Cataract operations were being performed in India as far back as 900 BC.
In ancient Babylonia the fees of eye surgeons were fixed by law, based on the status of the patient. A successful operation on a rich freeman cost ten shekels of silver whilst the same operation on a slave was priced at two shekels.
The ancient Greek cure for cataracts was to pour hot broken glass into the eyes.
Syringe devices was first used in the 9th century, when an Egyptian surgeon used a glass suction tube to remove cataracts from a patient.
Magnified view of a cataract seen on examination with a slit lamp. Rakesh Ahuja, MD. Wikipedia
Galileo Galilei irreversibly damaged his retinas by looking at the Sun and its sunspots for too long and in his last years cataracts robbed him completely of sight.
At London's Zoological Gardens the first successful operation was performed on a grizzly bear on November 5, 1850 to remove cataracts from both eyes.
The cataract eye disease is estimated to have blinded more than 25 million people worldwide.
The Macedonians developed the catapult as a siege engine for the armies of Philip II and Alexander the Great.
Soldiers besieging towns and castles in the Middle Ages catapulted decaying carcasses of animals over the defensive walls to spread disease.
The last large scale military use of catapults was during the trench warfare of World War I. During the early stages of the war, catapults were used to throw hand grenades across no man's land into enemy trenches. They were eventually replaced by small mortars.
In January 2011 it was reported that a group of smugglers used a homemade catapult to deliver marijuana into the United States from Mexico. The machine was found 20 feet from the border fence with 4.4 pounds bales of marijuana ready to launch.
Cat doors (often simple holes) in the walls, doors or even roofs of grain and flour storage spaces have used to welcome feral cats to hunt rodent pests that feed on these stores in rural areas since ancient times.
Geoffrey Chaucer described a simple cat hole in the "Miller's Tale" from his late 14th century Canterbury Tales. In the narrative, a servant whose knocks go unanswered uses the cat door to peek in.
The invention of the cat door was attributed to Isaac Newton (1642–1727) in a late 19th century story (authored anonymously). The author claimed that Newton made the flap to let cats into his study without spoiling his optics experiments. However, the inventor foolishly made a large hole for his adult cat and a small one for her kittens, not realizing the kittens would follow the mother through the large one.
The Oxford English Dictionary recorded the first use of the phrase "cat flap" in 1957.
It is estimated that about 74% of cats in the United Kingdom have access to the outdoors by means of a cat flap.
Sheep are mentioned in the Bible 45 times, dogs 14 times and goats 88 times but there isn’t a single reference to a cat.
The oldest known pet cat was found in a 9500-year-old grave in Cyprus, predating early Egyptian art depicting cats by thousands of years.
Legend says that the Manx cat lost its tail when Noah closed the door to the ark too soon.
The cat was proclaimed to be sacred in ancient Egypt. Thousands of cats were mummified after their deaths to ensure them eternal life.
The earliest authenticated record of the domestication of the cat in ancient Egypt dates from 1500 BC, although the cat was proclaimed to be sacred in that country about 1,000 years earlier. The actual domestication of cats probably came about when the Egyptians noticed that cats protected their granaries from rodents.
Today’s house cats are descended from wildcats in Africa and Europe.
The ancient Egyptians 'created' the modern house cats we know today through selective breeding; choosing the most sociable and friendly ones to reproduce.
The earliest record of a named cat is from over 3400 years in Egypt, his name was "Nedjem" which means sweet or pleasant.
The Egyptians worshipped a goddess with a cat's head called "Bast" who they believed was the mother of all cats on Earth. Bast became one of the most sacred of all figures of worship.
The Greek historian Herodotus remarked that when a fire broke out in an Egyptian household, people would be more concerned about saving the cats than putting out the fire.
In ancient Egypt, the entire family would shave their eyebrows off as a sign of mourning when the family cat died.
After a cat's death in ancient Egypt, its body was mummified and buried in a special cemetery. One cemetery found in the 1800s contained the preserved bodies of more than 300,000 cats.
The penalty for killing a cat, 4,000 years ago in Egypt, was death.
