1. The Wright brothers didn't just fly the first plane, but also caused the first fatal plane crash, killing one Thomas Selfridge.
2. Pierluigi Collina was once voted the sexiest man in Italy. This makes me very happy.
3. The steam engine was invented by Hero of Alexandria in the first century AD.
4. Joseph Schumpter once fought a duel with swords, albeit only against a librarian.
5. In the 1950s, the Isle of Wight was the centre of the UK space industry. Rockets were built in East Cowes.
6. The name Factory Records was devised not by Tony Wilson but by Alan Erasmus, who had earlier appeared in Coronation Street, thus giving him a claim to be one of the greatest Englishmen who ever lived.
7. Giraffe, though rarely eaten at Bar-Mitzvahs, is in fact a kosher meat.
You can argue whether the aelopile was a true steam engine, considering it didn't use expansion.
Still, in the spirit, do you know the name and occupation of the first railway fatality, the locomotive involved and its driver?
Posted by: Joe Otten | September 24, 2007 at 04:44 PM
Further, and embarrassing detail on the Blue Streak programme to develop an independent British ballistic missile can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Streak_missile
As the wikipedia entry explains, the eventual failure and cancellation of the Blue Streak programme led to the adoption of British-built nuclear powered submarines carrying Polaris missiles bought from America, which were later replaced in the 1980s by American made Trident missiles carrying British warheads.
Earlier this year: "The House of Commons has approved the British government's plans to update and replace the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4805768.stm
Posted by: Bob B | September 24, 2007 at 08:55 PM
Blue Streak and Black Knight: indeed, Grandpa Worstall worked on those. Happy days: there's still a huge chunk of concrete somewhere in Yorkshire that was to be the launch pad.
Posted by: Tim Worstall | September 25, 2007 at 02:55 PM
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