Trivia

The late Bette Davis wrote in her autobiography: “Most women have a special sexual fantasy. Mine was to make love on a bed covered with gardenias.”

Will bet you a small unspecified sum you did not know before now that a decennary and a decennium are the same as a decade. All winners get paid when all losers pay up.

Another obstacle the original Henry Ford had to overcome was the widespread belief that any good horse team could pull a wagon up a hill that no car could climb. It had been true at the onset of the auto age.

It has been reported that if a man were as strong as an ant, he could lift a five-ton elephant with his teeth and carry it up a hill, just about any hill.

In the beginning of Europe’s 16th century, beggars at great house gates were fed, cleaned and clothed before they were sent away. The beggar count rose. But in the 17th century, the heads of beggars were shaved so they could be readily identified. Later, they were whipped for getting into that sorry condition. Still later, they were manacled, then put to work as convicts. The beggar count fell.

From 1900 to 1994, the over-65 population increased 11-fold while the under-65 population only tripled.

Q. What did the ancient Greeks use for money before they minted coins?

A. Grain. To note that, they stamped their first coin in 625 B.C. with the likeness of a wheat head.

Q. Are the matchbook cover collectors still at it?

A. Evidently. One such cover featuring Charles Lindbergh sold for $4,000 not so long ago.

Am told many experts still contend the best shampoo is an egg yolk beaten with a pint of soft warm water, then rinsed with hard white soap.