Unicorn

The unicorn is a mythical animal referred to by classical authors. It was said to be like a horse but with one straight horn.

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According to legend, the unicorn is the strongest of all animals and can defeat an elephant but is humbled by a virgin maiden.

HISTORY

The recent discovery in Kazakhstan of the skull of an Elasmotherium sibiricum, also known as Siberian unicorn, suggests that humans and some sort of unicorn may have been around at the same time. The one-horned Siberian unicorn, a real unicorn that looked more like a hairy rhinoceros, roamed the Earth as recently as 29,000 years ago.

In the King James Bible, there are six references to unicorns in the Old Testament. One example is in Numbers 23:22; “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.” Most scholars agree the unicorns mentioned in the Bible were either a type of wild ox – as the Hebrew name suggests – or a one-horned rhinoceros as the Greek suggests.

Unicorns were depicted in art as early as the Mesopotamian era (5000-3500 BC), as well as in ancient Greece, India, and China.

The Indus Valley civilization, at around 3000BC, sealed clay tablets with a unicorn emblem.

Unicorn seal of Indus Valley, Indian Museum By Royroydeb

Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in the accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history believed they were real creatures that lived far away in India.

In ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder wrote of the “very fierce, one-horned monoceros”. According to Pliny, this animal had the body of a horse, the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a lion, with a black horn projecting ‘two cubits’ from the middle of its forehead.

In the Middle Ages a unicorn became seen as a symbol of purity and grace, which could only be captured or tamed by a virgin. Medieval apothecaries sold “unicorn horn”, also known as “alicorn”, for its medicinal properties.

Fresco by Domenichino of a maiden taming a unicorn, c. 1604–05 (Palazzo Farnese, Rome)

A unicorn's horn and the substance it's made of was called alicorn, and it was believed that the horn holds magical and medicinal properties. The Danish physician Ole Worm determined in 1638 that the alleged alicorns were the tusks of narwhals.

In the 1980s a US patent was granted for a surgical procedure for growing unicorns.

A unicorn was displayed in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in the 1980s. In 1985 federal inspectors declared that four animals of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus were not unicorns. Instead, they were goats with horns that had been surgically implanted.

FUN UNICORN FACTS

The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.

The unicorn was used on the Scottish royal coat of arms by William the Lion in the 12th century.

The British royal coat of arms of a lion and a unicorn symbolized the joining of the English lion with the Scottish unicorn in 1707.

Royal arms of Queen Elizabeth II, as used in England

Unicorn hunters may obtain a Unicorn Question Licence from Lake Superior University, Michigan.

Source Daily Express

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a monument symbolizing the United States. Its full name is "Liberty Enlightening the World."

Statue of Liberty Elcobbola - Own work

The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by the people of France in 1886, to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution.

France financed the 46-metre (151 ft) high statue and the Americans built and financed the 47-metre (154 ft) pedestal.

Though the Americans only had to pay for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, they struggled to pull together funding. Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer started a crowdfunding campaign and gathered $100,000 from more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than $1.

The statue, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. Maurice Koechlin, who was chief engineer of Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and designer of the Eiffel Tower, designed the internal structure.

When the Statue of Liberty was shipped from France to New York aboard the French steamer Isère, it was packed below decks in 212 wooden crates. When it arrived in New York Harbor on June 17, 1886, The New York Times reported, "the eyes and nose filled one crate, the forehead another, an ear and part of the crown another."

The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886. President Grover Cleveland, the former New York governor, presided over the event, which was marked by the city's first ticker-tape parade.

Unveiling of the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World (1886) by Edward Moran

The Statue of Liberty was originally a dull copper color, but after 20 years it oxidized and was covered in green petina. Congress wanted to paint away the corrosion, but the Army Corps of Engineers concluded it "softened the outlines of the Statue and made it beautiful." 

The Statue of Liberty is 306 ft tall from the ground to the tip of its gold-plated torch. Its face is based on the mother of its sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi.

American poet Emma Lazarus' 1883 sonnet The New Colossus is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty. The poem, which she wrote in two days, says "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

The statue is situated in Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island south of Ellis Island, which together comprise the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It welcomes visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans travelling by ship.

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From 1886 to 1902 the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was officially a lighthouse. An electric light in its torch was visible for 24 miles.