Cats were valued in other parts of the world for their rat-catching prowess in ancient times. They were taken by the Greeks and Romans to most parts of Europe. Domestic cats were also found in India, China, and Japan where they were prized as pets as well as rodent catchers.
In the 9th century, King Henry I of Saxony decreed that the fine for killing a cat should be sixty bushels of corn
The first record of domestic cats in Britain dates to AD 936, when a law was passed in Wales for their protection.
In Europe during the Middle Ages, the cat became an object of superstitions and was associated with evil. It was believed to be endowed with powers of black magic--an associate of witches and perhaps the embodiment of the devil. Persons who kept cats were suspected of wickedness and were often put to death along with their cats. Cats were hunted, tortured, and sacrificed.
"Cat-burning" was an accepted practice thought to bring good luck in medieval times. It was custom to burn a barrel full of live cats over a bonfire as people shrieked with laughter while they were singed and roasted. French kings often witnessed it and even ceremoniously started the fire.
When the Black Death swept across England one theory was that cats caused the plague. Thousands were slaughtered. Ironically, those that kept their cats were less affected, because they kept their houses clear of the real culprits, rats.
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal Bull calling for the burning of all witches and their cats at the stake.
The bounty on the head of a wild cat was fixed by Elizabeth I at a penny. But such was the hatred towards them for the harm they did to cattle that church wardens tended to pay more.
Some of the superstitions that arose during the period of cat persecution are still evident today in the form of such sayings as "A black cat crossing your path brings bad luck."
Cats were so precious in Japan that until 1602 they were kept on leads. Then the emperor ordered that they could be released so that they could kill the vermin that were threatening the silk crop.
Francesco Morosini, Doge of Venice in the late 1600s, wouldn't engage in naval combat without his cat beside him.
Abraham Lincoln was the first cat owner to ever become president. According to his wife Mary, Abraham Lincoln’s hobby was cats.
The first cat show took place at Crystal Palace in 1871.
In the 1870s, a Belgian village attempted to train a fleet of 37 official mail cats to deliver letters.
It didn’t work.
Most pet Burmese cats descend from a female cat, Wong Mau, who was brought to the USA in 1930.
In 1949 a British warship, the HMS Amethyst fought for survival after it is bombarded and then trapped by Chinese communists on the Yangtse river. One of the crew, able Seacat Simon becomes the first feline to receive the Dickin Medal (the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross) for keeping rats away from the ship’s provisions, despite being wounded.
Félicette was a stray cat who was found on the streets of Paris and was among 14 moggies trained by the French space program. Félicette was chosen for her calm disposition to be the first cat to go into space. She launched on October 18, 1963, on a suborbital mission that reached an altitude of 154 kilometers (97 miles). Félicette survived the flight and returned to Earth safely, but she was euthanized two months later so that scientists could study her body.
Félicette en 1963. By Eilemaa - Wikipedia
International Cat Day, a celebration that takes place on August 8 every year, was created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The day raises awareness for cats and educates us in ways to help and protect them.
CAT RECORDS
The rusty-spotted cat is a very rare wild cat native to India and Sri Lanka. They weigh in at 2-4 pounds and are thought to be the smallest wild cat species.
Rusty spotted cat. Flickr
A tabby cat named Dusty, of Bonham, Texas, USA produced 420 kittens during her breeding life. She gave birth to her last litter (a single kitten) aged 17 on June 12, 1952 and holds the Guinness record for the most prolific cat.
Dusty's owner, Mrs. N. E. Todhunter, was a breeder of pedigreed cats. She began breeding Dusty when she was two years old, and Dusty quickly proved to be a prolific breeder. She had her first litter of six kittens at the age of three, and she continued to have litters of up to 12 kittens every year for the rest of her breeding life.
On August 7, 1970 a Burmese/Siamese cat belonging to V. Gane from Oxfordshire, United Kingdom gave birth to 19 kittens, breaking the record for the largest litter of domestic cats. Four of the kittens were stillborn, but they were still added to the total.
