It's no secret that famous personalities get into extraordinary life situations and various stories more often than others, which, thanks to eyewitnesses, are imprinted in their biographies for centuries. As a rule, these stories are anecdotally funny, sometimes curious and not very pleasant, as well as instructive, which have passed into the category of parables. Today we will talk about interesting facts from the life of famous Russian and European classical artists.
An artist's autograph worth ten times more than the painting itself
Ilya Efimovich Repin. Once a certain lady bought a painting with the signature “I. Repin”, paying 100 rubles for it. After a while, having come to the painter's studio, she showed the artist her acquisition. Repin, laughing at the unlucky customer, wrote at the bottom of the canvas: "This is not Repin." After that, the lady resold the painting, but for a thousand rubles. Painting is immortal
Pablo Picasso. One fairly well-known doctor at the exhibition approached Picasso and said importantly: - I know quite well the anatomical structure of the human body. So, I can say that the people on your canvases cause some regret and bewilderment. “Quite possibly,” Picasso retorted. - But I can assure you that they will live much longer than your patients. Children's individualism
Self-portraits. Pablo Picasso at 15 and at 90. Once, having visited an exposition of children's drawings, Pablo Picasso said thoughtfully: - When I was at their age, I could paint like Raphael, but it took my whole life to learn how to draw like them. 
Portrait of the artist's mother (1896), painted by 15-year-old Picasso. Expensive check
Salvador Dali. Salvador Dali had a very clever ploy for restaurant owners. Visiting an entertainment venue for the first time, he gathered a large company of friends and acquaintances, and for the whole evening he treated everyone to any dishes and drinks from the menu. When it came time to pay the bills, the artist defiantly wrote out a check for a huge amount, and then... turned the check over and wrote a few kind words on the reverse side in gratitude to the owner of the establishment and put his autograph. The master's calculation was simple and trouble-free: using his fame as a living genius, Dali was sure that the owner of the restaurant would never dare to cash a check with the original signature of Dali himself! This is how it usually happened: restaurateurs understood that over time they could help out much more money for this check than just the amount on the account, but the master saved a lot of money. Who's crazy?
Salvador Dali. Once, in a conversation with his friends, Salvador Dali said that all the cataclysms that occur in nature no longer surprise him at all. Then the interlocutor began to enthusiastically give an example of a possible situation: - Well, so be it, but if at midnight a light suddenly appeared on the horizon, announcing the morning dawn? You look and see that the sun is rising. Wouldn't that surprise you? Don't you think you've gone crazy? “On the contrary,” Dali said without hesitation, “I would have thought that this sun had gone crazy. Creative unions
Isaac Levitan./“Autumn day. Sokolniki. (1879)./ Nikolai Chekhov. As you know, the artist Isaac Levitan "specialized" only in landscape painting, but there is one canvas in his legacy depicting a female figure walking in the park. "Autumn day. Sokolniki "- this is the name of this picture, written by him in his student years. The artist never undertook to draw people, and in fairness it should be noted that the only image of a woman was painted not by the artist himself, but by his friend from art school, the brother of the famous writer - Nikolai Chekhov. 
Ivan Aivazovsky./ "Pushkin on the seashore"./ Ilya Repin. By the way, this was not the only creative collaboration in the history of art. Why not help an artist friend who is failing in some way? Not many people know that the figure of Pushkin in Aivazovsky's painting "Pushkin on the Seashore" was painted by Ilya Repin. 
K. A. Savitsky and I. I. Shishkin. Early 1880s A photo. / "Morning in a pine forest". And the famous bears in Shishkin's painting "Morning in a Pine Forest" were painted by the artist Savitsky. Well, these funny animals did not work out for the brilliant master of landscape. But the fee of four thousand rubles from the sale of this painting was divided fraternally, and there were originally two autographs on the canvas. Everything is fair... However, the owner of the painting, Pavel Tretyakov, decided to leave the authorship to Shishkinin and personally erased Savitsky's signature. Complimented by the letter "B" to the name of the artist by the emperor himself
Karl and Alexander Bryullov. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the name Bryullov did not exist in Russia. Karl Bryullov, the famous Russian artist, was born in the family of the academician of ornamental sculpture Pavel Bryullo, whose ancestors were from France. The letter “v” at the end of the surname was granted to Karl and his brother Alexander, an architect by profession, by the highest imperial decree before a pensioner's trip to Italy. Exhibition of one masterpiece
Arkhip Kuindzhi. In 1880, an unprecedented event occurred in the world of Russian art. In St. Petersburg, for the first time, Arkhip Kuindzhi's painting "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" was put on display to the public. It was surprising that she was the only one in the exhibition. Rumors about the extraordinary canvas spread throughout the city long before it was shown, and on the very day of the opening, it seemed that the whole city was going to look at it. Many carriages blocked all the nearby streets, and people crowded in long lines at the entrance. Many visited the exhibition several times. 
