# Historical oddities **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 23, 2018, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666 "2018-05-23T09:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/141 "2018-06-09T20:27:58Z")
Roger Bowen, who played Col. Henry Blake in the movie version of _M.A.S.H_, and Maclean Stevenson, who played Col. Henry Blake in the TV version of _M.A.S.H_, died one day apart. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/142 "2018-06-09T23:33:56Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > [Winston Churchill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill) met and occasionally corresponded with [Winston Churchill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill_(novelist)). In Randolph Churchill’s biography of his father’s early years (the English one), he says that when they met, his father urged the American to go into politics, saying, “I’m going to be Prime Minister one day, and think what trouble we could give the newspapers if you were President of the United States at the same time!” Note that the American did go into politics, becoming a member of the New Hampshire state legislature. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/143 "2018-06-09T23:37:31Z")
George Eyser won six medals, three gold, in the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. They were in gymnastics. Which doesn’t sound all that weird, until you read that he’d been struck by a train when he was a boy, and had his left leg amputated above the knee. Especially surprising is that one of his golds was in the vault. There wasn’t any springboard at the time; gymnasts used leg power only. > **[George Eyser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eyser)** > > George Louis Eyser (August 31, 1870 – March 6, 1919) was a German-American gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics, earning six medals in one day, including three gold and two silver medals. Eyser competed with a wooden prosthesis for a left leg, having lost his leg after being run over by a train. Despite his disability, he won gold in the vault, an event which then included a jump over a long horse without aid of a springboard. > Eyser was born on August 31, 1870, in Kiel, Germany, as t... ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/144 "2018-06-10T00:21:21Z")
The poster boy for the “short guys overcompensate” historical meme, Napoleon was actually a bit on the tall side for his era (5’8"). Moreso my personal bugbear than oddity: the Amish and Mennonite are Pennyslvania DEUTSCH, not Dutch. They were/are Germanic peoples, not wooden shoe-windmill folk. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/145 "2018-06-10T01:09:17Z")
Can we do sports ones? When Bobby Thompson hit the “shot heard ‘round the world”, a homerun off Ralph Branca so that “The Giants win the pennant!” in 1951, the rookie getting loose in the on deck circle was one Willie Mays. In 1961, the year he hit 61 homers to best Babe Ruth’s single season mark, Roger Maris never received a single intentional walk. It helped to have Mickey Mantle batting behind him. And in 1927, the year Ruth did hit his 60 home runs, the Yankees’ winning percentage was .714 - the same as the Babe’s career home run total. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/146 "2018-06-10T03:30:02Z")
More baseball: The 1946 St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series without a single player in uniform who had ever worn any other major league uniform. Every player was developed through the Cardinals’ system, none acquired through sale or trade. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/147 "2018-06-10T11:32:15Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > The poster boy for the “short guys overcompensate” historical meme, Napoleon was actually a bit on the tall side for his era (5’8"). > > Moreso my personal bugbear than oddity: the Amish and Mennonite are Pennyslvania DEUTSCH, not Dutch. They were/are Germanic peoples, not wooden shoe-windmill folk. But the Dutch are also a Germanic people 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/148 "2018-06-10T12:55:58Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > While there are many tales of people who fought for more than one country during WWII, Have a colleague whose grandfather was an itinerant Italian peasant who joined the army only because it offered regular meals and has the distinction of fighting for both the Axis and Allies in both WWI & WWII. He is translating and hoping to publish his grandfathers diaries, which are mainly about constant struggles to find food. One of the most poignant observations was that by the end of WWII he no longer knew which way to point his rifle. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/149 "2018-06-10T20:23:43Z")
Ann Rule got her first contract to write a book about the disappearances and murders of several young women before her friend Ted Bundy was even a suspect. Robert Ressler, first head of the FBI serial killers unit, grew up in the same neighborhood at the same time as John Wayne Gacy. He thought Gacy was bullshitting when he first told him this, but Gacy remembered the bowling alley, the church where they attended Cub Scout meetings, and delivering groceries to Gacy’s house, including some very unusual flower pots on the porch. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/150 "2018-06-10T21:00:06Z")