The cat that holds the world record for amount of mice killed is Towser (1963-1987) who lived in the still house, Glenturret Distillery in Scotland for almost 24 years. She caught 28,899 mice in her lifetime. Her life and exploits are commemorated by a bronze statue at the 'Famous Grouse Experience' visitor center on the Glenturret site and her paw prints are marked on every bottle of Fairlie’s Light Highland Liqueur.
Creme Puff (August 3, 1967 – August 6, 2005) was a female cat who died at the age of 38 years and 3 days. She was the oldest cat ever recorded.
Creme Puff Wikipedia Commons
Creme Puff lived with her owner, Jake Perry, in Austin, Texas. Perry also owned Granpa, who died in 1998, aged 34. Both cats lived off a diet of bacon, eggs, broccoli and coffee with cream. Topped with an eyedropper of red wine everyday.
Most cats have a total of 18 toes, with five toes on each fore paw, and four toes on each hind paw. The cat with most toes was a Canadian male ginger cat Jake, who had 28 toes – seven on each paw – as counted by a veterinarian on September 24, 2002.
Jake's record was equaled by a cat from Northfield, Minnesota called Paws. Owner Jeanne Martin revealed in February 2018 her three-year-old pet feline also has 28 toes.
History's fattest cat died at age 10 years and four months in Cairns, Australia on March 12, 1986. The neutered male house cat named Himmy was 38 inches long and weighed 46.8 pounds (21.3 kilograms) at his death. The owner Thomas Vyse had to transport Himmy in a wheelbarrow.
A 29-year-old ginger and white tomcat named Spike was crowned as Britain’s oldest cat in 1999. Owner Mo Elkington attributed Spike’s 203 equivalent human years to a diet laced daily with bits from the aloe vera plant.
The world’s longest domestic cat, a grey tabby Maine Coon called Stewie, from the American state of Nevada. Stewie was measured at 123 cm (48.5 in) on August 28, 2010 and died in 2013. He also held the record for the longest cat tail, at 41cm (16.5in).
The fastest domestic cat is the Egyptian Mau. Maus have been clocked running more than 30 mph.
The world’s largest known big cat is a 131 inches long (10ft 11in) liger called Hercules. He lives in a theme park in Miami called Jungle Island. Ligers are a cross between a male lion and a female tiger and can live for up to 24 years.
FAMOUS CATS
It is said that sometimes the Islamic Prophet Muhammad gave sermons with the cat, Muezza, on his lap, and that Muhammad cut a piece off his clothes as to not disturb the cat from his rest on said clothes. As such, Muslims hold cats as cherished and lovable creatures.
Foss owned by Edward Lear
Tom Kitten owned by The Kennedys
Gris Gris owned by Charles de Gaulle
Perruque owned by Cardinal Richelieu
Elvis owned by John Lennon
George Pushdragon owned by TS Eliot
Vashka owned by Nicholas I
Cat was the name of Holly Golightly's pet cat in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.
There has been a resident Treasury or Downing Street cat employed as a mouser and pet since the reign of Henry VIII, when Cardinal Wolsey placed his cat by his side while acting in his judicial capacity as Lord Chancellor, an office he assumed in 1515.
Horace Walpole, the son of Britain’s first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, owned a cat called Selima, a tortoiseshell tabby who drowned in a goldfish bowl. This inspired his poem “Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a tub Of Gold Fishes.” (1748)
Simon was the ship's cat who served on the Royal Navy sloop HMS Amethyst. In 1949, he was on board the warship during the Yangtze Incident when the HMS Amethyst came under fire from Chinese Communist forces. He received the PDSA's Dickin Medal, the highest British honor awarded for animal displays of bravery in battle, after surviving injuries from a cannon shell, raising morale, and killing off a rat infestation during his service. He is the only cat ever to receive the Dickin Medal.
Towser the Mouser was a long-haired tortoiseshell female that caught more than 28,800 mice at the Famous Grouse Whiskey distillery in Scotland between 1963 and 1987. She's in the Guinness Book of Records as best mouser, and they have a statue of her at the distillery.
