>Odd Victorian Factoid#19: In 1869 women were allowed to go to Cambridge University, but had to take separate exams from the men and weren't considered capable of studying Latin and Greek.
>odd Victorian Factoid #19
>odd Victorian Factoid #18
>Odd Victorian Factoid#18: Queen Victoria died in the arms of her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, German emperor. 13 years later he led Germany against England in WWI.
>Odd Victorian Factoid #17
>"We're taking you to Calcraft" meant you were about to be hung, since William Calcraft was the official hangman for London and Middlesex from 1829-1874.
Yeah, that's a long time to be a hangman. Between 400 and 450 people met their end with Calcraft. He was also in charge of floggings.
>Odd Victorian Factoid #15
>Odd Victorian Factoid#15: When the explorer Livingstone died in Zambia his heart was buried under a Mvula tree (a custom of the tribe he was living with). His body was carried a thousand miles by his faithful companions, Chuma and Susi, and was returned to London to be buried in Westminster Abbey.
>Odd Victorian Factoid #13
>Odd Victorian Factoid#13: the term jingoism comes from the lyrics of a popular Victorian song: "We don't want to fight, but, by Jingo if we do/We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money, too." It was called "The Great McDermott's Song" and was written during the time of the Russo-Turkish war. "By Jingo" was a minced oath for "by Jesus!"
>Odd Victorian Factoid #12
>Odd Victorian Factoid#12: Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire had 5500 courtiers, 600 horses, 200 carriages and a harem of 1500 women. All this while the empire was going broke. Did I mention the new palaces he also built? He was later "unpalaced" by a military coup and placed under house arrest. He committed suicide with a pair of nail scissors.
*I've been doing a series of these factoids on Facebook and Twitter, and just thought I'd add them to my blog, too. Here I can add a bit more info. So that's why I'm starting with #12. The first 11 are on Facebook or Twitter. All of this comes from research for my The Hunchback Assignments series...
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