How did Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal get reviewed when it was published in 1857?

how did charles baudelaires les fleurs du mal get reviewed when it was published in 1857

Charles Baudelaire’s mother had reservations about Les Fleurs du Mal. Theophile Gautier warned the poet of its “scabrous nature.” M. Bourdin, writing for Le Figaro (a newspaper largely reflecting government views), was scandalized: There are times when one doubts Monsieur Baudelaire’s sanity; there are those when there is no longer any doubt; most of the … Read more

How did Robert E. Peary reach the North Pole and When?

how did robert e peary reach the north pole and when

Admiral Robert E. Peary’s ship, the Roosevelt, steamed north through the ice-packed waters of Smith Sound in 1908, her wooden hull specially fortified to meet the harsh barriers of ice, her primary means of propulsion a 1,000-horsepower engine rather than the sails of previous arctic exploration ships. Peary’s methods differed in another fundamental way: years … Read more

How did New York City build Central Park and When was Central Park built?

how did new york city build central park and when was central park built

When in 1857 Frederick Law Olmsted became superintendent of the area that would become Central Park, he described it as “a pestilential spot, where rank vegetation and miasmatic odors taint every breath of air.” The land was a chaotic mix of swamp and brambles, squatters’ shacks and open sewers. Some 300 hovels dotted the unpromising … Read more

How did the lollipop get its name?

how did the lollipop get its name

Apparently George Smith, who first made a candy on a stick for a Connecticut candy manufacturer in the early 1900s, had other moneymaking interests: Lolly Pop was one of the finest racehorses of the time.

How did Humphrey Bogart cure a hangover?

how did humphrey bogart cure a hangover

Humphrey Bogart cured a hangover by getting drunk again. And to make sure he had some company he formed his own drinking club, the Holmby Hills Rat Pack, with his wife Lauren Bacall as den mother, Frank Sinatra as secretary. Members were by and large Hollywood Democrats with an inclination for the bottle. Regulars included … Read more

How did the United States break the Japanese secret code in World War II?

how did the united states break the japanese secret code in world war ii

By the mid-1930s the U.S. Navy had begun to solve some Japanese diplomatic messages with relative ease. But just as the Navy succeeded in breaking what the United States called the Red code, Japan’s Foreign Office installed new, more sophisticated coding machines in its major embassies, and the ensuing transmissions had the Navy baffled. The … Read more

How did social elite of New York City pick the Four Hundred?

how did social elite of new york city pick the four hundred

If one had stood at the corner of New York’s 34th Street and 5th Avenue at eight o’clock on a given night in the 1870s, one might have seen a string of stately carriages arrive at Number 350 on 34th. There the creme de la crème of New York Society would descend in a glitter … Read more

How did Ernest Rutherford discover that the atom is mostly empty space?

how did ernest rutherford discover that the atom is mostly empty space

For a long time the exceedingly small size of an atom, one hundred-millionth of an inch is typical, made it very difficult to make even an informed guess about its structure. Sir Isaac Newton imagined atoms as “solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, moveable particles.” Others decided they were red, or gray, compact, and densely populated with … Read more

How did ballet dancers start dancing on their toes and When?

how did ballet dancers start dancing on their toes and when scaled

The strange custom of dancing on the very tips of one’s toes is not as old as ballet itself. Only after the dance was several hundred years old did this stylized position, which many now consider the essence of ballet, catch on, and one Italian girl at the Paris Opera was largely responsible. The classic … Read more

Where did the Baader Meinhof gang come from and how did the police catch them?

where did the baader meinhof gang come from and how did the police catch them

In 1972 Germany’s “Bonnie and Clyde” were declared Public Enemies Number One. In the two years since its formation, the Red Army Faction, popularly called the Baader-Meinhof gang, had stunned, divided, and terrified the country. Over 100 police had been hospitalized and 1 killed, while judges’ chambers were gutted and American installations fire-bombed. A new … Read more

How did scientists develop the Salk vaccine for polio in the 1950s?

how did scientists develop the salk vaccine for polio in the 1950s

An Egyptian stele from about 1500 B.C. portrays a young man with a withered leg, symptomatic of poliomyelitis. The Procession of the Cripples by Hieronymus Bosch also captures the cruel effects of the disease. In the late 19th century and first half of the 20th, what had been isolated instances erupted, unpredictably, into devastating epidemics. … Read more

Where did the tradition of blue for boys and pink for girls come from?