In 1988 Ben Rea of the UK bequeathed his $12.5-million fortune to pet cat Blackie, making him the world's wealthiest cat
Socks (1989 – February 20, 2009) was the pet cat that lived with the Clintons in the White House. He was a stray who jumped into Bill and Hillary's daughter Chelsea's arms one day in 1991. After Clinton left office, Socks resided with his former secretary Betty Currie and her husband, owing to continuing conflicts with Clinton's dog Buddy.
Socks, photographed on the South Lawn of the White House
On March 30, 1996, a stray cat named Scarlett and her five kittens were in an abandoned garage allegedly used as a crack house in Brooklyn when a fire started from undetermined causes. Scarlett risked her life five times returning to the burning garage to save her kittens. She touched each of them with her nose to ensure they were all alive as the blisters on her eyes kept her from being able to see them. She collapsed unconscious after assuring they were all safe. One kitten died a month later, but fter three months of treatment and recovery at a veterinary clinic, Scarlett and her surviving kittens were well enough to be adopted.
A cat named Stubbs was the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska from 1997 until his death in 2017.
A homeless heroin addict, James Bowen, got clean with the help of a stray cat, Bob, whom he found injured in 2007. James wrote a best-selling book, and in 2016 a movie was released starring Bob as himself.
In 2011, an Italian black cat named Tommaso inherited about 10 million euros (£8.5m) when his owner, a reclusive widow, died in Rome aged 94.
In 2012 a cat named Orlando beat top investment bankers in a year long investment competition. The moggy made his choices by throwing his favorite mouse toy at a grid to select companies to invest in.
Masha, a long-haired tabby living in Obninsk, Russia, rescued an abandoned baby from freezing to death in January 2015 by staying beside and giving him warmth while continue meowing to alert human in the vicinity. Someone heard Masha and the baby boy was saved and brought to a hospital.
On request of the family of Sir Winston Churchill, there is always a marmalade cat called Jock in residence at Chartwell house. Currently it is Jock VI.
CAT ANATOMY
Cat urine glows under a black light.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
Cats can comfortably withstand high external temperatures ranging up to 126° F to 133° F before showing any signs that they are hot. This is thought to be a remnant of the fact that they were once probably desert animals.
Cats do not have sweat glands.
A cat has 32 sets of muscles in each ear.
Most cats have five toes on each front paw, but only four toes on each back paw.
Occasionally cats have more than the usual number of toes. The record is a total of 28.
A domestic cat has eighteen claws: five on each of its front paws and four on each of its back paws.
Cats have a hidden claw, known as the dew claw, that flicks out like a knife when they climb.
A cat can’t climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat’s paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down.
Female cats tend to be right-pawed; tom cats tend to be left-pawed.
A cat can jump as much as seven times its height.
An average-sized cat with its limbs extended achieves a terminal velocity of about 60mph (97km/h), while an average-sized man reaches a terminal velocity of about 120mph (193km/h). This is why cats can survive falls from such great heights.
An adult cat can run about 12 mph, and can sprint up to 31 mph.
A cat's tongue is scratchy because it's lined with papillae-tiny elevated backwards hooks that help to hold prey in place.
Cats have fewer taste buds than humans and are the only mammals that can't taste sweetness.
Cats use their whiskers to gauge whether they can fit through an opening.
Outdoor cats tend to be farsighted, while most indoor cats are nearsighted.
Cats do not need to blink on a regular basis to keep their eyes lubricated. Unblinking eyes are probably an advantage when hunting.
Cats have a wider field of view than humans — about 200 degrees, compared with humans’ 180-degree view.
The nose pad of each cat has ridges in a unique pattern not unlike a person's fingerprints.
A cat's heart beats about twice as fast as a human heart.
The kidneys of cats are so efficient that they can drink seawater without any problem.
A cat's tail contains nearly 10% of all the bones in its body.
The cat skeleton contains more than 230 bones (a human has about 206), and the pelvis and shoulders loosely attach to the spine. This adds to their flexibility and allows them to fit through very small spaces.
