Archives are generally grouped by month of Main Page appearance. (Currently, DYK hooks are archived according to the date and time that they were taken off the Main Page.) To find which archive contains the fact that appeared on Did you know, go to article's
talk page and follow the archive link in the DYK talk page message box.
...that Peter of Tarentaise started the charitable tradition of giving food to poor farmers in the spring called pain de Mai (May-bread), which continued for over 600 years?
17:19, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
...that none of the more than 1000 windows in the Waldspirale residential complex (pictured) in
Darmstadt,
Germany are identical?
...that William Firmatus, a
Normanhermit, is said to have led a
wild boar by the ear from a farmer's plot and instructed it to
fast for the night in a solitary cell?
...that Nova Studios developed the "West Coast Look", a stylized and highly planned filmmaking style of
gay pornography which dominated the genre through the 1980s?
10:57, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
...that the
pedestal of the The Bronze Horseman(pictured) is believed to be the largest stone ever moved by humans?
...that nearly 3 million
rupees worth of property was stolen from the house of
Kannada cinema actor Srinath on the day of his daughter's marriage in 2001?
09:31, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
...that the
Japanese diplomat Tatsuo Kawai(pictured) was sacked as an official spokesman at the Foreign Ministry after leading a strike there in 1940?
...that a cyclic cellular automaton is a system of simple mathematical rules that can generate complex patterns mixing random chaos, blocks of color, and spirals (pictured)?
...that the 2,000 American soldiers who fought in the Battle of Short Hills against 17,000 British men suffered only minor casualties and were able to inflict considerable damage on the enemy?
...that the Oscar Niemeyer Museum(pictured) in
Paraná,
Brazil was reinaugurated to honor its famous architect
Oscar Niemeyer, who completed his design for the museum's annex at the age of 95?
...that Donald Stephens, recently deceased
mayor of
Rosemont, Illinois for 51 years, is believed to have been the longest-serving mayor in the United States?
...that the
Vietminh named the
grenades they made and used against the French after Phan Dinh Phung, who led a rebel army in the initial colonisation of
Vietnam?
...that book peddlers played an important cultural role in various countries, for which they sometimes suffered state persecution and sometimes enjoyed state protection?
...that, even though the
soldiers that constituted the Red Lancers, a
horse-mounted
military unit, first served as the
Dutch Royal Guards, they were almost completely destroyed after their first battle in 1812?
...that the Governors Court in
New South Wales had a rule barring ex-convict
lawyers from appearing before it, but all of the lawyers in the penal colony were ex-convicts?
...that the Free Belgian Forces fought in several theaters during
World War II, including Great Britain, East Africa, the Mediterranean, and northwestern Europe?
...that Canford Cliffs, an affluent
suburb of
Poole,
Dorset, includes an exclusive branch of
HSBC bank which requires that customers without large accounts or
mortgages pay to enter?
...that the
Australianlegal doctrine of Persona designata allows a judge to exercise non-judicial power, if it has been conferred to the judge personally, rather than to his or her court?
...that Judy Morris, co-writer of the Academy Award winning Happy Feet has also acted in many of the most popular North American and Australian
television programs since the age of 10?
11:45, 16 April 2007 (UTC)
...that, according to a ruling issued by U.S. federal judge Robert W. Sweet(pictured),
McDonald's is not to blame for its customers'
obesity?
...that some species of Iridomyrmex ants have a
symbiotic relationship with caterpillars?
...that, following his death, Constabilis is said to have appeared to the
abbots of
La Trinità della Cava, which he founded, the first four of whom have also been declared
saints?
...that Sam Mbakwe was nicknamed "the weeping governor" for shedding tears when trying to get the federal government of
Nigeria to pay more attention to his state?
...that Sarkis Soghanalian, the "Cold War's largest arms merchant", was backed by the
CIA and was the primary private arms dealer to
Iraq during the
Iran-Iraq war?
...that
fashion designerGareth Pugh has earned critical acclaim for his clothing made of inflated
PVC(example pictured) but has never sold a single dress?
...that Alan Davidson, regarded as one of the greatest left arm
fast bowlers in the
history of cricket, only took up the skill when his uncle's weekend team ran out of fast bowlers?
...that long after Lana Stempien died by drowning, someone or something turned on the
GPS system on her abandoned boat?
...that after being captured by
pirates, friar Matthew Carrieri offered to remain a captive in place of others, which shocked the pirate captain so much he set all the prisoners free?