"Moonlit night on the Dnieper". The public was fascinated by the extraordinary realism of the moonlight in the picture, many suggested that the artist used luminous paints, some even secretly looked behind the picture, trying to find out if there was a lamp illuminating the moon. Vow of Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani. Amedeo Modigliani is a famous Italian painter early years became interested in drawing and painting. He made the final decision to become an artist at the age of eleven after severe pleurisy, when, lying in delirium, Amedeo decided: if he survived, he would devote himself to painting. And he kept his word. Kuindzhi and birds
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Arkhip Kuindzhi was very fond of birds. He could sit for hours on the roof of his house, "talking" with pigeons and crows. And he often told his friends that the birds understand his words and easily go into his hands. Well, still .... After all, every month the artist spent a lot of money on feeding the birds, buying 60 French rolls, up to 10 kg of meat and 6 sacks of oats. And once the illustrator Pavel Shcherbov published a cartoon in which Kuindzhi puts an enema on a bird. They say that Arkhip Ivanovich, who did not have a special sense of humor, was terribly offended by his colleague. 
Caricature. Feathered patients (A.I. Kuindzhi on the roof of his house). Author: Pavel Shcherbov. Five thousand for the ceiling
Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky. / Girl dressed as Flora. Konstantin Makovsky was famous not only for salon portraits of the wives of wealthy husbands, but also for their exorbitant prices. And the artist was very fond of delicious food, which is called a true gourmet. But one day he almost got into trouble. Baron Akkurti, having just bought a luxurious mansion with plafonds painted by Makovsky, but without his autographs, invited the most popular artist to have breakfast in a restaurant. In the hope that the artist will sign the plafonds for free as a token of gratitude. So it would have happened if not for one "but" ... Makovsky was already softened in anticipation of a delicious meal and promised to go immediately after it and sign all three plafonds for free. And the tight-fisted baron finally made an order: he ordered smelt and bread to be served. “Smelt? Me?” Makovsky protested to himself. And he said aloud: “Five thousand rubles for a signature on each ceiling!” Valentin or Anton Serov
Portrait of Mika Morozov. / Valentin Serov. Friends and relatives called Valentin Serov Anton. This name was firmly stuck to him in childhood, when parents, out of an excess of feelings for the baby, called little Valentine Valentosha, Tosha, sometimes Tonya. A little later, in the Mamontov family, Tosha turned into Antosha. And the letters that Ilya Repin wrote to the already adult Serov often began with an appeal: “Anton, Anton!”. Little blackmailer
*Girl with peaches*. Author: V. Serov. The fact that Valentin Serov worked slowly was especially well known to his relatives. And when the artist decided to paint a portrait of Savva Mamontov's 11-year-old daughter, Vera, (and the canvas was conceived as a birthday present for Elizabeth Mamontova, the girl's mother), Serov came across a categorical protest of the future model. Vera immediately realized what threatens her consent to posing for the artist. She was not at all tempted to sit for weeks in a motionless pose, instead of running around the countryside with her peers. Vera was stubborn and Serov had no choice but to agree not to her conditions: after each session, ride horses with her. 
*Girl with peaches*. fragment. / Verochka Mamontova. 1. Once Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story in which the passengers, who survived the wreck of the ship, surf the ocean on a fragile boat and from starvation kill and eat a cabin boy named Richard Parker. A few years later (in 1884) a skiff was discovered on the high seas with three survivors of the shipwreck. It turned out that some time ago, hunger forced them to kill and eat a cabin boy named Richard Parker. None of the survivors knew of Poe's story.
2. When Einstein died, his last words died with him: the nurse did not understand German.
3. Pushkin was challenged to a duel more than 90 times.
4. Stalin was 160 cm tall. Therefore, he was filmed exclusively from below. One of his arms was shorter than the other. To hide it, he kept it bent, put it in his pocket or smoked a pipe. It is noteworthy that many famous leaders often suffered from deformities. So, for example, Peter the Great had a very small head for his physique. And Napoleon - not counting the height (150cm) - his legs were very small.
5. Sir Isaac Newton, who discovered the law of attraction, also invented the cat door.
6. Hitler considered his main enemy in the USSR not Stalin, but the announcer Yuri Levitan. For his head, he announced a reward of 250 thousand marks. Soviet authorities Levitan was carefully guarded, and misinformation about his appearance was launched through the press.
7. Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar executed her subjects if they came to her in a dream without warning.
8. The most loving man in the world can be considered the king of the Pacific island of Tonga, who was met by the legendary Captain Cook in 1777. King Paulah of Fatafehi loved his subjects ardently and passionately. He considered it not only his right, but also a sacred duty to deprive native virgins of innocence. He performed this duty very zealously - 8-10 times a day, without holidays and weekends. During his life, in this way, he benefited 37,800 girls.
9. It took Henry Ford seven years to make the first million cars. 132 working days later (in 1924) Ford had already made 10 million cars.
10. Marilyn Monroe to a journalist's question: "What do you wear at night when you go to bed?" - said: "Oh, just a few drops of Chanel number five."
11. Hans Christian Andersen until the end of his days wrote with terrible grammatical and spelling errors. Punctuation marks were especially difficult, and Andersen spent a lot of money on girls who rewrote his fairy tales before taking them to the publisher.
12. At the 1936 Summer Olympics, Adolf Hitler refused to shake hands with black American Jesse Owens in honor of his victory in running.
13. According to Yeltsin himself, while working as a machinist on a BKSM-5 tower crane, he negligently forgot to fix the crane after a working day, at night he discovered that he was moving, climbed into the control cabin and stopped the crane at the risk of his life.
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Time is a harmful and elusive thing. It always oozes through your fingers and flows away to no one knows where. What to do if all your life you wanted to write symphonies better than Mozart's, and you have two children, a wife, a mother, and a burning project in addition to everything?
We are in website We are also extremely concerned about this problem: we want to realize ourselves in life and not choke on a bone. Examples help us not to give up and do great things famous people who certainly had enough 24 hours a day.
Leonardo da Vinci
The famous “universal man” will head our list. Recall that Leonardo is an outstanding Renaissance artist (does everyone remember Gioconda?), an inventor (all his inventions formed the basis for the construction of modern submarines), a scientist, as well as a writer and musician. And he was the first to explain why the sky is blue: "The blue of the sky is due to the thickness of the illuminated particles of air, which is located between the Earth and the blackness above." He managed all this thanks to his own developed sleep system: he slept a total of 2 hours (lights out for 15 minutes several times a day), and everything else free time changed the world and myself for the better.
Anton Chekhov
© Braz I.E. Portrait of A.P. Chekhov, 1898
The brilliant brother of his brother (he had such a pseudonym). The famous master of the short story, humorist and satirist, the greatest playwright and part-time doctor. He himself admitted: “Medicine is my legal wife, and literature is my mistress. When one gets bored, I spend the night at the other. Constantly torn at the crossroads of his two talents, Chekhov was engaged in medical affairs until the end of his life. He even gave his dogs names by name. medicines: Brom and Hina. But he also respected his “mistress”: over the course of his life, Chekhov created more than 300 works, including short stories and impressive dramas. And the great comedian loved to collect stamps. Here was a man!
Vladimir Nabokov
© Ullstein Bild/Getty Images.com
Writer and entomologist, self-taught entomologist. In honor of Vladimir Vladimirovich, more than 20 genera of butterflies are named, one of which (that's cute!) Is called Nabokovia. Nabokov also played chess very well. They made several difficult chess problems. His love for this intellectual sport was reflected in the novel "Luzhin's Defense". Recall that Nabokov was fluent in English language. "Lolita" in America is loved just as much as we do.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goethe was known not only as a great writer and poet, but also as a scientist: he made some discoveries in the field of the theory of light. In addition, he actively collected minerals - his collection includes 18,000 copies (it is clear where Faust got such a craving for alchemy). The author of the famous drama was so lucky or well done that he slept only 5 hours a day, and he had enough strength for many, many accomplishments. Perhaps this is because Goethe adhered to strict rules and was a supporter of a healthy lifestyle: he did not drink alcohol at all and could not stand the smell tobacco smoke. That is why he lived for 82 years and managed to create so many things.
Hugh Jackman
Not only a famous actor, but also a Broadway artist, and what a one! Within one season, he managed to get all the major theater awards. Everyone knows the third area of Jackman's activity, in which he achieved success - family life. Hugh and Deborra-Lee Furness have been married for 20 years, and together they have two children. Yes, what is there! Our Hugh is generally capable of everything: he can play the piano, guitar, violin, and also ... vibrate his pupils and even juggle. Probably even Wolverine can't do that.
