Interesting Facts – Page 2 – Amazing Facts, Random Facts and Funny Facts

Who were the Nachthexen?

The Nachthexen or “Night Witches” was the German nickname given to the formidable female aviators from the 588th Soviet Night Bomber Regiment. The pilots saw their name as a badge of honour.

This regiment flew bombing missions for the Soviet Air Force against the German military during the Second World War. The female squadron trained as pilots, navigators and engineers.

The group consisted of 40 two person crews, flying over 30,000 missions and dropping 23,000 tons of bombs.

Each pilot flew more than 800 missions often carrying out eight every night. They were an unique unit, being the only all female combatants during World War II and were the most highly decorated female squadron in the Soviet Union Air Force.

The Night Witches flew biplanes made of wood and canvas which were originally built for crop dusting and training purposes. But this made them light which made it easier for the women to fly them. However, because of this it also made the planes slow and they could only carry six bombs at a time.

There were no parachutes on board the planes and the female pilots had no radar or technology to help guide them, only a compass and maps.

Due to the aeroplane cockpit being open, pilots would often suffer from numbness and frostbite during their flights.

The planes were very slow, with the maximum speed of the biplane being slower than the “stall” speed of German aircraft, so the Night Witches used the attack method of idling the engines and gliding before dropping a bomb.

This stealth mode left only the whooshing sound of the wind to give away their location and the Nachthexen would often return from the missions with bullets through their maps, planes and helmets.

The German fighters in their highly advanced aircraft feared the Night Witches because of their bravery and stealth.

Who is the longest serving First Lady of the USA?

The longest serving First Lady of the United States of America was a woman named Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and she was known as one of the most outspoken first lady’s of the White House.

Eleanor Roosevelt was born on 11th October 1884 in New York City into the Roosevelt dynasty and she had a very privileged and political upbringing.

Her uncle was Theodore Roosevelt, who was the President of the USA from 1901-1909.

When Eleanor was 10 years old she lost both her parents to diphtheria. She was sent to England to be educated and became a strong, confident and independent woman. She chose to work as a social worker which served her well in later life.

In 1905, she married Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her distant 5th cousin and they went on to have six children. Franklin was a senator and Eleanor was active in the American Red Cross during World War I.

In 1921, Franklin contracted polio, which left his legs paralysed but Eleanor persuaded Franklin to continue in politics and with her help he became the 32nd President of the United States in 1933.

Whilst Eleanor Roosevelt was the first lady, she changed the role of purely being a hostess to that of a politician.

She spoke passionately about women’s rights, human rights, racial discrimination, welfare, workers’ rights and children’s issues.

She worked with the Women’s Trade Union League to abolish child labour and set up a minimum wage.

Eleanor was also active in the civil rights movement insisting on equal rights for everyone, regardless of race, even going so far as to break tradition and invite several African-Americans into the White House for social and political causes.

As the policy of presidential terms was different back in the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, he spent four terms in office from 1933 to 1945, which spanned across the Great Depression and World War II. This is how Eleanor Roosevelt remains to be the longest serving first lady of the USA.

The policy has however now changed, so that a sitting president can only serve a maximum of two consecutive terms (8 years).

Eleanor’s husband Franklin died in 1945 and the then Vice President, Harry Truman became president.

Truman appointed Eleanor as a delegate to the United Nations, a post she held from 1945-1953.

She became the Chair of the UN’s Human Rights Commission and during her time she helped to co-write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In 1961, at the age of 77 years old, the new president John F. Kennedy appointed Eleanor to become involved in the UN again along with the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corp and also the chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.

Eleanor was known as one of the greatest humanitarians with an overwhelming sensitivity to those in need.

She sought out political and social change wanting to make the world a fairer and better place before sadly passing away on 7th November 1962.

What did the Astronomer Galileo Galilei discover?

On 7th January 1610, the astronomer Galileo Galilei turned his newly built telescope on a speck of light moving slowly across the clear night sky above the Italian town of Padua.

The dot he stared at was the planet Jupiter.

To Galileo’s astonishment, the planet was attended by what he saw as ‘four little stars’. They were in fact moons, in orbit around their giant companion.

The sight, at once, challenged the traditional Church dominated concept of the universe, in which all heavenly bodies were believed to circle the Earth.

Galileo’s discoveries were to lead to a full-scale confrontation between the Church and a revolutionary new view of the universe.

Orthodox beliefs about the nature of the universe were rigid and long established. For some 300 years, the Catholic Church and universities had accepted the theories proposed by the ancient Greeks.

In particular the beliefs about the universe held by Aristotle and Ptolemy. According to them the Earth lay fixed at the centre of the universe, with the heavenly bodies moving around it. Since no one could see flaws in the Moon, planets and stars, they were considered to be models of perfection, which revolved in circles, the most perfect of shapes.

The Church seized upon the Greek view as backing for its ‘divine’ mission – to help sinful humanity towards heavenly perfection. In support of this two beliefs were vital.

Firstly, the heavens should always be seen as perfect and secondly, the Earth on which mankind dwelt must be the stable centre of all things. Consequently, the theories that had been advanced by Aristotle ad Ptolemy supporting this concept became religious dogma.

