Q&A

Did you know?

ON THE HOOF

When published in 1745–46, Nowe Ateny – the first Polish-language encyclopedia – featured some rather blunt definitions, such as “Goats are a stinking kind of animal” and “Horses: everyone knows what a horse is”.

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CABBAGE CURES

Such was his love for the nutritional and medical benefits of cabbages that Cato, the Roman historian and orator, recommended bathing babies in the urine of someone who ate lots of the vegetable, to stop them getting sick.

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ISAAC NEWTON MP

Isaac Newton stood for election as a Member of Parliament in 1689 and again in 1701, but during his two brief terms he appears on the parliamentary record just once – to complain of a draught and request a window be closed.

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THE LAST POST

In 1829, in a village near Mansfield, one woman’s dying wish was for her friend to place her son’s letters in her coffin. The friend forgot, but when the local postman died soon afterwards, they buried the letters with him instead, so he could ‘deliver’ them.