Salvador Dali
Everyone says that he is crazy, but they are silent about the fact that he was universal. Dali is famous not only as a painter and sculptor, but also as the director of the terrible Andalusian Dog. Dali also wrote several "works": "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, told by himself" and "The Diary of a Genius." For the sake of his psychedelic masterpieces, the humble genius often "perverted" in terms of sleep. Let us explain: Dali hired a special servant for himself, who, seeing that the owner was starting to fall asleep in complete exhaustion, woke him up after waiting a few seconds. The disheveled Dali immediately grabbed the paper and tried to sketch what he saw in the first seconds of the superficial phase of sleep.
Mikhail Lomonosov
© Miropolsky L.S. Portrait of M.V. Lomonosov, 1787
Russian natural scientist, chemist and physicist, poet, artist... you can hardly list everything here. Lomonosov is not just an active figure - he is revered as a reformer. It was he who carried out the reform of versification. Therefore, by memorization of iambs and choreas, we, oddly enough, are obliged to an outstanding chemist. By the way, being smart does not mean being bullied. While studying in Marburg, for example, Lomonosov perfectly mastered the ability to handle a sword. Local bullies avoided this overly capable and skillful Muscovite. That's certainly a talented person is talented in everything!
Isaac Newton
Everyone should know that he is not only famous for the apple that fell on his head. Newton wrote books on theology, where he spoke about the denial of the Holy Trinity, and was also chairman of the Royal Society of Arts. Not many people know that Newton also invented two stunningly ingenious things: a means for carrying cats and a door for them (where would we be without them now?). His love for furry and mustachioed friends is to blame for this. Newton preferred vigorous activity to sleep - he took only 4 hours a day for night rest.
Benjamin Franklin
We all know him as an uncle from the dollar and politics, but Franklin is still like our Lomonosov. He was a journalist and inventor. He invented, for example, the stove (“Pennsylvania fireplace”), and also predicted the weather. The first developed a detailed map of the Gulf Stream. He founded the Philadelphia Academy, as well as the first public library in the States. Franklin also had musical talent. Uncle Ben managed to keep up with everything by strictly following the daily regimen, in which only 4 hours a day were allotted for sleep.
Alexander Borodin
© I. E. Repin. Portrait of A. P. Borodin, 1888
A man whose portrait hangs both in the music class and in the chemistry class. Do you know that the author of the famous opera "Prince Igor" was also a chemist and physician? He jokingly called himself a "Sunday musician": he had to sacrifice days off in order to create something of that kind for the world of music. The memory of Borodin's everyday life was left by his wife: "I could sit for ten hours in a row, I could not sleep at all, not have lunch." Still would! After all, as you know, one of Borodin's mottos was such a super-motivating phrase: "All that we do not have, we owe only to ourselves." Also Alexander Porfiryevich was active public figure- he was one of the initiators of the opening of Women's Medical Courses.
Flea (Michael Peter Balzary)
In his youth, Bulgakov worked as a zemstvo doctor, and he had to be a generalist: a general practitioner, a gynecologist, a surgeon, and a dentist. "Notes of a Young Doctor" owe their birth to that period of the young Bulgakov's life. It was difficult to combine healing and creativity, so I had to “plow” a shift, treat the unpretentious village people all day, and then also carve out time for writing ... Whatever you don’t sacrifice for the sake of art. Once, in a letter to his mother, he wrote: “At night I write“ Notes of a Zemstvo Doctor. It might turn out to be a solid thing." Bulgakov is also an example right attitude to criticism. He collected critical articles about his work, including 298 negative and 3 positive reviews from critics.
Well, do you still think that you do not have enough time?
1. Napoleon was 26 years old when he captured Italy.
2. The University of Baghdad awarded Uday, the eldest son of Saddam Hussein, a doctorate in political science. Although he did not even have a secondary education. His dissertation was titled "The Decline of American Power by 2016".
3. In 1938, Time magazine named Hitler "Person of the Year."
4. During his service in the KGB, Vladimir Putin had the nickname "Moth".
5. Hitler was a vegetarian.
6. The Egyptian queen Cleopatra tested the effectiveness of her poisons by forcing her slaves to take them.
7. Cleopatra married her own brother - Ptolemy.
8. Cleopatra was not an Egyptian. She had Macedonian, Iranian and Greek roots.
9. Lafayette became a general in the US Army at 19. His full name is: Mary Joseph Paul Yves Rocher Gilbert de Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
10. The Minister of Culture of the RSFSR in the 50s, Alexei Popov, was a well-known swindler.
11. The Mongol conqueror Timur (1336-1405) played something like polo with the skulls of the people he killed. He created a pyramid of their severed heads 9 meters high.
