10 Amazing Scientific “Facts of The World” interesting facts for Class 10 and 12 Part 11

Facts of The World – 11

761. Contrary to popular belief, kings and princes in ancient India sported beards.

762. Alexander the Great was the first person to shave off his beard and thus set a new fashion trend in those days.

763. ‘Mary had a little lamb’ was the first song to have been recorded on a gramophone record.

764. Spinach is a good source of vitamins A, B and C and folic acid. It also contains a fair amount of potassium, calcium and iron, but because of its oxalic acid content, the calcium and iron are not adequately absorbed by the body. It has a large amount of fibre, too.

765. In 1981, when the Mount St Helens Volcano in Washington (U.S.A.) erupted, killing many people and causing heavy damage, enterprising men started selling packets of the ash resulting from the eruption as mementoes.

766. The Hawa Mahal in Jaipur looks like a huge, beautiful place from the front. But it has no rooms. It indeed is a unique structure, built nearly 200 years ago by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh for the purpose fo enabling the women of the harem to veiew the parades and processions in the street below without being seen.

767. The word ‘ rupee’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘raupya’, which means , wrought silver.

768. Before the postage stamp came into use, receiving a letter was a costly affair- most often, the postage had to be paid by the receiver. Hence, many people sent their messages in some code or the other written on the outside of the letter so that the receiver did not really have to open it and thus be spared the expense of having to pay for it.

769. The ‘Penny Blakc’ was the first postage stamp of the world. It was issued in Great Britain on May 6, 1840. The first postage stamps for general use all over India were issued on July 14,1854. The stamps were in denominations of half an anna, one anna, two annas and four annas and bore the portrait of Queen Victoria of England.

770. The Beating the Retreat ceremony which is staged on the third day of the Republic Day celebrations at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi, concludes with the notes of an old Christian hymn titled ‘Abide with me’. The hymn was Gandhiji’s favourite and when he fell to an assassin’s bullet on January 30, 1948, it came to be included in the Retreat ceremony in his memory.