Trivia

Q. Why did marriages in ancient Athens last longer than marriages in other Greek cities of the time?

A. Athens law required divorced husbands to give back the brides’ dowries.

Q. I read that the Bible has been translated into 2,123 languages, one of the most recent being Yami. What’s Yami?

A. A none-too-well-known tongue spoken by some on Taiwan.

Curious, is it not, that the most preferred color in textiles, blue, is one of the least preferred in house paints?

Is that painting known popularly as “Whistler’s Mother” an American work of art? Many think so. But it was painted in Paris by an expatriate who went to live in England and no longer wanted anything to do with the United States. It has been owned by France since 1891. It’s in The Louvre.

Q. England’s King Charles II acknowledged 14 illegitimate children. How many of his mistresses can historians actually identify by name?

A. Thirteen, so far.