Queen Christina of Sweden had a phobia about fleas. She ordered the construction of a tiny four-inch long cannon so that she could spend hours firing miniature cannonballs at the fleas which infested the royal bedchamber.
Queen Elizabeth I had a phobia about roses.
Stalin had webbed toes on his left foot.
The ultimate hypochondriac was William McIlroy. He suffered from Munchausen’s syndrome – a continual desire for medical treatment. Over a 50 year period, he underwent 400 operations, and stayed at 100 different hospitals, using 22 aliases. In 1979, he announced that he was sick of hospitals and retired to a Birmingham old people’s home. He died there four years later.
When h was 11, Boris Yeltsin blew off the thumb and forefinger of his left hand while taking apart a grenade.
Towards the end of his reign, Louis XIV’s toes started to rot. One of them dropped off and was found by his valet in one of the royal bedsocks.
Nurse Florence Nightingale was a hypochondriac. She spent most of the last 56 years of her life in bed, convinced that she was suffering from terminal heart disease.
Anne Boleyn had six fingers on one hand and wore special gloves to hide the deformity. She also had three nipples.
Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein was blinded in one eye after being accidentally shot by Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Arthur, while out hunting. So the remorseful Victoria bought him several glass eyes in different colours.
In 1609, a doctor named Wecker found a corpse in Bologna with two penises. Since then, there have been 80 similar cases.
German physicist Professor Phillipp Lenard suffered from onomatophobia, the fear of certain names. He couldn’t bear to speak, see or hear the name of Sir Isaac Newton. At the universities where he lectured, Professor Lenard would turn his back on the students whenever Newton’s name had to be mentioned. A member of the class would then write the offending name on the blackboard, but it had to be rubbed out again before Lenard would continue with the lecture.
Charles Osborne of Iowa started hiccupping in 1922 while trying to weigh a pig for slaughter, he carried on hiccupping for the next 68 years, during which time he married twice and fathered eight children. Then one morning in 1990, his hiccupping suddenly went. The following year he died.
Josef Goebbels, champion of the Nazi creed of selective breeding, himself had a club foot. His left leg was over three inches longer than the right.
From Here to Maternity
Hitler’s mother was seriously considering an abortion, but was talked out of it by her doctor.
Mrs Feodor Vassilyev who lived in Shuya, Russia, in the 18th century, gave birth to a record 69 children.
Queen Anne had 17 children, none of whom survived her.
In 1994, and Italian woman gave birth to a boy at the age of 61.
A woman in Ohio gave birth to a boy weighing 23lb 12oz in 1879.
The world’s youngest parents were aged eight and nine. They lived in China and became parents in 1910.
A Frenchwoman was born in 1869 with two pelvises and four legs. Yet she got married and had two healthy children.
Until the 1920s, babies in Finland were often delivered in saunas because the heat was thought to be beneficial in warding off infection.
The Chinese population has been growing at such an alarming rate that, in some area of the country, the government now restricts couples from having more than one child.
Eric Idle and John Major were both born on the same day – 29 March 1943.
Prince Andrew and Leslie Ash were both born on 19 February 1960.
Manfred Mann and Geoffrey Boycott were both born on 21 October 1940.
Yoko Ono and Bobby Robson were both born on 18 February 1933.
Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder were both born on 13 May 1950.
John Motson and Virginia Wade were both born on 10 July 1945.
Lenny Henry and Michael Jackson were both born on 29 August 1958.
Charles Dance and Chris Tarrant were both born on 10 October 1946.
Stanley Kubrick and Danny La Rue were both born on 26 July 1928.
Marie Stopes, the famous birth-control campaigner, knew nothing about sec until she was 29.
Queen Elizabeth I had a phobia about roses.
Stalin had webbed toes on his left foot.
The ultimate hypochondriac was William McIlroy. He suffered from Munchausen’s syndrome – a continual desire for medical treatment. Over a 50 year period, he underwent 400 operations, and stayed at 100 different hospitals, using 22 aliases. In 1979, he announced that he was sick of hospitals and retired to a Birmingham old people’s home. He died there four years later.
When h was 11, Boris Yeltsin blew off the thumb and forefinger of his left hand while taking apart a grenade.
Towards the end of his reign, Louis XIV’s toes started to rot. One of them dropped off and was found by his valet in one of the royal bedsocks.
Nurse Florence Nightingale was a hypochondriac. She spent most of the last 56 years of her life in bed, convinced that she was suffering from terminal heart disease.
Anne Boleyn had six fingers on one hand and wore special gloves to hide the deformity. She also had three nipples.
Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein was blinded in one eye after being accidentally shot by Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Arthur, while out hunting. So the remorseful Victoria bought him several glass eyes in different colours.
In 1609, a doctor named Wecker found a corpse in Bologna with two penises. Since then, there have been 80 similar cases.
German physicist Professor Phillipp Lenard suffered from onomatophobia, the fear of certain names. He couldn’t bear to speak, see or hear the name of Sir Isaac Newton. At the universities where he lectured, Professor Lenard would turn his back on the students whenever Newton’s name had to be mentioned. A member of the class would then write the offending name on the blackboard, but it had to be rubbed out again before Lenard would continue with the lecture.
Charles Osborne of Iowa started hiccupping in 1922 while trying to weigh a pig for slaughter, he carried on hiccupping for the next 68 years, during which time he married twice and fathered eight children. Then one morning in 1990, his hiccupping suddenly went. The following year he died.
Josef Goebbels, champion of the Nazi creed of selective breeding, himself had a club foot. His left leg was over three inches longer than the right.
From Here to Maternity
Hitler’s mother was seriously considering an abortion, but was talked out of it by her doctor.
Mrs Feodor Vassilyev who lived in Shuya, Russia, in the 18th century, gave birth to a record 69 children.
Queen Anne had 17 children, none of whom survived her.
In 1994, and Italian woman gave birth to a boy at the age of 61.
A woman in Ohio gave birth to a boy weighing 23lb 12oz in 1879.
The world’s youngest parents were aged eight and nine. They lived in China and became parents in 1910.
A Frenchwoman was born in 1869 with two pelvises and four legs. Yet she got married and had two healthy children.
Until the 1920s, babies in Finland were often delivered in saunas because the heat was thought to be beneficial in warding off infection.
The Chinese population has been growing at such an alarming rate that, in some area of the country, the government now restricts couples from having more than one child.
Eric Idle and John Major were both born on the same day – 29 March 1943.
Prince Andrew and Leslie Ash were both born on 19 February 1960.
Manfred Mann and Geoffrey Boycott were both born on 21 October 1940.
Yoko Ono and Bobby Robson were both born on 18 February 1933.
Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder were both born on 13 May 1950.
John Motson and Virginia Wade were both born on 10 July 1945.
Lenny Henry and Michael Jackson were both born on 29 August 1958.
Charles Dance and Chris Tarrant were both born on 10 October 1946.
Stanley Kubrick and Danny La Rue were both born on 26 July 1928.
Marie Stopes, the famous birth-control campaigner, knew nothing about sec until she was 29.
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