Facts of The World – 12 771. The Beating the Retreat revives an ancient military custom when drummers were sent through the streets just before sunset to warn the troops to return to the barracks before the flag was brought down for the night. 772. ‘Sunday’ is named after the sun. 773. ‘Monday’ is named after the moon. 774. ‘Tuesday’ is named after Tiw (or ‘Tiu’ ), the Anglo – Saxon...

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...

Facts of The World – 10 751. To see at night as well as an owl, you would need eyeballs as big as a grapefruit. 752. The Chinese do not use alphabets – the letters of a language given in a regular order. They draw out in shapes whole words. These idea shapes are called ‘ideograms’. 753. The Malaysian considers the sighting of a lizard a good omen. 754. The Malaysians...

Facts of The World – 8 731. The soap ‘501’, originally made by Tata Oil Mills Ltd, and later acquired by Hindustan level Ltd., was India’s first branded detergent bar. 732. The ‘H.B.’ mark on pencils stands for hard Black. 733. ‘Aspirin’ is the most successful retail branded drug in medical history. It has been around for over 100 year. 734. ‘Samsung’, the consumer electronics company, got its name from the...

Facts of The World – 7 721. The Bible is the largest selling book in the world. 722. Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian – American woman to travel into space. 723. The original name of the Rani of Jhansi was ‘ Manikarnika’. 724. Gulliver of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ was a doctor and not a sailor. 725. The cotton industry had developed in India during the Mohenjo –Daro period (about 2,500 B.C....

Facts of The World – 6 711. A single drop of liquid can contain 50 million bacteria. 712. Bats are the only mammals that are able to fly. 713. Rainwater contains vitamin B-12 714. A boomerang , if it hits anything, cannot return to the thrower. 715. Popular beliefs hold that three wise men from the east visited Bethlehem bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. But however, there is no mention...

Facts of The World – 5 701. Soldiers, explorers and athletes eat chocolate as a source of quick energy. Chocolates are good for cough. Researchers at the Imperial College in London have found that people suffering from cough benefited by eating chocolates. Chocolates contain theobromine, which helps to suppress the nerve activity responsible for causing cough. Theobromine was found to be more effective than the standard codeine in treating cough. Another...