12. At the time of Lenin's death, his brain was only a quarter of its normal size.
13. Napoleon was not born in France, but on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. His parents were Italian and they had eight children.
14. The national flag of Italy was designed by Napoleon.
15. One of Napoleon's drinking bowls was made from the skull of the famous Italian adventurer Cagliostro.
16. The founder of the theory of communism Karl Marx has never been to Russia.
17. The first American Chief Justice, John Jay, bought slaves to free them.
18. The first person in history to be hit by a train was British MP William Huskinson.
19. The ancestors of Winston Churchill on the maternal side were ... Indians.
20. US President Andrew Jackson believed the Earth was flat.
21. During the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a tax on men's beards. However, Peter the Great did not favor bearded men either.
22. Queen Ranavalona of Madagascar ordered the execution of her subjects if they appeared to her in dreams without her permission.
23. Queen Victoria was given a piece of cheese 3 meters in diameter and weighing 500 kilograms at her wedding.
24. King Henry VIII of England executed two of his six wives.
25. President of Uganda and one of the most ruthless dictators in the world, Idi Amin, served in the British Army before coming to power.
26. British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston died in 1865 on a pool table where he was making love to his servants.
27. At the court of the King of Spain, Alfonso, there was a special position - a hymnal. The fact is that the king had no musical ear at all, and he himself could not distinguish the anthem from other music. The hymnal had to warn the king when the national anthem was played.
28. The Roman emperor Nero married a man - one of his slaves named Skorus.
29. The Roman emperor Nero forced his teacher philosopher Seneca to commit suicide.
30. The height of Peter the Great was approximately 213 cm. Despite the fact that in those days the average height of men was significantly lower than today.
31. Sir Winston Churchill smoked no more than 15 cigars a day.
32. Tom Cruise at the age of 14 went to study at the seminary to become a priest, but left it after a year.
33. The French king Louis XIV had 413 beds.
34. The Israeli king Solomon had about 700 wives and several thousand mistresses.
35. King Louis XIV of France, known as the "Sun King", had over 400 beds.
36. Napoleon had ailurophobia - fear of cats.
37. Winston Churchill was born in the women's room of the Blenheim family castle. During the ball, his mother felt unwell and soon gave birth.
38. Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr and his brother, renowned mathematician Harald Bohr, were football players. At the same time, Harald was a member of the Danish national team and even took second place at the 1905 Olympics.
39. The phrase "The king is dead, long live the king" was uttered by Catherine de Medici when she learned about the death of her son Charles IX.
40. The Swedish King Charles VII, who was killed in 1167, was the first king of the state with the name Charles! Charles I, II, III, IV, V and VI never existed, and it is not clear where the prefix "seventh" came from. A couple of centuries later, King Charles VIII (1448-1457) appeared in Sweden.
41. Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, was an ophthalmologist by profession.
42. Attila the Barbarian died in 453 on his wedding night immediately after the wedding.
43. Beethoven always brewed coffee from 64 grains.
44. The British Queen Victoria (1819-1901), who ruled Britain for 64 years, spoke English with an accent. She had German roots.
45. In 1357, a dead woman was crowned Queen of Portugal. She became Princess Ines de Castro, the second wife of Pedro I. 2 years before, her father-in-law, Alfonso "Proud", who hated her for being a commoner, secretly ordered his people to kill her and her children. When Pedro became king, he ordered the removal of Inés' body from the grave and forced the nobility to recognize her as Queen of Portugal.
46. In 1849, Senator David Atchison became President of the United States for only 1 day, and most of that day he ... overslept.
47. The Grand Vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassim Ismail (who lived in the 10th century) never parted with his library. If he went somewhere, the library "followed" him. 117 thousand book volumes were transported by 400 camels. Moreover, the books (together with the camels) were arranged in alphabetical order.
48. The great Genghis Khan died while having sex.
49. Hannibal died in 183 BC. e. taking poison when he learned that the Romans had come to kill him.
50. Hans-Christian Andersen could not write almost a single word without errors.
51. Henry IV often flogged his son, the future Louis XIII.
52. The Danish king Frederick IV was a bigamist. He married twice while his wife Queen Louise was alive. His first lover died in childbirth, his second lover was only queen for 19 days after the death of Queen Louise. All the children from both of his mistresses either died at birth or in infancy, as he believed for his sinful life. He later became extremely religious.
