From 1264 to 1827, anyone who received a Master of Arts degree from Oxford had to swear that they would never forgive Henry Symeonis. By 1608, no one knew who he was or what he had done.
Quite Interesting
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Quite Interesting
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
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- Until 1979, Sweden classified homosexuality as a mental illness. That year, activists took the classification as an illness to its logical extent - Swedes called in too gay to go to work.
- We are deeply saddened to hear of Sean Lock's passing. Sean was a QI regular right from the first series, and helped to shape the show with his fantastically sharp wit and anarchic good humour. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
- In English, a "French exit" is to sneak out of a party without telling anyone. In French, it is known as "partir à l’anglaise" - to leave the English way.
- The word ‘Tory’, commonly used to refer to a member of the UK Conservative Party, comes from the Irish Gaelic word ‘tóraidhe’ meaning outlaw or robber.
- An 81-year-old Australian with a rare antibody has retired from donating blood. Going every fortnight for 60 years, officials believe he has helped save the lives of over two million babies.
- In 1991 stonemasons quietly added an alien to the gargoyles of Scotland’s Paisley Abbey. (Image: Colin CC-BY-SA-2.0)
- Crows not only hold grudges, they tell their friends and family about them.
- On October 1st 1861, Charles Darwin wrote in his diary: ‘I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything’
- Every year, Katmai National Park and Preserve crowns a Fat Bear of the Year. This year's winner was bear 435, named Holly. A former park ranger notes that “Holly was single this summer and able to devote all her energy toward herself". (Image: Katmai National Park & Preserve.)
- A 'kangaroo word' is a word that contains the letters of a related synonym inside it, such as BLOssOM, cHickEN or hoNOuraBLE.
- In 1975, a cat was listed as the co-author of a prestigious physics paper because the author had accidentally written 'we' instead of 'I' throughout and couldn't be bothered changing it.
- Dinosaurs likely quacked and honked like today's geese. (Image: James Petts.)
- Independence from Britain is celebrated somewhere in the world, on average, one in every seven days.