Amazing Facts about Famous People

• Abraham Lincoln had to go across the street to the War Department to get news from the battlefield because there was no telegraph in the White House.

• Leif Erikson was the first European to set foot on North America in the year 1000.

• Leonard da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time. He invented the scissors, the helicopter, and many other present day items. He made sketches of a tracked armored vehicle to be used as an offensive weapon. It was pedal powered.

• It took Leonardo Da Vinci 10 years to paint Mona Lisa. He never signed or dated the painting. Leonardo and Mona had identical bone structures according to the painting. X-ray images have shown that there are 3 other versions under the original.

• Michelangelo painted only one easel picture.

• Henry IV was accused of betraying his Protestant religion by marrying a Catholic.

• Louis XVI of France was captured at Varennes in June 1791 while trying to flee his country. He was stopped at an inn when he tried to pay with a coin that carried his likeness.

• Millionaire Howard Hughes suffered from two phobias. Agoraphobia - fear of public places and mysophobia - the fear of germs.

• One of the greatest soldiers in history, Alexander the Great, was tutored by the greatest thinker of all time, Aristotle.

• Most-visited presidential grave: John F. Kennedy's in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

• King Henry III of France, Louis XIV of France, and Napoleon all suffered from ailurophobia the fear of cats.

• Napoleon constructed his battle plans in a sandbox.

• Napoleon took 14,000 French decrees and simplified them into a unified set of 7 laws. This was the first time in modern history that a nation's laws applied equally to all citizens. Napoleon's 7 laws are so impressive that by 1960 more than 70 governments had patterned their own laws after them or used them verbatim.

• Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte both suffered from epilepsy.

• Julius Caesar was the first to encode communications, using what has become known as the Caesar Cipher.

• Julius Caesar, Martin Luther and Jonathan Swift all suffered from Ménièr's disease. It is a disorder of the hearing and balance senses causing hissing, roaring or whistling sounds to be perceived.

• James Buchanan was certainly a good host. When England's Prince of Wales came to visit in the fall of 1860, so many guests came with him, it's said the president slept in the hallway.

• James Madison, 5 feet, 4 inches tall, was the shortest president of the US and weighed less than one hundred pounds. Abraham Lincoln was the tallest at six feet, 4 inches.

• It is believed that the Greek poet Aeschylus was killed when a bird-flying overhead dropped a tortoise and struck him. Birds have been known to carry shellfish to great heights and drop them in order crack the shells.

• In October 1959 Elizabeth Taylor became the first Hollywood star to receive $1 million for a single picture (Cleopatra).

• In 1920, Eugene Debs, a Socialist, received 920,000 votes for president of the United States even though he ran his entire campaign from prison.

• Jimmu, the legendary first ruler of Japan, began his reign in the year 660. Akihito, the current emperor, is said to be the 125th direct descendant of Jimmu to rule Japan.

• Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ate three chocolate-covered garlic balls in the morning. Her doctor told her it would help improve her memory.

• In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became the only U.S. President in history to deliver his inaugural address without using the word “I”.

• Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President to be born in a hospital.

• During his entire life, Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting, "Red Vineyard at Arles".

• Dominique Larrey, Napoleon's chief surgeon, could amputate a leg in 13 seconds.

• Cindy Laupher had dyslexia and failed every subject in school.

• Isaac Newton, Peter Tchaikovsky and Annie Lennox were all born on Christmas.

• Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow film down so you could see his moves.

• Elizabeth the First suffered from anthophobia (a fear of roses).

• Born on November 2, 1718, British politician, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, is credited with naming the 'sandwich.' He developed a habit of eating beef between slice of toast so he could continue to play cards uninterrupted.

• Brabara Cartland is the world's top-selling author with over 500 million copies sold.

• Blaise Pascal's father was a French tax collector who had trouble keeping track of his collections. So in 1642, young Pascal designed and built a mechanical adding machine to help. It was the first mechanical calculator in history.

• Bill Clinton is the only President ever to be elected twice without ever receiving 50% of the popular vote. He had 43 percent in 1992 and 49 percent in 1996.

• Bill Gates began his business career at the age of 14 by forming a company called Traf-O-Data with some friends of his.

• Bill Gates once was an employee for Apple. He worked with Jobs and Wasniak to develop the OS for the first Apple computers. Later, he left Apple and began his own little company, known as Micro-Soft. It later became known as Microsoft... the reigning king of the software industry as we all know it.

• Betsy Ross was born with a fully formed set of teeth.

• Between 1931 and 1969 Walt Disney collected thirty-five Oscars.

• Andrew Jackson spent most of his adult life with a bullet no more than two inches away from his heart as a result of a duel he fought before becoming President.

• Andrew Johnson, was the only self-educated tailor. He is the only President to make his own clothes as well as his cabinet's.

• Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I's mother, had six fingers on one hand.

• All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn't like being seen wearing them in public.

• Alfred Hitchcock did not have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.

• Alfred Hitchcock directed the first talking film ever made in England. It was called Blackmail and was made in 1931.

• All 17 children of Queen Anne died before her.

• Amelia Earhart designed the first lightweight luggage for air travel.

• Alexander Graham Bell's wife and mother were both deaf.

• Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger bought the first Hummer manufactured for civilian use in 1992. The vehicle weighed in at 6,300 lbs and was 7 feet wide.