The Statue of Liberty was damaged during World War 1. During the war, German agents bombed "Black Tom Island", a major U.S. munitions facility neighboring Liberty Island. The explosion destroyed $22,000,000 worth of military goods and damaged Lady Liberty's torch.

The Statue of Liberty was not designated a New York City landmark until 1976.

During renovation works to the Statue of Liberty before centennial celebrations in 1986, engineers found numerous defects when it was originally designed and constructed. These include the head being two meters (6 feet 7 inches) off center, and the right arm not being properly attached.

The underwater portion of Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty sits, is part of New Jersey, not New York.

There's a Statue of Liberty in Paris that faces the Statue of Liberty in America, to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.

The Statue of Liberty has a "Morton's Toe"—her second toe is longer than her big toe.

The Statue of Liberty wears size 879 sandal.

The Statue of Liberty walks over a broken chain and shackle, half-hidden by her robes and difficult to see from the ground. They represent freedom and the end of servitude and oppression.

The Statue of Liberty is estimated to be hit by about 600 bolts of lightning every year.

The climb up the inside of the Statue of Liberty to the observation deck in the statue's head takes in 354 spiral steps — which is the equivalent of climbing 20 floors in a building.

Staircase to crown. By NPS Photo

The stairs to the torch have been closed to the public since 1916, when German saboteurs triggered an explosion.

Shamrock

Technically, there is no such thing as a shamrock. It’s just a word used to refer to several varieties of clover, mainly trifolium repens.

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The word "shamrock" was first seen in English in 1571 in the work of the English Elizabethan scholar Edmund Campion. In his work Boke of the Histories of Irelande, Campion states that the Irish ate shamrock: "Shamrotes, watercresses, rootes, and other herbes they feed upon."

"Shamrock" is derived from Irish seamróg, which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover, seamair. It means simply "little clover" or "young clover."

The shamrock was originally associated with the mythical Celtic Mother goddess Ana (or Anu). Ana was worshipped in the three aspects of her life, maiden, mother and crone, corresponding to the three leaves of the plant.

In the fifth century St Patrick used the shamrock to explain the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. He utilised the three-leafed plant to illustrate to the Irish people the Christian teaching of three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are connected in one God: three leaves on one stem.

St. Patrick with shamrock in St. Benin's Church, Wicklow, Ireland Andreas F. Borchert

Today, Shamrocks symbolize St Patrick's Day. Some people wear sprigs of shamrock in a buttonhole on the holiday. They are also Ireland's national flower.

The tradition of presenting a bowl of Shamrocks to the US President began in 1952 during the Presidency of Harry Truman as a means of strengthening ties. But Truman was not hand to receive the gift that year, so the Irish ambassador John Joseph Hearne simply dropped off a box of shamrocks at the White House.

In 2002, Australia classified shamrock as a weed and banned it as a possible carrier of foot and mouth disease. It is still illegal to send shamrock plants and seeds by mail to Australia.

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The official call-sign for the Irish airline Aer Lingus is “shamrock”.

The phrase, "Drowning The Shamrock" is from the custom of floating the shamrock on the top of whiskey before drinking it. The Irish say that if you keep the custom, then you will have a prosperous year.

Source Daily Express

Mount Rushmore

HISTORY

Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota was not named until 1885 when a New York attorney, Charles E Rushmore was surveying the mountain range on horseback with a guide. When asked the mountain's name the guide replied it never had a name, but from now on we'll call it Rushmore. The name stuck.

South Dakota historian Doane Robinson is credited with conceiving the idea of carving the likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota in order to promote tourism in the area.

Mount Rushmore By Jonathunder 

Robinson enlisted Danish-American sculptor Gutzon Borglum to create the sculpture's design and oversaw the project's execution. Borglum had studied art in Paris when a youth with sculptor Auguste Rodin.

It was Borglum’s idea to honor the four presidents. He selected Mount Rushmore as the the rock of the mountain is composed of smooth, fine-grained granite. Also, because it faces the southeast, the workers had the advantage of sunlight for most of the day.

Gutzon Borglum and his team began work on the face of Mount Rushmore on October 4, 1927.

Most of the crew that worked on Mount Rushmore were miners who had come to the Black Hills in search of gold.

Over 90% of Mount Rushmore was carved using dynamite, removing over 450,000 tons of rock from the mountain. After all that blasting, the sculpture was finely carved to create a smooth surface.

Construction of the Mount Rushmore monument

Upon Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over as leader of the construction project.