53. Jack the Ripper, the most famous killer of the 19th century, always committed his crimes on weekends.
54. Dr. Alice Chase, who wrote the book " healthy eating and many books about proper nutrition died of malnutrition.
55. Once the merchant Krasnobryukhov turned to Alexander I with a request to change his surname, and he allowed him to be called ... Sinebryukhov. After that, the merchant went to Finland with grief and founded the famous Koff brewing company there.
56. When the Russian Queen Elizabeth I died in 1762, more than 15,000 dresses were found in her wardrobe.
57. Mozart started composing music at the age of 3.
58. There is not a single living descendant of William Shakespeare left on Earth.
59. Before composing music, Beethoven poured a bucket of cold water on his head, believing that it stimulated the brain.
60. Thomas Edison wrote 40,000 pages while designing the light bulb.
61. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Felix Mendelssohn wrote at the age of 17. It became his most famous work.
62. Beria suffered from syphilis.
63. More than 100 descendants of Johann Sebastian Bach became organists.
64. In the ZZ Top group, only one member does not have a beard. And his name is Beard, which in English means ... "beard".
65. Since 1932, only Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush have not been elected to the United States for a second term as president.
66. Ilf and Petrov discarded ideas that came to both minds at once - in order to avoid clichés.
67. When Beethoven wrote the famous Ninth Symphony, he was completely deaf.
68. Composer Franz Liszt was the father-in-law of the German composer Richard Wagner.
69. Paul McCartney's mother was a midwife.
70. Writer Rudyard Kipling couldn't write in ink unless it was black.
71. Writer Charles Dickens wrote with his face to the north. He also always slept with his head to the north.
72. The Roman emperor Commodus gathered dwarfs, cripples and freaks from all over the Roman Empire to arrange fights between them in the Colosseum.
73. The Roman emperor Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath on his head to hide his growing baldness.
74. Russian composer Alexander Borodin was also a well-known chemist in St. Petersburg.
75. The smallest of the American presidents is James Madison (1.62 m), and Abraham Lincoln is the tallest (1.93 m).
76. The shortest British monarch is Charles I. His height was 4 feet 9 inches (about 140 cm). After his head was cut off, his height became even smaller.
77. The body of Voltaire, who died in 1778, was stolen from the grave and was never found. The loss was discovered in 1864.
78. Balzac has a whole book dedicated to ... a tie.
79. The British Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) had about 3,000 outfits.
80. American Pete Ruff knocks an apple off his own head with a boomerang.
81. American industrial tycoon and billionaire John Rockefeller donated over $550 million. to various foundations and institutions.
82. American President Benjamin Franklin advocated that the national bird of America was the turkey.
83. In 1856, the English chemist William Perkin, while trying to obtain quinine from aniline, invented the first artificial dye, mauveine.
84. In the village of Lobovskoe, Saratov region, there lives a beekeeper who is able to withstand 40 hours in a hive with bees completely naked.
85. In the period from 1952 - 1966, 5 children were born in the family of Ralph and Carolyn Cummins and all of them have a birthday on February 20th.
86. Galileo Galilei was the first person to propose using a pendulum to measure time.
87. Hannibal died in 183 BC after taking poison when he learned that the Romans had come to kill him.
88. Grover Cleveland was the only US president to marry in the White House.
89. James Madison was the smallest of the American presidents (1.62 m), and Abraham Lincoln was the tallest (1.93 m).
90. Dr. Alice Chase, who wrote the book Healthy Eating and many books on proper nutrition, died of malnutrition.
91. For 35 years, Mozart created over 600 works. But after his death, the widow did not have money for a separate place in the cemetery
92. Famous 19th century bullfighter Lagarijo (born Rafael Molina) killed 4867 bulls.
93. When the German physicist A. Einstein died, his last words went with him. The nurse who was nearby did not understand German.
94. The maximum number of crossword puzzles was Andrian Bell. From January 1930 to 1980, he sent 4,520 crossword puzzles to The Times.
95. Robert Lincoln, son of President Lincoln, was rescued from a car accident by one Edwin Booth. As it turns out, Edwin is the brother of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. The father tried to kill the father, and their children saved each other
96. The first American president to use the telephone was James Garfield.
97. Concept a negative number was first introduced by the Italian merchant Pisano in 1202, denoting his debts and losses.
98. The world's largest private collection of meteorites belongs to the American Robert Haag - from the age of 12 he collected 2 tons of heavenly stones.
99. Thomas Edison had a collection of birds in 5000 copies.
100. Frenchmen Jeanne Louise and Guy Bruty made a crossword puzzle on a sheet of paper 5 m long and 3 m wide, from 18 thousand words and 50 thousand cells.
