Trivia 13:
Weird History



Edith Wilson, wife of President Woodrow Wilson, often rode a bicycle in the corridors of the White House.

The Roman Emperor Caligula is remembered as the Horse Emperor because he bestowed the rank of Consul and Co-Regent upon his favorite horse, Incitatus. The horse was given every honor of the office and was provided with an ivory manger and a gold drinking goblet from which it drank wine.

George Washington was not really the first president of the United States - John Hanson as. In 1781, Maryland finally signed the Articles of Confederation, and the union of the original 13 colonies became an actuality. The man who signed for Maryland was the elected president of the United States in the assembled Congress. On the occasion of his victory at Yorktown, Washington addressed Hanson as president of the United States.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was admitted to West Point only because the student who ranked ahead of him in the entrance exam flunked the physical.

The first polls to determine the popularity of presidential candidates were conducted in the late 1800s by putting the candidates' pictures on cigar boxes and then noting which sold the best.

In 19th-century Sweden, a new burgomaster was chosen by placing a louse in the center of a table. The man whose beard the insect jumped into held the office for the next year.



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