Christopher Columbus never used that name in his lifetime. He called himself Colom, Colon, Colombo, or Colonus, depending on where he was living.

Sigmund Freud was afraid of ferns.

Albert Einstein slept ten hours every night.

All indications are that Cleopatra was not physically beautiful; indeed, she was quite plain (perhaps homely) by the standards of her contemporaries. She was reported to be intelligent and witty, though.

Winston Churchill smoked an estimated 300,000 cigars during his life.

Booker T. Washington got his nickname "Booker" because he loved to read.

Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.

Galileo went blind looking at the sun through telescopes.

Henry Ford was the first billionaire in the U.S.

Hans Christian Anderson could not spell.

Charles Lindbergh was the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic. He was the first to do it alone.

Florence Nightingale kept a pet owl.

Thomas Edison preferred to read in braille, even though his eyesight was perfect.

Researchers agree that F.B.I. chief J. Edgar Hoover was not a transvestite.

Christopher Columbus was a blonde.

Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph after he was almost totally deaf.

K.F.C. (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was started by Harlan Sanders after he had retired. He used his first Social Security check to start the business at age sixty-five.