where did the tradition of blue for boys and pink for girls come from

The assignment of a color to each sex serves the obvious purpose of distinguishing infants, who otherwise look pretty much alike. But the particular choice of blue dates back to ancient times, when evil spirits purportedly plagued young children but could be warded off with certain colors. Blue, emblematic of the heavens, had an immanent … Read more

How did the first European explorers cross North America and reach the Pacific Ocean?

how did the first european explorers cross north america and reach the pacific ocean

In 1803 Thomas Jefferson secretly appropriated funds for exploration of the upper portions of the Missouri River and from there westward to the Pacific, a region not yet under the sovereignty of the United States. He asked his private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and frontiersman William Clark to evaluate the territory for potential annexation, taking careful … Read more

How did James Joyce support himself while writing Ulysses?

how did james joyce support himself while writing ulysses scaled

James Joyce began writing Ulysses in March 1914 at the age of 32. At that time he lived in Trieste with his wife, Nora Barnacle Joyce, and their two children in a flat furnished only with replicas of antique Danish chairs, perhaps emblematic of his love of Ibsen. His scant income was derived from two … Read more

How did Leonardo da Vinci design the first car and When was the horseless carriage invented?

how did leonardo da vinci design the first car and when was the horseless carriage invented

Four centuries ahead of his time, Leonardo da Vinci conceived workable plans for drawbridges and armored tanks, submarines, air conditioners, and machine guns. He imagined, too, the horseless carriage, a model of which stands in the museum in Vinci, about 20 miles west of Florence. The small, compact unit, constructed of wood, has three wheels … Read more

How did Houdini escape from a packing case underwater?

how did houdini escape from a packing case underwater scaled

This is “My Challenge to Death,” Houdini advertised with bravura, drawing fascinated and mystified crowds to witness his spectacle of daring. They would gather in droves along a pier on a river or canal where the preeminent magician stood handcuffed, vulnerable, right by their side. Here there was no stage, no discrete and distant world … Read more

Where did the Eiffel Tower come from and How did Gustave Eiffel build the Eiffel Tower in France?

where did the eiffel tower come from and how did gustave eiffel build the eiffel tower in france

On November 8, 1884, France’s President Grevy signed a decree that “a Universal Exposition of Products of Industry shall be opened in Paris May 5, 1889.” The last decade had seen a flourishing of trade, a vigorous expansion of industry, and rapid increases in national income. The country had salved the wounds of the Franco-Prussian … Read more

Where did breakfast cereal come from and How did the breakfast cereal industry originate?

where did breakfast cereal come from and how did the breakfast cereal industry originate

The Reverend Sylvester W. Graham preached that, rather than being born again, one’s life could be salvaged by vegetarianism and bran. Living in New England in the early 19th century, the former Presbyterian preacher was an early champion of the low-fat, low-salt diet, brown bread as opposed to the socially sanctioned white, and fruits and … Read more

How did Rudolph Valentino spend his wedding nights?

how did rudolph valentino spend his wedding nights

Women everywhere melted at the sight of the inimitable Rudolph Valentino in his silent film role of the seductive Sheik. But although thousands yearned for his affections, his bride was apparently not among them. Jean Acker and Rudolph Valentino, young and new to Hollywood, married on a sudden impulse in 1919 and realized the same … Read more

How did the Edsel get its name and Where did the Edsel come from?

how did the edsel get its name and where did the edsel come from

The Edsel was named after Edsel Ford, the son of Henry, of course, but only after a long, convoluted, and expensive chain of experiments, arguments, marketing research, and trial and error. And after all that, the adventuresome car for the upwardly mobile family was branded with an old-fashioned, grandfatherly name, scarcely well suited for a … Read more

How did prehistoric humans transport and arrange the giant boulders at Stonehenge?

how did prehistoric humans transport and arrange the giant boulders at stonehenge

The massive stones on England’s Salisbury Plain have stood for over 4,000 years, witness to the wanderings of prehistoric nomads, to the rise and fall of tribes, to rites, mysteries, and ceremonies forever eclipsed. Well before the complexity of its design was revealed, the elegance and imposing size of Stonehenge inspired scores of theories about … Read more

How did the judicial system block President Roosevelt’s plan to pack the Supreme Court?

how did the judicial system block president roosevelts plan to pack the supreme court

Although Franklin Roosevelt was reelected to the presidency in 1936 by an overwhelming majority (he carried every state except Maine and Vermont), there was one very significant place where the majority opposed him: the Supreme Court. Social ills plagued the country and Roosevelt was determined to extend his New Deal, but the judicial veto threatened … Read more

