AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING XIX

1. Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in Monte Carlo. He came in third.

 

2. Napoleon Bonaparte graduated 42nd in a class of 58 at military school.

 

3. "Wild Bill" Hickok was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights when he was shot to death by Jack McCall in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876. Ever since, aces and eights has been called the dead man's hand in poker.

4. Martin Van Buren never mentioned his wife, Hannah, in his autobiography.

5. A "hand" is four inches long when it is used to measure the height of horses.

6. A furlong is 1/8 of a mile and is in current use as a distance measure in horse racing.

7. A "league" is a measure of nautical distance roughly equal to 3 miles. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the 20,000 leagues is the distance the Nautilus traveled - not its depth.