The carving of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore was completed on October 31, 1941 after 14 years of construction by Gutzon Borglum and 400 stone masons. It’s estimated that the actual carving only took six years. The project was delayed a total of about eight years due to weather and lack of funding.

The total cost of the project was $989,992.32, and 85 percent of that cost was funded by Congress.

Despite the dangerous nature of the job, none of the crew died during construction.

THE PRESIDENTS

Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents. It was originally supposed to include not just the heads but the torsos of the presidents, as well

Gutzon Borglum selected each president. George Washington was chosen because he was the "Father of the Nation", Abraham Lincoln, "Preserver of the Union", Thomas Jefferson, "The Expansionist", and Theodore Roosevelt "Protector of the Working Man".

Distant view of Mount Rushmore. By Grahampurse -

The presidents’ faces are each scaled to men who would stand 465 feet tall.

There's a hidden room behind Lincoln's hairline at Mount Rushmore. Borglum wanted it to be his own special signature on the monument, a room where visitors could learn about American history and a place to display busts of famous Americans and key documents like the Constitution.

Sources Parade,  The National Park Service website, Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things

The Great Pyramid of Giza

In ancient Egypt pyramidal buildings made of stone were used to enclose royal tombs.

The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt.

Great Pyramid of Giza By Nina - Wikipedia Commons

The pyramid was built for Khufu, the second pharaoh of the 4th dynasty.

The ancient Egyptians called the Great Pyramid “Ikhet“, meaning “Glorious Light”. It’s been calculated that the pyramid with its original limestone casing stones acted like gigantic mirrors that reflected light so powerful that it was like a shining star, visible from the moon.

Beside the great pyramid at El Giza, the Egyptians buried two 43 metre long boats in 1,224 pieces in flatpack form to carry the pharaoh Khufu to the afterlife.

It is believed that it took about 23 years to build The Great Pyramid using 100,000 skilled Egyptian workers and was completed around 2570 BC.

When it was built, The Great Pyramid was 146.5 metres (481 feet) tall.

The Great Pyramid was the largest man-made structure for 3,881 years until 1311 when the 160-metre-tall (520 ft) spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed.

The "Great Pyramid" was constructed using approx. 2.3 million stones, each weighing about two and a half tons. In order to finish the building in 23 years, the workers would have to set a block every two and a half minutes, every day of the week for 23 years using no wheels, pulleys or work animals.

At Giza the thousands of Egyptian laborers toiling in the construction of the Great Pyramid ate garlic, radishes and onions for strength. This was because they were considered to be medicinal herbs, which would help preserve their health.

Each block in the Great Pyramid of Giza weighed about 2.5 tons on average, and the pyramid itself is estimated to weigh 6.5 million tons, which is more material than it took to build all the churches and cathedrals in England.

The Pyramid base covers 13 acres and is flat and level to within 1cm.

Great Pyramid of Giza from a 19th-century stereopticon card photo

Today, the Great Pyramid of Giza stands only about 455 feet tall—the structure has shrunk by about 25 feet after four millennia of erosion.

The Great Pyramid of Giza maintain a constant 68°F/20°C temperature inside even in summer months.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.

The Great Pyramid of Giza would cost £4.5bn ($6bn) to build today.

Flag

FLAGS IN HISTORY

Denmark's "Dannebrog" or 'Danish cloth' is the oldest continuing flag in use since being officially adopted in 1307.

Flag of Denmark

A red flag is a sign generally used to indicate danger or a stop signal. The earliest citation for "red flag" dates back to 1602 when the flag was used by military forces to signal their intent to engage in combat.

Purple is mostly non-existent in flags due to the cost of purple dyes historically. Historical purple was sourced from sea snails in the Mediterranean (1lb of purple dye was valued at roughly $56,000 in today's currency).

On the orders of King James I and VI, a combination of the flags of St George and St Andrew became the official union flag for maritime use on April 12, 1606. The creation of the Union Flag was a visual symbol of the union of England and Scotland. The Cross of St Patrick was added in 1801.

Union flag 1606–1707 (ships at sea) 1707–1801 (England and Scotland)

The first known instance of a flag being flown at half-mast was on the English ship Heart’s Ease in 1612 following the death of its master.

The first display of the word "Liberty" on a flag was on October 21, 1774. It was simply a Queen Anne Flag with the words, "LIBERTY AND UNION" sewn onto the red field. The flag was raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.

