Fast facts – Ways of the world fascinating, fabulous & fandangled.

from My Weekly Preview Issue 674. September 30, 2021

What’s on – There’s lots happening across the Coast.

Beauty and the Beast was written to help girls accept arranged marriages. The original version was a 1740 story by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, in which the beast was a hideous combination of an elephant and a fish. According to children’s literature academic Maria Tatar, the tale was written in order to encourage girls to accept arranged marriages, “for an alliance that required effacing their own desires and submitting to the will of a monster”.

Quote of the week.

“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” – Alexander Graham Bell Brunch was invented to cure hangovers. The millennial’s favourite meal was invented in 1895 by English writer Frank Beringer, who prescribed an alternative to the traditional Sunday dinner that he dubbed ‘brunch’. He argued that waking up early was no fun for those who had had wild Saturday nights.

By the numbers. 9025 120

The earliest signs of humans performing dentistry was 9025 years ago (in 7000BC). The distance in kilometres that snakes can still feel an earthquake from.

400 Billion

3 years

The amount of time a snail can sleep for. The number of Lego The number of Lego pieces in the world as of 2020.

William ‘Willy’ Patrick Hitler was born in Liverpool to a British mother and a German father. He was the halfbrother of Adolf Hitler. When Anglo-German relations started heating up due to his uncle’s behaviour, Willy published an essay in Look magazine entitled Why I Hate My Uncle. As war broke out, he moved his family to the United States, where he tried to enlist in the US Navy but was turned down. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Franklin D Roosevelt took a second look at Willy’s application and finally approved him to engage in the fight against the Nazis.

Today in history – September 30

1949 – After 15 months of airlifting supplies to Berlin, the Berlin airlift led by American forces comes to an end. The Berlin Blockade was an international crisis where the Soviet Union blocked access of Western countries into Berlin. 1960 – The animated series The Flintstones premiers on TV. It ran for six years until April 1, 1966. 1966 – Botswana gains independence from the United Kingdom. Sir Seretse Khama becomes the country’s first president. 2005 – Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishes a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, which led to riots and protests.