Was there really going to be a black Taj Mahal? The idea of a black Taj Mahal to go with the white one is probably just a myth as there is no actual evidence for it. The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, and was finished in 1653. It is a […]
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Why are Quakers the reason we have fixed prices? Because Quakers believe in fairness. The Quaker religion began in Lancashire, England in the 1650s. George Fox, the son of a weaver, was fed up with the Church of England and the society that was going through large changes after the English Civil War. He started
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Why is the Gutenberg Bible special? Because it was the first mass-produced book made with movable type. The Gutenberg Bible is named for Johannes Gutenberg, who famously perfected movable type printing using interchangeable metal letters. Movable type means that all of the characters can be moved. Gutenberg used a set of about 290 characters. These
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When were pencils invented? The first pencil was invented in 1565. It is easy to think that something as simple as the pencil has been around for eons, but that is not actually true. Graphite was discovered in 1565, and the very first pencil was made very shortly after. Before pencils were invented, people used
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Why are katana blades curved? They are curved to make them more efficient at cutting. Katana are long, curved swords from Japan. Their name “katana” means one-sided blade. “Kata” means “side” and “na” means blade. Many swords are double-sided because it allows them to be more effective when thrust. They can also be used to
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Who made the first English dictionary? Robert Cawdrey in 1604. There was no need for a dictionary throughout most of the history of the English language. Up until the invention of the printing press, in about 1436, words were spelled in several different ways, and often as they sounded. For example, egg could be spelled
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Why are there twelve months in a year? Because it is the closest match to the number of times the moon orbits the Earth in a year. Before there were names for the months, people lived by a lunar calendar. There was no need to know what month it was or what day it was.
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How many revolutions has France had? France has had three revolutions and they are currently on their fifth republic. The first revolution was the big one. The one we learn about in school as “The French Revolution”. It started in 1789 and it ushered in the first republic. It began because of rising inequality in
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Who was Molotov and why was the Molotov cocktail named after him? He was Vyacheslav Molotov, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Soviet Union A Molotov cocktail is usually a bottle full of a flammable fuel with a fuse that is thrown by hand. They have become very famous because they are very easy to
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Who invented the skateboard? The skateboard was invented so that surfers could keep surfing when the sea was flat and there were no waves. So, who invented surfing? Surfing has been around for thousands of years. Fishermen in ancient Peru fished in kayaks made of reeds and they surfed them back to shore when they
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