The first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag, also known as the Continental Colors or the First Navy Flag, was the USS Alfred. The flag was hoisted on board the ship by John Paul Jones on December 3, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Grand Union Flag was a precursor to the Stars and Stripes, and it featured thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with the British Union Jack in the canton. The flag was used by the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War.

The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia passed the Flag Resolution on June 14, 1777, adopting the "Stars and Stripes" as the national flag of the United States. It stated "Resolved: that the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

The first time an official US flag was flown during battle was on August 3, 1777 at Fort Schuyler (Fort Stanwix) during the Siege of Fort Stanwix.

The United States Flag was formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time on February 14, 1778, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte rendered a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.

The Columbia Rediviva (Latin for "revived") was a privately owned American ship that became the first American vessel to carry the American flag around the world. She left Boston on September 30, 1787, under the command of John Kendrick. After trading furs for goods in China, The Columba returned to Boston Harbor after its three-year voyage on August 9, 1790.

During his five-day voyage exiling him to Elba, Napoleon designed a new flag for the Italian island with three yellow honeybees, (the bees were meant to represent Elba’s hard working inhabitants). Today it still flies over Elba.

From 1814 to 1830 the official flag of the Kingdom of France was simply a plain white field with no other colors, symbols, or borders.

On April 4, 1818 The United States Congress changed the flag of the United States to have 20 stars, with a new star to be added when each new state was admitted. The number of red and white stripes was reduced to 13 so as to honor the original colonies.

The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the "Stars and Bars") was adopted on March 4, 1861.  The flag consisted of three horizontal stripes of equal height, with the top and bottom stripes being blue and the middle stripe being white. In the top left corner of the flag was a circle of white stars on a blue background, representing the seven seceded states at the time: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The flag underwent several design changes throughout the Confederate States' existence, but the "Stars and Bars" remains the most recognizable and iconic flag of the Confederacy.

The current flag of Japan was first adopted in 1870 as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships.

Brazil's flag is decorated with an image of the night sky as it appeared over Rio de Janeiro on November 15, 1889, the day Brazil declared itself a federal republic.

In 1897 Charles C. Overton, a Sunday school superintendent at Brighton Chapel, Staten Island, spontaneously promoted the idea of a Christian flag. The Rally Day speaker hadn't shown up, so Overton gave an extemporaneous address on Christian meanings for the elements of the American flag. The red, white, and blue cross flag Overton later helped devise was first sewn around 1907 and continues to be used in some churches.

George Cohan first used the routine of parading around the stage singing praise to the American flag being carried with his 1906 Broadway hit “George Washington, Jr.”  He later came to be identified with the routine.

President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed June 14th "Flag Day" as a commemoration of the "Stars and Stripes” on May 20, 1916. Wilson's proclamation was the culmination of efforts by a number of individuals and organizations who had been advocating for a national day to commemorate the American flag. One of the most prominent advocates for Flag Day was Bernard J. Cigrand, a Wisconsin schoolteacher who began promoting the idea in 1885. Cigrand argued that Flag Day would be a way to teach children about the history and meaning of the flag, and to instill in them a sense of patriotism.

Flag Day was initially observed in a limited number of communities, but it quickly gained popularity. In 1949, Congress passed a law making Flag Day a national holiday. Flag Day is now celebrated on June 14th each year, and it is a time for Americans to come together and honor the flag that represents their country.

Liechtenstein and Haiti developed identical national flags independently of each other. No one realized until the two countries competed against each other in the 1936 Summer Olympics under the same flag. The following year Liechtenstein added a crown in the corner of its flag to make it different.

The current version of the US Flag was designed as a history project for Robert G. Heft, who was a 17-year-old high school student in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1958. Heft had an idea that Alaska and Hawaii would one day be states, and he set out to design a 50-star flag. His teacher gave him a "B-" for the project, but promised he'd change the grade if his flag was accepted by Congress, which it was.

The 50-star flag of the United States debuted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1960, almost ten and a half months after the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state.

The American flag has a name, "Old Glory," which was given by the 19th-century American sea captain William Driver. He flew the flag during his career at sea and later brought it to Nashville.

A new red-and-white maple leaf design was adopted as the flag of Canada on February 15, 1965, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner. There are 11 points on the Canadian flag.