101. Shakespeare mentioned roses more than 50 times in his poems.
102. Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, was the only president to make his own clothes.
103. Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day - February 12, 1809. The scientist lived almost 20 years longer than the politician.
104. Bill Clinton sent two emails during his entire presidency, one of which was a test to check that everything was working properly. I wonder who the second letter was to? Maybe Monica?
105. In 1759, Arthur Guinness leased St. Gate's brewery for 9,000 years at a rent of £45 a year. The famous Guinness beer was brewed there.
106. In 1981, Deborah Ann Fontan, Miss New York, was disqualified for excessive use of cotton stuffing in a swimsuit competition.
107. George Washington did not shake hands when meeting - he preferred to bow
108. The only president of the United States, concurrently being the chairman of any union - Ronald Reagan, head of the Guild of Actors (Screen Actors Guild).
109. If you remember a little school physics course, then you know that there is a Richter temperature scale. So this same Charles Richter was a malicious nudist, because of which his wife left him.
110. If you read the works of the writer Stephen King, you should notice that most of the actions of his stories take place in Maine. Paradoxically, this state has the lowest crime rate in the United States.
111. The founder of psychoanalysis has a lot of oddities. Freud was terrified of the number 62. He refused to book a hotel room with more than 62 rooms for fear of accidentally getting a room with the number 62. He used cocaine, like many of his contemporaries.
112. The famous entrepreneur Henry Ford preferred to hire people with physical disabilities - among the workers of his factories in 1919, there was one disabled person for four healthy people.
113. Research Louis Pasteur sponsored a beer factory. They also paid him a ticket to an international congress. When Pasteur was given the floor at the congress, the first thing he did was to hang advertising posters with beer on the stage. And he began his speech with the words that this beer is the best. And then he got down to business.
114. Madonna and Celine Dion are cousins of Prince Charles's wife, Camilla
115. The father of the famous comedian Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun, etc.) served as a policeman in Canada, and his brother worked in the Canadian Parliament
116. The father of tennis player Andre Agassi represented Iran at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. He was... a boxer
Famous people seem almost perfect to everyone else, it seems that they immediately became famous, or that they cannot get into funny and ridiculous situations. But, in fact, they are the same people as everyone else. Not everyone immediately understood what exactly they were talented in, and recognition did not immediately come to some. Reading interesting stories from, you begin to treat them not only as special individuals, but also as people who can make mistakes, get into ridiculous situations and achieve their goals.
Jules Verne
This is not just a writer of adventure novels, but also one of those authors who could foresee some things. Jules Verne also belonged to this category, and his works were favorite books not only for children, but also for adults. They contained not only inventions that were fantastic for that time, but also colorful descriptions of nature and the depths of the sea. And the life of Jules Verne was as bright and a little mysterious as his novels.
- Back in 1839, the boy, who was only 11 years old, went to the port of Nantes, where the schooner Coralie was located. It was on her that this boy went as a cabin boy. This ship was supposed to go to the fabulous and mysterious India, where he so dreamed of getting. But he was noticed in time and landed on the shore. Many years later, as an adult, he told others that his vocation was in the maritime business. And he regretted that he could not become a sailor then. This boy was Jules Verne.
- People often said that his novels described technologies that would be invented in the future. One of these stories is connected with the legend of the writer's family. Allegedly in 1863, the writer completed work on the novel "Paris in the 20th century." He returned from the publishing house puzzled: the publisher refused to print the manuscript because it was too fantastic! And unexpectedly, in 1989, Vern's great-grandson discovered the very novel and the inventions that were described in the book actually existed.
- Jules Verne is one of those writers who popularized science in society, thanks to his writing talent. Therefore, for many designers and engineers of spacecraft, as well as cosmonauts and astronauts, his books have become desktop. His talent and faith in science was rewarded: a large crater on the far side of the Moon was named after him.
The famous Russian writer, whose talent was most clearly revealed in dramaturgy, managed to completely change the idea of what a play should be. In his works, Anton Pavlovich knew how to very accurately select expressions that would describe all the weaknesses of human nature. At the same time, the writer himself was philanthropic and throughout his life urged everyone to "take care of the person in themselves." Chekhov did not like to write about himself, but the writer's notebooks, his letters, the memoirs of people who had a chance to communicate with him, allow you to get acquainted with interesting facts from the life of Anton Pavlovich.
1. There was always a place for medicine in Chekhov's life. After all, initially he saw his calling to be a doctor, and writing stories, plays and playful notes for him was just a way to earn extra money. Among the teachers at the medical faculty, where the writer studied, was the famous Nikolai Sklifosovsky. Later, Anton Pavlovich began to work as a doctor.