...that due to Claude de Bernales' marketing of the
gold fields of
Western Australia in the 1930s, production increased sevenfold and employment in the industry quadrupled?
...that legend says that Osanna of Mantua miraculously learned to read just by looking at a piece of paper with the words
Jesus and
Mary written on it?
...that Kenneth FarrowGC attempted to rescue a boy from an underground
aqueduct despite strong current, heavy deposits on the floor and almost no headroom or handholds?
...that
Zen master Dahui Zonggao ordered the destruction of the Blue Cliff Record, his master's collection of
koans, making it unavailable for the next two centuries?
...that the soldiers of the Black Brunswickers(pictured) dressed entirely in black and wore hats with
Death's Heads on them to reflect their commander's hatred for
Napoleon?
...that the modern meaning of "ballad", a slow, sentimental tune or love song, often written in a fairly standardized form, came about from
Tin Pan Alley and
Broadway composers?
...that the "secret
university" largely organised by Frank Bell in a
World War IIPOW camp taught subjects as diverse as
Urdu, pig-farming, civics and chess?
...that Jaina Island, a
Mayanecropolis, contains over 20,000 burials, with every one excavated having one or more ceramic figurines (example pictured)?
...that in five years of operation during
World War II, more than 747 vessels were built in the Richmond Shipyards in
Richmond, California—a feat not equaled anywhere else in the world, before or since?
...that press passes grant the bearer access to
crime scenes or other restricted areas unless it would interfere with the duties of emergency personnel?
...that Innocence, a 2005 documentary film about a school in rural
northern Thailand, influenced the
Thai government to reverse cuts it had made in the education budget?
...that aquarium filters are necessary to support life as
aquaria are relatively small, closed volumes of
water compared to the natural environment of most
fish?
...that
ChabadrabbiMilton Balkany misappropriated more than $700,000 of federal grant money from a charitable organisation that cared for disabled children?
16:00, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
...that, 23 years after explorer
Charles Sturt found and named the
Murray River, his brother Evelyn Sturt(pictured), a Police Magistrate and notable
grazier, declared it absurd that the area would ever become agricultural?
...that
Sara Gruen’s historical novel Water for Elephants recounts that circus workers were sometimes thrown off the
circus train in the middle of the night, a practice known as "redlighting"?
5 April 2007
22:56, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
...that the term "reserve heads" (pictured), found in
Ancient Egyptian tombs, is derived from the prevalent theory that they serve as an alternate home for the spirit of the dead owner if anything should happen to the body?
...that an entire army had to retreat during the Cádiz Expedition of 1625 because almost all had become drunk on wine taken from a village they were raiding?
...that Ajit Wadekar was the first
Indian to represent the country as
Test Cricket player, captain, coach/manager and Chairman of Selectors?
...that Alexander of Bergamo is thought to have survived the
decimation of the
Theban Legion for their conversion to Christianity only to be individually beheaded later for the same reason?
...that as part of a successful flattery campaign to persuade
Ngo Dinh Diem's loyalist
generalTon That Dinh to defect, his colleagues bribed his
soothsayer to predict his elevation to political authority?
...that Kupa Synagogue(pictured) in
Kraków features paintings of people standing by the rivers of
Babylon, a rare depiction of human figures in Jewish religious art?
...that the 800,000-member Global Pastors Network continues the legacy of
Bill Bright by attempting to, in their own words, "win 1 billion people to
Christ"?
...that French pirate Jacques de Sores, who captured
Havana in 1555, went by the nickname of "The Exterminating Angel"?
...that
German physicist Max von Laue wrote an article for Acta Crystallographica, which dealt with the absorption of
x-rays under
interference conditions, while in
French military incarceration in 1945?
...that Burning Bright by
John Steinbeck was an attempt at a new form of literature, the "play-novelette"— but both the play and novel were savaged by the critics and Steinbeck never wrote for the theatre again?
...that while the
center of gravity for a set of points is located at the spot from which the sum of the squares of distances to all the points is minimized, the geometric median is the spot from which the sum of distances is minimized?
...that Kosambi, a city in
ancient India which was a frequent site of sermons by the
Buddha, was one of the places considered suitable for his
Parinibbāna?
00:02, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
...that the cappuccio(pictured), a type of headgear worn by men and women in 15th century
Florence, was typically made by
tailors instead of hatmakers?