Nothing of any real consequence happened on July 4, 1776. Congress actually voted to declare independence on July 2; on the 4th all they did was approve Jefferson’s manuscript of the declaration which bore the date of the 4th. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/151 "2019-10-02T07:12:00Z")
Bumping instead of making a new thread. \*Since it’s discovery Pluto has not made one complete orbit around the sun. - The Great Wall of China began to be built at the same time as Hannibal crossed the Alps. The last section was built during the time of the 30 years war in the 1640’s. - There were Universities in North America before Shakespeare was born. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/152 "2019-10-02T07:44:14Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Bumping instead of making a new thread. > > \*Since it’s discovery Pluto has not made one complete orbit around the sun. Ha, it hasn’t even gone half-way around yet. Neptune only completed its first orbit since discovery in 2011. Neptune was seen by Galileo in 1612 and 1613 while he was observing Jupiter, but he didn’t recognize it as a planet. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/153 "2019-10-02T08:26:15Z")
Heh, [Precovery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precovery) is one of my favourite topics. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/154 "2019-10-02T08:57:30Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Charles Darwin and Steve Irwin owned the same Tortoise, which outlived both of them. This is incorrect. Harriet, the tortoise, died on June 24, 2006. Steve Irwin died on September 4, 2006. Irwin was even quoted speaking about the tortoise’s death. > **[Darwin's Reputed Tortoise Dies At 176](https://www.livescience.com/849-darwin-reputed-tortoise-dies-176.html)** > > The Galapagos tortoise that was long reputed to have been brought to Australia by Charles Darwin has died. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/155 "2019-10-02T13:12:39Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > - The Great Wall of China began to be built at the same time as Hannibal crossed the Alps. The last section was built during the time of the 30 years war in the 1640’s. The Great Wall wasn’t one wall. It was several walls built at different times and sometimes in different places. It would be like talking about the US road system being “one thing” that has taken 400 years to build. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/156 "2019-10-02T14:02:31Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The Great Wall wasn’t one wall. It was several walls built at different times and sometimes in different places. It would be like talking about the US road system being “one thing” that has taken 400 years to build. Yes thank you. :rolleyes: The point is the same _system_ of fortifications were being built over nearly 2 millennia. - The River Thames has run dry several times in its history, one of the most notable times was in 1858, which led to the _Great Stink_. Since all the excrement which normally was dumped into the river, was exposed and piled up. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/157 "2019-10-02T20:22:04Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Not sure if it’s an oddity, but: A person born in 1902 who died in 1970 was born before the first lighter-than-aircraft flight and died after a man walked on the moon. My eldest aunt was born in 1902, and lived to witness passenger planes attacking the World Trade Center. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/158 "2019-10-02T22:49:54Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > My grandfather was born in 1902 and died in 1981, so his life spanned both events. He was even alive for the first test flights of the Space Shuttle _Enterprise_. My grandfather’s lifespan (1887-1980) witnessed even more dramatic change: Pop Pop was born the same year [THIS](https://media2.fdncms.com/sevendaysvt/imager/u/original/26458819/movie1-1.jpg) modest contraption chugged along backwater roadways and he died after [THIS](https://heacockclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/Carl-Benz-at-the-tiller-of-the-improved-1887-Benz-Patent-Motorwagen.jpg) bleeding edge technological beast propelled man to the moon! …or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/159 "2019-10-03T22:28:09Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > My grandfather’s lifespan (1887-1980) witnessed even more dramatic change: > > Pop Pop was born the same year [THIS](https://media2.fdncms.com/sevendaysvt/imager/u/original/26458819/movie1-1.jpg) modest contraption chugged along backwater roadways and he died after [THIS](https://heacockclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/Carl-Benz-at-the-tiller-of-the-improved-1887-Benz-Patent-Motorwagen.jpg) bleeding edge technological beast propelled man to the moon! > > …or something like that. Your dad was Benjamin Button ? sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666/160 "2019-10-06T21:36:58Z")
There is a third gen Honda Civic up the street from me with “QQ” Histotic Liscence Plates. In other words… _There are Electronically Fuel Injected cars on the road today labeled ANTIQUES!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-oddities/814666.md?page=9)