By Galileo’s time, this dogma looked a little threadbare. A Polish priest and mathematician named Nicholas Copernicus had in 1543 suggested that planetary motions could be more readily accounted for if the Sun was placed at the centre of things.

In 1600, a radical Italian thinker, Giordano Bruno, was burnt at the stake for his heresies, one of which was his insistence that the Earth moved around the Sun. Galileo knew what he was up against, but he also knew the strength of his own scientific expertise.

In 1582, at the age of 18, Galileo had already begun the work that later led him to formulate several basic laws of motion.

Then in 1609, when he was a Professor of Mathematics at Padua, he heard of a Dutch spectacle maker, Hans Lippershey, who had put two lenses in a tube to make a primitive telescope.

Galileo made one for himself, which magnified just three times. He bought it to Venice, and sold the idea to the Venetian leader, the Doge, for it’s military potential – with a telescope, ships could be identified from a greater distance.

Within months, Galileo had made a second and a third telescope, which magnified up to 32 times.

It was this third, improved telescope that Galileo was to turn upon the skies in 1609-10. Discoveries came rapidly, each of them a further challenge to religious dogma.

For instance, he discovered there was nothing perfect about the surface of the moon – it had craters, mountains and plains.

The Sun, so far considered ‘inviolate’ had spots on it and Jupiter had its own moons, which did not circle the Earth.

Venus had phases, from full to new, which would have been impossible unless it was in orbit around the Sun, rather than around the Earth. Also, many previously unseen stars were now in view by the thousands.

Therefore, Galileo’s telescope showed convincing evidence that we live on an Earth that orbits the Sun, an Earth this is a mere planet and not the centre of Creation.

Copernicus was right, and Church dogma was wrong, as Galileo’s 1610 book, Siderius Nuncius, ‘Starry Messenger’ made clear.

Other observations were made and published showing that planets did not even move in circles.

On the basis of detailed observations by the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), who was a colleague of a Danish astronomer Tycho Braha (1546-1601), it could be seen that the planets moved in eclipses or ovals.

Kepler devised three laws to account for the speed and orbit of a planet, supporting the theories of Copernicus and Galileo.

Although proving that the Earth moved was not easy for Galileo, as he had observational problems which cast doubt on his work.

Some argued that Galileo’s telescope was unreliable. Then in 1615, the Church took up the challenge. The doctrine that the Sun was the centre and immovable, said the pope, was ‘false and absurd’ formally heretical and contrary to the Scriptures.

Galileo was told to change his views. He retired from public life and only ventured back into print in 1632 in support of Coppernicus with his Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems.

As a result of this heresy, Galileo was in 1633 summoned to Rome to recant. Threatened with torture, he did so – while muttering some accounts say – ‘E pur si muove’ (‘And yet it moves’).

He remained under virtual house arrest until his death in 1642, though this did not prevent the spread of his ideas.

Religious dogma had begun its retreat in the face of science, but it was another 359 years before, in 1992, Pope John Paul II formally rehabilitated Galileo, blaming his conviction for heresy on ‘tragic mutual incomprehension’.

World Chess Championship Facts

The first official title match was held back in 1886 in the United States between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort.

The first five games were played in New York City, followed by the next four being played in St. Louis and the final eleven in New Orleans.

The winner was to be the first player to gain ten wins. Wilhelm Steinitz finally won the match 10–5, after winning his tenth game during the twentieth match and there were also five draws.

However in 1946 following the death of Alexander Alekhine, FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs) the world chess association had the opportunity to bring the contest under their control.

They organised a tournament in 1948 featuring five of the world’s top players and it was won by the Soviet star Mikhail Botvinnik.

Following on from this, FIDE organised a title match every three years, with a series of qualifying tournaments and matches being used to determine who would become the official challenger.

A drawn match would favour the reigning champion, who would retain his title. A defeated champion was given the right to a return match one year later, but this was abandoned in 1963.

Players from the Soviet Union dominated the title matches from 1951-1972.

Spasskyand Fischer — Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer after Spassky won the first game of the 1972 World Chess Championship. Image Credit: AP Images.

America’s Bobby Fischer ended the long run of Soviet victories in 1972 when he beat Spassky, but then Fischer did not play again for 20 years.

Meanwhile Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov went on to dominate the title for the next 25 years.

In 1993, Garry Kasparov and his new challenger England’s Nigel Short, decided to break away from FIDE and played their match under the auspices of the Professional Chess Association.

FIDE held a rival match in the same year, which saw Karpov beat Jan Timman of the Netherlands.

The split in the chess world led to a confusing situation with two people claiming to be the reigning champion of the world.

Additional confusion was created by the astonishing return of Bobby Fischer in 1992, when he played a second match with Boris Spassky, 20 years after their epic 1972 clash.

Fischer also claimed to be world champion, as he had not been beaten since 1972, but nobody really took his claim seriously and Fischer never played chess again.

The split in the chess world was finally repaired in 2006 when Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Vladimir Kramnik played a unification match, which was won by Kramnik.

Viswanathan Anand then became the undisputed champion by winning a tournament for the title in 2007, followed by victories against Kramnik (2008) and Topalov (2010).