How did people in India decide that cows were sacred?

how did people in india decide that cows were sacred

The sight of cows, however emaciated, lumbering through the sultry and congested streets of Calcutta, is a peculiar one to the western eye, and many deride the ban on killing cattle in a country where millions go hungry. But what appears an arbitrary and irrational practice arose not only from religious beliefs, but from the … Read more

Where does champagne come from and Who invented champagne?

where does champagne come from and who invented champagne

The next time you find an excuse to break open a bottle of bubbly, be it New Year’s, a wedding, or a whim, you might raise your effervescent glass in solemn thanks to one blind Benedictine monk who made it all possible. Three centuries ago there lived in northern France a great blender of wines, … Read more

How did the Fire Department put out the San Francisco fire of 1906?

how did the fire department put out the san francisco fire of 1906

The terrible tragedy is they didn’t put out the San Francisco fire of 1906. The fire raged for three full days, devouring all in its three-mile path, razing the city, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and helpless. At 5:13 A.M. on April 18, 1906, the San Andreas Fault shifted and heaved with enough force to … Read more

How did the special effects team shoot up Bonnie and Clyde in the movie?

how did the special effects team shoot up bonnie and clyde in the movie

When the police ambush the infamous duo in the climactic scene of Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Faye Dunaway writhes and twists beneath a deluge of fire in a slow-motion death that looks agonizingly real. While the motions are all her own, special effects don’t always preclude the necessity of good acting, some technical tricks did … Read more

When was Heaven’s Gate released and How did the studio spend $40 million making the movie?

when was heavens gate released and how did the studio spend 40 million making the movie scaled

When Michael Cimino’s 3-hour-and-39-minute epic was screened in New York in November 1980, United Artists’ managers blanched, the critics brandished their pens, and Cimino hastened to explain that the film had been edited with undue speed to meet a release deadline. No doubt about it, his two-year obsession, his beloved vision of the 19th-century West, … Read more

Where does the phrase “to mind one’s p’s and q’s” come from and What does it mean?

where does the phrase to mind ones ps and qs come from and what does it mean

The phrase “to mind one’s p’s and q’s” means to take pains; to be careful and precise. More conjectures have been advanced to explain the original meaning of this phrase than upon any other equally obscure. Each has a certain degree of plausibility. The simplest explanation is that it was an incessant admonition among pedagogs … Read more

Where does the phrase “all around Robin Hood’s barn” come from and What does it mean?

where does the phrase all around robin hoods barn come from and what does it mean

Robin Hood, or “Robert of the wood,” as some have explained the name, may have been altogether a legendary figure or may have actually existed. No one knows. The earliest literary reference to him is in Langland’s Piers Plowman, written about 1377. He may have lived, according to some slight evidence, toward the latter part … Read more

Where does the expression “like a Dutch uncle” come from and What does it mean?

where does the expression like a dutch uncle come from and what does it mean

In England, especially during the seventeenth century, the mannerisms and characteristics of the people of Holland were held in scorn. Thus Dutch courage came to mean cowardice; Dutch comfort or Dutch consolation meant “Thank God, it could be worse”; Dutch bargain, a one-sided bargain; Dutch nightingales, frogs. Even in America “Dutch treat” came to mean … Read more

Where does the phrase “to thumb a ride” come from and What does it mean?

where does the phrase to thumb a ride come from and what does it mean scaled

The phrase “to thumb a ride”, like a number of other current expressions, is recorded in this volume for the convenience of future generations. We know that it means to obtain a lift toward one’s destination by requesting it in dumb pantomime. It originated after the automobile had become so commonplace, around 1920, that pedestrianism … Read more

Where does the expression “to take French leave” come from and What does it mean?

where does the expression to take french leave come from and what does it mean

We use the expression “to take French leave” now to mean to take one’s departure secretly or without authorized permission; thus, a soldier may be said to take French leave if he surreptitiously absents himself from quarters. But, despite the fact that the French counterpart of the expression is, “to withdraw as the English (filer … Read more

Where does the expression “hitting on all six” come from and What does it mean?

where does the expression hitting on all six come from and what does it mean

When first coined, the expression “hitting on all six” was “hitting on all four.” It may become, as we adjust our speech to the progress of the machine age, “hitting on all twelve” or sixteen or other multiple of two. Whatever the alteration in the numeral, it means “functioning perfectly.” We get it, prosaically, from … Read more