The six flag erected on the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 landings were purchased by a NASA secretary who went to Sears and bought off-the-shelf nylon flags for $5.50

The European Community adopted the European flag on May 26, 1986. The flag appears on the euro banknotes and Euro coins also display the twelve stars of the flag on both the national and common side. The flag appears also on many driving licences and vehicle registration plates issued in the Union.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Americans purchased so many flags to fly on their homes or cars that US manufacturers could not keep up with the demand. China stepped in and became the largest importer of American flags. In 2012, approximately 3.6 million dollars was spent on importing American flags to the US from China.

All of the American flags on the Moon are still standing, but they have turned white from exposure to the Sun.

FUN FLAG FACTS

Vexillology is the study of flags.

The colors of the American flag each have their own meaning. Red is for Valor, white is for Purity, and blue is for Justice.

According to the US Flag Code: "No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform." Also, the flag “should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.” This includes paper napkins or plates printed with the design.

An American flag hung upside down signals that one is in distress and needs help.

The Texas flag is the only state flag that is allowed to fly at the same height as the US flag.

Oregon’s flag is the only state flag in the United States with a different design on each side.

The Canadian Flag that flies over the Peace Tower of the Canadian Parliament is changed daily. Used flags are given away and any Canadian resident may request one, but the current waiting period is 63 years.

The French flag has the same colors as the American flag.

The Bikini Atoll’s flag is similar to the USA flag, but with black stars representing islands destroyed by nuclear testing, to serve as a reminder of the debt the US still owes them for nuclear fallout and radiation poisoning.

Bikini  Atoll flag

53% of the flags in the world contain blue.

The flags of many African nations have the colors green, gold and red borrowed from the flag of Ethiopia, which remained outside European control during the colonial era by defeating Italy. As a result, the many newly independent states in Africa looked to them for inspiration.

The flag of Qatar is the only national flag which has a length more than twice its height.

The original Rainbow flag had a pink stripe, but was removed due to low mass production of pink cloth.

An all-white flag has been used as a signal or surrender since the Roman Empire, The historian Cornelius Tacitus mentions a white flag of surrender in AD 109. It is now an universally recognized protective sign of truce or ceasefire, as well as a symbol of surrender. Its bearer is by international custom immune from harm.

Nepal is the only country in the world which does not have a rectangular flag – it has two triangular pennants, one on top of the other.

The Nepalese flag is so complicated that the constitution of Nepal includes 24-step instructions on how to create it.

Paraguay is the only country in the world with a national flag that's not the same on both sides.

The island of Dominica is the only country whose flag prominently features the color purple. The flag of Nicaragua is the only other one to feature any purple.

Flag of Dominica

During negotiations for truce between North and South Korea, both parties would try to bring a bigger national flag than the other to each meeting. This continued until a special meeting was called to address the size of the flags, as they could no longer fit in the room.

The most flags tattooed on the body is 366, a record set by Guinness Rishi, from India between July 2009 and July 2011. (he named himself after the Book Of Records).

The world’s tallest flagpole, known as the Jeddah Flagpole, is in King Abdulla Square in Saudi Arabia. It is a massive 557 ft (170 meters) tall, with the flag itself weighing 1,257 pounds (570 kg) and is 162 ft wide by 108 ft. tall (49.5 x 33 meters)

Source Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc.

Disneyland and Disney World

DISNEYLAND HISTORY

Walt Disney opened his Disneyland theme park on July 17, 1955.  He got his idea and inspiration when he visited the "Tivoli"-park in Denmark.

The $17 million theme park was built on 160 acres of former orange groves in Anaheim, California,. Today, Disneyland hosts more than 14 million visitors a year, who spend close to $3 billion.

It is the only theme park designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney.

In 1955, the admission for an adult ticket to Disneyland cost $1, which was then only double the price of a movie ticket.

Disneyland had 18 attractions on its opening day.

Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Anaheim. By Tuxyso / Wikimedia Commons, 

The opening day was an "International Press Preview" event held on Sunday, July 17, 1955, which was open only to invited guests and the media. It was a disaster: Asphalt poured that morning melted in the unusually high 38 °C (101 °F), weather, a plumbers' strike forced Disney to choose running toilets over water fountains, vendors ran out of food and rides were hijacked. Disney and his 1955 executives referred to July 17, 1955, as "Black Sunday".

