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FEBRUARY 2010
Nuggets

Anecdotes of the Great

Throughout her entire life, Napoleon Bonaparte's wife Josephine's favourite flower had been the violet and she always surrounded herself with the delicate little buds and wore their scent as perfume. She wore violets at their wedding. On each anniversary, Napoleon presented her with a bouquet of violets. His followers even chose the violet as their emblem and nicknamed Napoleon 'Corporal Violet'. In 1814, France was invaded and Napoleon exiled to Elba on May 4. Josephine died a few weeks later. After escaping from Elba, Napoleon returned to mainland France where he ruled for another 100 days before being defeated in 1815. He was exiled to the island of St Helena but before he left visited the grave of his beloved Josephine. After spending 5˝ years in exile, Napoleon died on May 5, 1821. When a locket he was wearing around his neck at the time of his death was opened, it was found to contain a lock of Josephine's hair and dried violet petals he had picked from her gravesite in 1815.
[Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769-May 5, 1821) was a charismatic general and political leader of France and Emperor of the French as Napoleon I, famed for his military successes.]

FACTOID
The metal ring crimped to hold the eraser in place on pencils is called a ‘ferrule’.


How about that?
Switzerland millionaire hit by record speed fine
A Swiss millionaire has been handed down a record speeding fine of $290,000 by a court. The man was caught driving a red Ferrari Testarossa at 137 km/h through a village. The penalty was calculated based on the motorist's wealth - assessed by the court as $22.7m - and because he was a repeat offender. The motorist was clocked speeding 57 km/h faster than the limit. "The accused ignored elementary traffic rules with a powerful vehicle out of a pure desire for speed," the court said in its judgement.

Who am I?
Born on February 7, 1812, I am a famous English novelist noted for works like Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

ANSWER: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol stands as his best-known work from which the term 'Scrooge' became a synonym for 'miser'.

Compiled by Caroline C. D’Souza
THIS MONTH IN
HISTORY
Feb. 06, 1935: Monopoly board game goes on sale in the U.S. Since then, an estimated 500 million people have played the game.


Feb. 08, 1828: Birth anniversary of Jules Verne, author of Around The World In 80 Days, A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.


Feb. 09, 1894: Hershey’s Chocolate, one of the oldest chocolate companies in the U.S., is founded by Milton S. Hershey. In 1907, he introduced a new candy, small flat-bottomed conical-shaped pieces of chocolate that he named ‘Hershey’s Kisses’.

Feb. 16, 1937: DuPont Chemical Company patents nylon (invented by Wallace Carothers) which is introduced to the world in 1938.

Feb. 20, 1872: First toothpick-manufacturing machine patented by Silas Noble and J. P. Cooley of Granville, Massachusetts (USA).


Feb. 26, 1829: Birth anniversary of Levi Strauss, a German-Jewish immigrant to the U.S. who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm, Levi Strauss & Co., began in 1853 in San Francisco, California.

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