Since those messy times, title matches have been back on schedule.

Carlsen v Caruana — A clash of kings: Carlsen, right, has been defending his title from Caruana. Image Credit: EPA.

The world chess champion for 2018 is Norwegian Magnus Carlsen who has retained the title since 2013.

Over a three week period Magnus Carlsen played against the American Fabiano Caruana and for 20 days the world’s two best grandmasters sat in a studio in central London.

Finally, after 15 games, 773 moves and 51 hours, Carlsen yet again beat Caruana.

Who was the first Welshman to win the Tour De France?

The first Welshman to win one of the cycling worlds toughest challenges is a 32 year old cyclist named Geraint Thomas from Birchgrove in Cardiff, Wales. He won the Tour De France in 2018.

Geraint started cycling at the age of 10 at the Maindy Flyers velodrome and was soon noticed by Rod Ellingworth, performance director at Team Sky around three years later.

When Geraint Thomas was 14 years old his coaches realised that he could go very fast around the speed track.

Geraint had some competitive success in under 14’s & 16’s events, which including National Championships. In 2004 he won his first notable success when he won a silver medal in the points race at the 2004 UEC European Track Championships.

Geraint Thomas was the youngest member to join the British pursuit team during the world championships in 2006. In 2008 and 2012 alongside Bradley Wiggins, he won Olympic gold medals. Geraint Thomas decided to leave track cycling and focus more on road racing.

In 2007, Thomas made his Tour de France debut becoming the youngest rider in the race as Barloworld picked up one of the three wildcard spots allocated for the race.

Before Geraint Thomas, the last Welshman to compete in this race was Colin Lewis in 1967. In this year, Thomas completed his first Tour de France, finishing 140th out of 141 finishers.

Geraint opted not to take part in the 2008 Tour de France and trained in Britain instead for the Olympics in Beijing.

Great Britain’s team of Thomas, Paul Manning, Ed Clancy and Bradley Wiggins, broke and set new world record times in the semi-final and claimed gold in the final. They were more than two seconds ahead of second-placed New Zealand.

Also in 2008, Thomas was part of Great Britain’s gold-winning team pursuit squad at the Track World Championships.

However, in 2009 Geraint suffered a terrible crash during the time trial stage at Tirreno–Adriatico in Macerata, Italy. He misjudged a corner and crashed into a safety barrier breaking his pelvis and fracturing his nose in the fall.

After recovering from his injuries, 2010 saw Thomas join the newly-formed Team Sky and helped them make a winning debut at the Tour of Qatar.

He was one of six riders confirmed at the founding of the team, alongside Steve Cummings, Chris Froome, Russell Downing, Ian Stannard and Peter Kennaugh. More riders soon joined, which including Bradley Wiggins.

Thomas went on to win the British National Road Race Championships and earned his best ever finish at the Tour de France, coming 67th.

He went several better in the Tour De France of 2011, finishing 31st overall and earning a new three-year contract with Team Sky. He was also performing brilliantly at the Tour of Britain, until a crash ended his chances of victory.

In 2017 Geraint Thomas won the first stage of the Tour de France, so not only was he the first Welshman, but he was only the eighth cyclist from the United Kingdom, to wear the yellow jersey.

Unfortunately, during Stage 9 of that same year he crashed out on a slippery wet hill descent which left him with a broken collarbone.

Thomas was named as joint leader with Chris Froome in the 2018 Tour de France for Team Sky. But Froome had a crash at stage 1 and lost time to Thomas. Thomas with Team Sky finished second behind BMC Racing Team in the team time trial on Stage 2, and remained in second place when they started the Alps races at Stage 10.

At Stage 11, Thomas attacked in the final kilometre to take the stage win and the race leader’s Yellow Jersey. The following day, Thomas again won Stage 12 with a sprint finish at Alpe d’Huez ahead of Dumoulin and Froome.

Thomas became the first rider to win a Tour de France stage on Alpe d’Huez in the Yellow Jersey and the first British winner on Alpe d’Huez in the Tour de France.

Thomas kept on extending his lead throughout the three Pyrenean stages, being placed third behind stage winner Nairo Quintana and consolidated his position in the yellow jersey by picking up six bonus seconds in the sprint, extending his lead over Dumoulin to 2 minutes, 5 seconds.

The penultimate stage was a 31 km time trial, which Dumoulin won. Thomas survived a scare when his back wheel locked, but without injury or accident he completed the time trial successfully, finishing fourteen seconds behind Dumoulin, which still meant Thomas lead by 1 min 51s into the final stage.

Thomas held on to his lead all the way to Paris. He became only the third ever British, first British-born and first Welsh cyclist to win the Tour de France.

In September 2018, the Wales National Velodrome in Newport was officially renamed the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome.

Thomas attended the renaming ceremony after he completed the first stage of the 2018 Tour of Britain which finished in the city.

In December 2018, Thomas won the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year for the second time

He also won the main BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award that same year and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to cycling.

An interesting fun fact is that he attended the same school, Whitchurch High School, as Wales and Real Madrid footballer Gareth Bale and Welsh Rugby international Sam Warburton.

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