Within a week of Disneyland opening, operator error resulted in the caboose of the Disneyland Railroad crashing and derailing. During the ensuing commotion, the brakeman at fault "quietly left the scene of the accident, exited the park, and was not seen again".

Walt Disney had a private apartment at the fire station at Disneyland. A lamp glowing in the window symbolized his presence in the park.

Richard Scherrer, an engineer listed  on the patent for Lockheed’s F-117 stealth aircraft, moonlighted in the 1950s to design some of the rides at Disneyland, including Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

The Disneyland ALWEG Monorail opened on June 14, 1959 as a sightseeing attraction in Tomorrowland in Disneyland. It was the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere.

The Enchanted Tiki Room opened in 1963. The attraction featured the first use of audio animatronics, something that would be common to many future Disney attractions.

Mark Maples became the first person to be killed on a ride in Disneyland in 1964. He stood up while riding the Matterhorn Bobsleds and was thrown to his death.

Before settling on Florida, Disney World was originally considered being built near Niagara Falls. However, after Walt Disney visited the location, he realised it was way too cold.

Walt Disney created multiple fake companies (like M.T. Lott Real Estate) to buy Florida land in the 1960s. This let him acquire what is now Disney World while avoiding suspicion and keeping prices low. The stores on Main Street shop windows are the names of those original companies.

Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida on October 1, 1971.

Cinderella Castle Magic Kingdom Panorama. By Flickr user: Michael Gray 

A 1-day adult ticket to Disneyland was $12 in 1982.

When the original Star Tours debuted at Disneyland in 1987, it was the first major motion simulator attraction at a theme park.

Hurricane Floyd was among the largest Atlantic hurricanes of its strength ever recorded, in terms of gale-force diameter. It was forecast to strike Florida, causing Walt Disney World in Florida to close for a full day for the first time in its history, on September 15, 1999. In the end Hurricane Floyd turned away from Florida and instead wreaked havoc on The Bahamas.

There is an urban legend about Walt Disney's body being cryonically frozen and buried beneath the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.

Before hitting it big in the acting business Kevin Costner worked as a skipper on the ride, the Jungle Cruise, at Disneyland in California.

Irlo Bronson sold the land that is present-day Walt Disney World in Florida for about US$100 per acre.

Disney World is 20 times larger than Disneyland.

Disneyland Paris, the first Walt Disney Park in Europe, opened in the Paris suburb of Marne-la-Vallée in 1992.

Disney's Animal Kingdom opened at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, in 1998.

Disney California Adventure Park opened to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in  California in 2001.

Disney World once considered building a fifth theme park dedicated to villains, called "The Dark Kingdom". The idea was opened up the idea to fans in 2010, with a mixed response.

Canadian Lindsay Nemeth visited each Disney park around the globe, earning the record for the fastest time to go to all Disney theme parks. In December 2017, Lindsay visited within 75 hr 6 min Disneyland, California,  Disneyland & Disney California Adventure, Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom, Disneyland Paris, Disneyland & Walt Disney Studios, Shanghai Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Tokyo Disney Resort, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. She took at least one ride, and got two signed witness statements at each resort.

FUN DISNEYLAND FACTS

Doritos were created at Disneyland in an attempt to use up old tortillas that would otherwise be thrown out.

Disneyland doesn't sell chewing gum. That's because Walt Disney didn't want guests inconvenienced by stepping on gum in the park.

Disney World is essentially its own city with its own government. The company has the authority to open schools, create its own criminal justice system, and open a nuclear power plant on its land in Florida; powers that are typically reserved for city and county governments.

Disney World is second only to the US military when it comes to purchasing explosives in the United States.

Walt Disney World is 40 square miles, making it the same size as San Francisco and twice the size of Manhattan.

Everyone that works at Disneyland is called a cast member not an employee.

Disneyland uses more than 100,000 lightbulbs to outline the buildings on Main Street, U.S.A.

The jungle in Disneyland's Jungle Cruise is now its own fully functioning ecosystem and no longer requires landscaping.

Every night after closing, Disneyland releases 200 cats into the park to help keep the rodent population under control.

Chickens are used to see where mosquitoes are in Walt Disney World. Disney strategically places groups of chickens around the park and regularly test them for mosquito borne viruses to see where mosquitoes are in the park. As a result there are almost no mosquitoes in Disney World even though it is in a swampy territory abundant with bugs.

Of all the photographs taken in the United States, 3% of them are taken at Disneyland or Walt Disney World.

