whose work he relied.

Literary success came to I. Goncharov only at the age of 40.

And the English physicist, mathematician, mechanic and astronomer Isaac Newton wrote a preface to his works when he was 72 years old.

The Sero-Russian Empress from 1762 to 1796 Catherine the Great (Catherine II) loved beer. It was for her that the British brewed especially strong beer - so that it would not spoil on the road. This type of beer is called "Russian stout". It is not pasteurized, but matures in barrels for 2 months, after which it is aged in bottles for a year.

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. "Thank you, little one," said Mommsen, "what's your name?" "Anna Mommsen, papa," the girl replied.

Tupak Shakur is an American rapper, film actor and social activist.
He entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful hip-hop artist, selling a total of more than 75 million copies of his albums.

The late Tupac Shakur is the first representative of the hip-hop world to be honored with a monument. A seven-foot bronze statue of a black American hero was unveiled on September 13, 2005 at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

One day, young Thomas Edison returned home from school and gave his mother a letter from his teacher.
Mom read the letter aloud to her son, with tears in her eyes: “Your son is a genius. This and the school is too small, and there are no teachers here to teach him anything. Please teach it yourself.”
Many years after his mother's death (Edison was by then one of the greatest inventors of the century), he was going through old family archives one day and came across this letter.
He opened it and read:
“Your son is mentally retarded. We can no longer teach it at school with everyone else. Therefore, we recommend that you learn it yourself at home.”
Edison sobbed for several hours. Then he wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally retarded child.
Thanks to his heroic mother, he became one of the greatest geniuses of his age.”

Since the sculptor Lina Po, completely devoid of sight, she created more than a hundred wonderful works by touch.

In the 16th century, an influential statesman and philosopher, Francis Bacon, died because he stuffed a gutted chicken with snow (it occurred to him that snow could be used instead of salt to preserve meat, and he tried to test his theory). As a result of the experiment, the chicken did not freeze, but Bacon himself froze.

King Solomon had about 700 wives in Israel, as well as hundreds of mistresses.

Justin Timberlake is afraid of spiders.

In 1972, a young Indian wrote to John Lennon that he had a dream to travel around the world, but no money, and asked him to send the necessary amount. Lennon replied: "Meditate and you will be able to see the whole world in your imagination." In 1995, an Indian, having sold Lennon's letter at auction, went on a trip around the world.

Einstein adored the films of Charlie Chaplin and had great sympathy for both him and his touching characters. One day he sent a telegram to Chaplin:
“Your film “Gold Rush” is understood by everyone in the world, and I am sure that you will become a great person. Einstein".
Chaplin replied:
“I admire you even more. Nobody in the world understands your theory of relativity, but you still became a great person.
Chaplin".

Charles Dickens always slept with his head to the north. He thought it would improve his writing ability.

The house where Jefferson wrote the US Declaration of Independence now sells hamburgers.

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

During the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a tax on the beard of men.

The national flag of Italy was designed by Napoleon Bonaparte.

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.

The myth that Marilyn Monroe has six toes on her left foot arose from one shot. Photographer Joseph Jagura photographed a young Norma Jean in 1946 on Zuma Beach. In one photo, due to the accumulation of sand that stuck to her foot, it seems that the actress has six fingers.

One day, the father of Russian aviation, Zhukovsky, 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 too long with you, it's time to go home!

Briefly about famous people (part 1) updated: February 26, 2017 by: website