The surface area of a cat, including all the fur, is roughly equivalent to the surface area of a Ping-Pong table.
CAT BEHAVIOR
Cats often clean themselves after you pet them because they hate the human smell.
Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day.
Cats spend so much of their time sleeping that by the age of 9, they will have only been awake for three years.
Don't be alarmed when cats narrow their eyes - it's actually a sign of friendship.
Cats show you that they trust you by holding eye contact and blinking slowly.
Domestic cats don't purr simply to show their happy, they may also be doing it for the good of their health. They purr at frequencies between 25 and 150 Hz, a range scientists have discovered can increase bone density and promote healing.
Cats can make as many as 16 different meow sounds, mostly used only when people are around.
Adult cats don't actually meow at each other, just at people. Kittens meow to let their mother know they’re cold or hungry, but once they get a bit older, cats no longer meow to other cats.
Cats also talk in more subtle ways - with their eyes and tails. A slow blink from a feline, for example, is like a wink between friends.
Cats have a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food at around 38 °C which is similar to that of a fresh kill and routinely rejecting food presented cold (which would signal to the cat that the "prey" is long dead and therefore possibly toxic or decomposing).
The reason why cats avoid eating food or drinking water from the sides of their bowls is to prevent 'whisker fatigue' (sensory overload) which causes pain and stress every time they eat.
Cats are one of only a few rare mammals that are unable to tell if food is sweet.
When cats walk, their hind paws land in the same place as their front paws to reduce tracks and noise.
FUN CAT FACTS
The most popular name for a male cat is Tiger.
A cat named Gros Minou fell 20 stories from a Montreal apartment building, landed on her feet, and survived.
Catnip can affect lions and tigers as well as house cats. It excites them because it contains a chemical that resembles an excretion of the dominant female's urine.
The average life span of a pet cat has risen from seven years in the early 1980s to fifteen years as of 2021.
Neutering a cat extends its life span by two or three years.
Having a cat neutered or spayed can confer several health benefits for the animal. In male cats, neutering involves the removal of the testes, which eliminates the production of testosterone. This helps to reduce the risk of several health problems, including testicular cancer.
In female cats, spaying involves the removal of the ovaries and uterus, which eliminates the production of reproductive hormones. This can help to reduce the risk of several types of cancer, including ovarian and uterine cancer, as well as reduce the risk of mammary cancer.
Cats are obligate carnivores - they must eat meat to get all of their nutrition.
The average cat food meal is the equivalent to about five mice.
The number of pet cats in the world is estimated to be around half a billion plus another 100 million wild cats.
The UK cat population is around eight million, with a pet cat or cats in 19 per cent of households.
Owning a cat reduces the chance of a heart attack by 30%.
The British Museum database contains 93 items relating to mummified cats in its collection.
The collective noun for a group of cats is a ‘clowder’ or a ‘glaring’. A 'clowder' is just an old version of 'clutter' and was coined by Joseph Strutt in 1801.
Predicting the future via the movement of cats is known as “Ailuromancy.”
Fidel Castro was born out of wedlock at his father's Cuban farm on Friday August 13, 1926.
Known as a rebellious, loud, and troublesome child, Fidel Castro was sent to a Jesuit boarding school in Santiago de Cuba, where he was often teased by his wealthier classmates who called him a "peasant."
When Fidel Castro was 14 he wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and asked him for a 10 dollar bill because he admired America. in 1940, He said: "If you like, give me a ten dollars bill green American, in the letter, because never, I have not seen a ten dollars bill green American and I would like to have one of them."
Castro was voted Cuba’s best schoolboy athlete in 1944. He was a left-handed pitcher and had a trial for Washington Senators baseball team but was turned down.
Castro enrolled at the University of Havana, where he earned a law degree.
Castro married Mirta Diaz-Balart on October 11, 1948 in Banes, Cuba. They honeymooned in New York City.
Castro, Mirta and son
They had one child, a son, Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, who was born on September 1, 1949.