Disney uses code names in the park. Rude visitors are called 'Treasured Guests.' Illegally spreading ashes is called 'White Powder Alert.' Vomit is called 'Protein Spill.' Kids peeing in the pool is called 'Code Winnie.'

Walt Disney had a secret apartment built in Disneyland so he could watch the crowds in his theme park.

There is a private club at Disneyland called Club 33. It is the only place in the park where alcohol is served.

Despite being on opposite ends of the country, Disneyland and Disney World are both located in Orange County. 

Big Ben

Big Ben, the bell in the Palace of Westminster's clock tower in London, was cast on April 10, 1858 by Whitechapel Bell Foundry after the original bell had cracked during testing.

The 30,300 lb (13.76 tonne) bell is known as ‘Big Ben’ after Benjamin Hall, First Commissioner of Works at the time.

The second "Big Ben" (centre) and the Quarter Bells from The Illustrated News of the World, 4 December 1858

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry company was established in 1570, making it one of the oldest manufacturing companies in the world. The foundry was located in Whitechapel, London and was known for making church bells and other types of bells.  As well as Big Ben, it also casted Philadelphia's Liberty Bell. The foundry closed on June 12, 2017, after nearly 450 years of bell-making. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain.

The clock mechanism of Big Ben was designed by Frederick Dent, who oversaw its development. The clock's tower and dial design were conceptualized by other architects, primarily Augustus Pugin, a prominent neo-Gothic architect, who assisted Charles Barry, the project's chief architect.

Shortly after completing his contributions to the tower, including its intricate Gothic details, Pugin suffered from what was described as a "nervous breakdown." His condition worsened, and he was institutionalized in an asylum before dying in 1852, just a year after the design phase.

Charles Barry often overshadowed Pugin's contributions. While Barry received much of the public credit, Pugin famously lamented that he had designed the decorative details, including the clock faces, yet remained unrecognized.

The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, started keeping time on May 31, 1859. Big Ben rang for the first time on July 11, 1859.

For two years during World War I, the bells were silenced and the clock face darkened at night to prevent attack by German Zeppelins.

The tradition of Big Ben's bongs heralding the news bulletins on the BBC began on December 31, 1923. It's a fascinating story that started with BBC engineer A.G. Dryland climbing onto a rooftop opposite the Houses of Parliament to capture the sound with a microphone, as he wasn't allowed into the clock tower itself.

That first New Year's Eve broadcast was a bit rough, picking up traffic noise along with the chimes. But it marked the beginning of a beloved tradition that continues to this day. Big Ben's bongs can now be heard twice daily on BBC Radio 4 at 6 pm and midnight, and three times on Sundays. 

Although the bells continued to ring, the clock faces were darkened at night through World War II to prevent guiding Blitz pilots.

In 1979 starlings were in such large numbers in London that they stopped Big Ben by landing on the hands.

On April 1, 1980, the BBC reported that Big Ben was getting a digital display. It was of course an April fool.

By © User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons

In 2008 a survey of 2,000 people found that the tower was the most popular landmark in the United Kingdom.

The Big Ben name is often used to mean the tower as well. It is the third-tallest free-standing clock tower.

The Clock Tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in a tribute to Queen Elizabeth in her 2012 Diamond Jubilee Year.

By Diliff - Own work,Wikipedia Commons

Each of the four clock faces of Big Ben are 23 feet (7 meters) in diameter and are made up of 312 panes of glass.

Each of the copper sheet minute hands on Big Ben’s clock faces weigh 222lb (100kg). The end of the 13 foot (4.2m) long minute hands travel 120 miles (190 km) every year

Putting Big Ben’s hands forwards or back in spring or autumn, plus a maintenance check, takes 16 hours.

Pennies are used to keep Big Ben accurate if its losing time. Putting a coin on its pendulum speeds it by two-fifths of a second a day.

Those wishing to go up Big Ben must climb the 334 spiral steps to the top — there is no lift. It is only open to UK residents, who have to apply to their MP.

The 15-minute chimes on Big Ben have lyrics that are based on Psalm 37:23-24 : "All through this hour. Lord be my guide. And by Thy power. No foot shall slide."

The company which maintains Big Ben has staff on 24-hour call should something go wrong.

If Big Ben was built today, it would cost around  £3.7 million ($4.9 million). 

Sources Wikipedia