After some time, there was a change of priorities, and in January 1886, a sign was removed from his door, which said that the doctor was taking there. The point was not only that Anton Pavlovich began to seriously engage in writing, but in his practice there was a difficult case: two of his patients died of typhus. During his famous trip to Sakhalin, Chekhov wrote that he was already ready to leave medicine.
But, in fact, he always continued to be a doctor. Anton Pavlovich attended various medical congresses to keep abreast of latest news in this region. In his estate in Melikhovo, he continued to provide medical assistance to all those in need, treated the sick in Yalta. Even being already seriously ill, Anton Pavlovich was ready to go to Far East not as a writer, but as a doctor.
2. It was Chekhov who "gave" Sakhalin to Russia. In 1890, the playwright made the most difficult expedition to Sakhalin, which was a place of exile for prisoners and convicts. One newspaper wrote about this trip as a significant event. Anton Pavlovich approached the journey responsibly: he studied the history of the Russian prison, all kinds of records about the island, the works of historians, geographers and ethnographers about Sakhalin.
When Chekhov went to Sakhalin, then this place was not fully studied, uninteresting to anyone, there was not even accurate data on the population. The trip lasted three months, during which the writer made a population census, studied the life of convicts. It was thanks to Anton Pavlovich that Russian and foreign researchers became interested in the island.
3. Chekhov did charity work, which was not limited to one medical care. He raised funds for the needy, built schools, opened public libraries, in which he donated his many books, which were of museum value. Well, of course, he helped all the sick and even arranged for those who had little money to go to the sanatorium. All his life he followed his testament: "Take care of the person in you!".
An outstanding scientist who laid the foundations of chemistry, the creator of the periodic table, a professor - the life of such a talented person as Dmitri Mendeleev was just as interesting. There was a place in it for very entertaining facts that open the scientist from the other side.
1. The most important well-known fact of the scientist's biography is the famous dream in which he had a periodic table of chemical elements. No matter how she gave a certain aura of mystery to the personality of Mendeleev, but this is not so. Dmitry Ivanovich created this table through much research and thought.
The periodic law was discovered in 1869. On February 17, the scientist made a sketch of a table on the back of a letter, in which it was written about a request to come and help the production. Later, on separate cards, Mendeleev wrote the names of all the chemical elements known at that time, as well as the atomic weight, and arranged them in order. Therefore, the trip was postponed, and Dmitry Ivanovich himself plunged into work, as a result of which the periodic table of chemical elements was obtained. And in 1870, the scientist managed to calculate atomic mass those elements that have not yet been studied, because of which there were "empty" places in his table, later filled with new elements.
2. Despite their many scientific works and important discoveries, Dmitry Ivanovich never received the Nobel Prize. Although he was repeatedly nominated for it, each time it was awarded to a different doctor. In 1905, Mendeleev was among the candidates, but a German chemist became the laureate. In 1906, it was decided to award the prize to Dmitry Ivanovich, but then the Royal Swedish Academy changed its mind and presented the award to the French scientist.
In 1907, a proposal was made to share the prize between the Italian scientist and Mendeleev. But on February 2, 1907, the 72-year-old outstanding scientist passed away. Possible cause, according to which Dmitry Ivanovich did not become a laureate, they call the conflict between him and the Nobel brothers. It occurred on the basis of disagreements over the imposition of an oil tax, thanks to which the brothers were able to get rich and control some of the Russian shares.
The Swedes started a rumor about the depletion of the oil field. A special commission was created, among whose members was Mendeleev. He was opposed to the introduction of a tax, and refuted the rumor started by the Nobel brothers, which became the cause of the conflict between the Nobels and the scientist.
3. Despite the fact that for most Mendeleev's name is associated with chemistry, in fact, the works devoted to chemistry accounted for only 10% of the total number of scientific research. Dmitry Ivanovich was also interested in shipbuilding and participated in the development of navigation in the Arctic waters. And he devoted about 40 works to this area.
Mendeleev accepted Active participation in the construction of the first Arctic icebreaker "Ermak", which was launched on October 29, 1898. For his active participation in the study of the development of the Arctic, a ridge was named after him, which is located under water in the Arctic Arctic, discovered in 1949.
The facts written above are only a small part of the cases that happened to these prominent people. But these stories show that famous personalities did not always immediately determine their vocation, they tried to set an example for other people and follow their principles. Therefore, interesting stories from the lives of great people can inspire humanity to do something important for the development of science or to contribute to the arts or simply to help other people.