He co-founded a legal partnership that primarily catered for poor Cubans, Castro failed to pay his bills; his furniture was repossessed and electricity cut off, distressing his wife.
Castro and Mirta Diaz-Balart divorced (while Castro was in exile) in 1955.
He lived with Celia Sanchez, an upper-class Cuban woman and devoted guerrilla leader for almost 30 years. Sanchez, the love of Castro's life, was also the only one who could disagree with him. Her death from cancer in 1980 was said to hurt him very hard.
Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led a group of approximately 160 rebels on July 26, 1953 in an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement.
On February 16, 1959 Fidel Castro, wearing army fatigues, was sworn in as prime minister of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the island. He accepted the position on the condition that the Prime Minister’s powers be increased.
Fidel Castro - MATS Terminal Washington 1959
When he came to power, Castro decreed that every set of the board game Monopoly must be destroyed because of its capitalist ideals.
Fidel Castro's speech at the United Nations on September 29, 1960 was notable for its length. He delivered a marathon address that lasted for 4 hours and 29 minutes, one of the longest ever delivered at the United Nations. During his speech, Castro criticized imperialism and called for global disarmament while expressing his support for various socialist and anti-imperialist causes. Castro's speech made headlines at the time and is still remembered for its length and the passionate delivery of his political beliefs.
On December 2, 1961, Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivered a televised speech in which he declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and announced that Cuba would adopt communism as its political and economic system. This marked a significant shift in Cuba's political trajectory and solidified its alignment with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Prior to this declaration, Castro's political ideology had been somewhat ambiguous. While he had implemented socialist policies such as nationalization of industries and land reform, he had not explicitly embraced communism. His announcement in December 1961 was a turning point, as it signaled his full commitment to a communist system for Cuba.
Castro's declaration had a profound impact on Cuba's domestic and international relations. It led to the strengthening of ties between Cuba and the Soviet Union, which provided significant economic and military assistance to the island nation. Additionally, the announcement strained relations between Cuba and the United States, which viewed communism as a threat to its interests in the Western Hemisphere.
Castro publicly declared himself an atheist. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, tension grew between the Catholic Church and Castro's communist government. The government implemented policies restricting religious activities, including closing Catholic schools and expelling priests. Pope John XXIII publicly disagreed with these actions.
Fidel Castro had a strange dairy obsession, and would craft elaborate schemes such as a "race of super cows" and tiny cows to keep as house pets. He even bred a cow that produced over 100 liters of milk in a day.
Castro particularly loved ice cream, so much that he had arguments about it with other world leaders. He once consumed 18 scoops of ice cream in one sitting. .
Following intestinal surgery in 2006, Fidel Castro provisionally transferred the duties of the Cuban presidency to his brother Raúl.
In a February 2008 letter, Castro announced that he would not accept the positions of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief at that month's National Assembly meetings because of the decline in his physical condition. On February 24, 2008, the National Assembly of People's Power unanimously voted Raúl as president.
Castro in front of a Havana statue of Cuban national hero José Martí in 2003.Wikipedia
Castro resigned from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba on April 19, 2011 after 50 years of holding the title of First Secretary.
Fidel Castro survived 638 assassination attempts, sprawling over the decades. They included some bizarre efforts, which included a toxic cigar and exploding mollusks. There was even a plot to make his beard fall off to lower his popularity.
Fidel Castro died in Santiago de Cuba aged 90 at 22:29 [EST] on November 25, 2016. The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries, the Marxist revolutionary had governed the Republic of Cuba for 47 years as Prime Minister from 1959 -1976 and then as President from 1976 -2006.
Before his death, Fidel Castro's last wish was to avoid being a "personality cult"; because of this, Cuba prohibits the use of Castro's name in the names of "institutions, parks, streets and other public places, as well as any honorary titles or medals."
Women were forbidden to sing in church on the advice of St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: “Let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak.” In Italy, on order to keep the churches supplied, talented Italian boys were sent to the country’s famous conservatories for musical training from an early age.
