We learn fascinating facts about history all the time, with more and more important details being brought to light. However, although we all learn about these figures from history when we are school or college, we often don’t learn the fun facts that can render these people more relatable. Therefore, this piece will attempt to introduce these facts about famous historical figures.
This military general who fought in the American Civil War has gone down in history as the man who invented baseball – but in actual fact, he was not the inventor. In 1905, a commission came to the conclusion that he had developed the game in 1839, although he was at West Point Military Academy then and never claimed to have invented it. Despite this, the myth led to the use of Cooperstown – where he failed to invent baseball that year – being made the site of the sport’s Hall of Fame. It’s probably easier to just go on pretending he did.
Churchill is famous for lots of things, but an obsession with cigar smoking is not one of them. He was pictured with a cigar on several occasions, but in fact, he was so addicted to them that he had to train himself to smoke no more than 15 a day. It’s not exactly moderation, but presumably, he managed to avoid smoking in his sleep.
He is one of the most famous figures in Egyptian history, ruling during the New Kingdom period of Egyptian history, but very little is known about his parents. To be fair, he probably preferred it that way as it turns out that they were sister and brother! This might have accounted for some of the physical deformities and diseases he suffered from.
Despite the name, the author of classic books like The Cat in the Hat was not a real doctor – either a medical one or a PhD. He had a number of degrees under his belt, but they were strictly honorary ones. The name was a sop to his mum, who had been keen for him to graduate in medicine – so if you fail your medical degree, just start calling yourself ‘doctor’ anyway.
There is a lot known about Napoleon, although a lot of it is more myth than fact, but as the likes of the Ladbrokes historical facts blog will point out many historical figures such as the King of Norway have a history of gambling , his passion for blackjack is largely unknown. This was easily the general’s favourite card game and one that he devoted hours of his free time to – maybe that was why he hid one hand inside his jacket.
It is facts like these ones that make the great figures from history seem more human – helping bring history to life.