Facts of The World – 24 891. The Rhododendron is called the Himalayan ruby because at low altitudes its colour is a rich crimson. 892. The groundnut is also called the Portuguese nut as the Portuguese introduced it to India about 500 years ago. 893. Chandragupta II was also known as Vikramaditya. He ruled the Gupta Empire in India between 376-415 A.D. 894. The first ever rubber plantation in Indian was...

Facts of The World – 23 881. In school Albert Einstein was dull in Mathematics. 882. The ‘ right side’ traffic rule of the U.S.A., originated from the American Practice of holding the reins of the horse in the left-hand and using their right hand to operate their guns. 883. In Mediaeval England. Knights carried lances in the right hand to knock off an enemy. 884. Elizabeth Taylor wore a range...

Facts of The World – 22 871. The earliest evidence of table tennis is found in the catalogue of London sporting Goods Manufactures in the 1880’s. the Ping Pong Association was formed in England in 1902. 872. In China, table tennis players practice with heavy iron bats and weights strapped to wrists so that at competitive games, the tough practice will lead to lighting fast strokes. 873. The word ‘calculate’ comes...

Facts of The World – 21 861. In Florida (U.S.A) , the rattlesnake is a much favoured delicacy. 862. Workers in Japanese silk factories cook and eat the grub found inside the silkworm cocoons. 863. The world’s earliest bank notes were issued in Stockholm (Sweden), in 1661 A.D. 864. The only domestic animal no mentioned in the Bible is the cat. 865. When feats were held in honour of the dead...

Facts of The World – 20 851. The ‘X-ray’ came to be so called under peculiar circumstances. Dr Wilhelm Roentgen, the scientist who discovered the x- ray process in 1895 , did not quite know what it was that made the x-ray pictures. Since the latter ‘X’ in science and math is often used to refer to the unknown, he called the process ‘x-ray’. 852. Reita Faria was the first India...

Facts of The World – 19 841. The most popular nursery rhyme, Mary had a little lamb’ is based on a true story. There really was a girl named Mary and she really had a lamb that was devoted to her. The lamb followed her to school at Redstone Hill in Boston, U.S.A. one day and the sight so amused a young man named John Roulstone that he immediately penned down...

Facts of The World – 18 831. The flag of the Philippines is the only national flag that is flown differently during thymes of peace and of war; the blue portion is flown during peace and the red portion during wartime. 832. On a visit to London , the world – famous Charlie Chaplin received 75,000 letters in just two days. 833. The Petronas Towers are presently the world’s tallest twin...

Facts of The World – 17 821. The word ‘ballot’ comes from the Italian word ‘ballota’, meaning’ a little ball’. In ancient Rome and Greece, small balls were put secretly into boxes these were counted as votes. 822. ‘Love the word used for scoring in tennis, originated from the French word “I’ oeuf”, meaning ‘egg’. 823. The shortest will on record was written and dated on January 19, 1967 by Herr...