The desire for adult female voices led to the practice of castration in Italian music, as a way of preserving high male singing voices with the added physical power of male lungs and larynx. The practice was commonplace by 1574.
Some of the boy singers became so wrapped up in their art that they begged to be castrated, knowing the rewards that might be in store. But all too often the boys were completely ignorant of their fate.
The famous castrati, Farinelli (January 24, 1705 – September 16, 1782) made his debut in London in 1734. Christened Carlo Broschi, he took the surname of his benefactors, the brothers Farina, as his stage name.
Portrait of Farinelli by Corrado Giaquinto (c. 1755)
With a voice spanning three octaves and incredibly lungs Farinelli could hold a note for a minute without a break.
Farielli used to sing for King Philip V of Spain to sleep at night with the same four songs.
It has been calculated that some 4,000 boys were operated on in Italy in the 18th century — partly because women were banned from singing in churches.
During the Middle Ages, kings and wealthy noblemen built fortified stone castles for protection from enemy attacks. The hall was the principal room of the medieval castles. The castles also contained the lord's private rooms, a kitchen, a pantry, a wine cellar, and perhaps a chapel.
When Saint Emmeram Castle was built in built in Regensburg, Germany in c650 AD, it contained 517 rooms and 231,000 square-foot floor space making it the largest non palatial residence in the world.
When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, he brought with him pre-built wooden castles with planks already cut to size. They gave immediate protection to his men and horses.
The largest castle of the time, Hradany Castle, was built at Prague, Czechoslovakia in the ninth century. It was destroyed by fire in 1303.
Fireplaces could be built in castle walls, and crude chimneys first appeared during the 12th century.
Spiral staircases in castles were built clockwise so that defending knights had the advantage of swinging swords right-handed going down.
Loopholes are the slits in castle walls that archers fired from, and that's why finding the loophole is finding a way to circumvent security measures in place.
A castle was often built with a band of water round the outside called a moat so attackers couldn't put ladders down or tunnel under the walls.
Bodiam Castle
All the toilets emptied into the moat and it soon began to fill up with human waste and smelled like a dead rat's gut. If you fell in you might not drown - but you would be poisoned if you swallowed any water.
The moats were often filled with fish. Despite the moat being filled with human waste, the castle cooks would have the fish caught and serve them up for dinner.
Stone castles were very effective against the Mongols. They sustained heavy casualties trying, but were never able to take a single one in two invasions of Hungary.
Castle building began to decline in the 15th century, when artillery became powerful enough to break through stone walls.
In the 1800s, Dobroyd Castle was built by John Fielden in Todmorden, England, for a woman who would only marry him if he built her a castle.
Ludwig II ((1845 – 1886) used his personal fortune to fund the construction of a series of elaborate fantasy-like castles all over Bavaria. Because of his compulsion he went deeply into debt. He became so desperate that he was prepared to imprison anyone who would not help him raise money to build his dream castles.
Ludwig II's castles later inspired the fairy tale castles at Walt Disney parks.
Nearly all the castles depicted in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail are actually Doune Castle, a medieval stronghold in central Scotland, from different angles.
A painting of the Madonna in Fiorano Castle, Italy, escaped without even being scorched when invading soldiers set the castle afire, yet all the rest of the building was destroyed.
Wales has more castles per square mile than any other country.
Carnavon Castle, Wales
Built in the 9th century, Prague Castle as the largest ancient castle in the world. It is an oblong irregular polygon with an average diameter of 128 m (420 ft), giving a total surface area of 7.28 hectares (18 acres).
Slovakia has the highest number of castles and chateaux per person in the world, with 180 castles and 425 chateaux in a population of 5.4 million.
There really is a castle in the English city of Newcastle. While it was built in 1177, you would think that it wasn't all that new, but the original castle built in 1080, was replaced by the new castle, so the name stuck.
Dover Castle is the largest castle in England. There are over three miles of secret war time tunnels snaking deep into the cliff. Many of these tunnels are still undiscovered.
More than five hundred people live and work in Windsor Castle, making it the largest inhabited castle in the world.
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