Today is the birthday of fried chicken magnate Colonel Harland Sanders. Here are a few things you may not have known about him. Sanders was born in 1890 in Henryville, Indiana, just north of Louisville, Kentucky. His father died when Sanders was five years old, forcing his mother to work and leaving Sanders to watch…

Today is the birthday of American television comedy pioneer Sid Caesar. Here are a few things you may not have known about him. Caesar was born Isaac Sidney Caesar on September 8, 1922 in Yonkers, New York. His parents owned a 24-hour lunch counter where he would wait tables and learn the speech patterns of…

Today is Labor Day in the United States and Canada. Here’s a few facts about the end-of-summer holiday. The holiday was promoted by labor unions to celebrate the importance of workers in the United States. The originator of the idea is disputed, with Matthew Maguire of the Central Labor Union and Peter J. McGuire of…

On this date in 1957, the Ford Motor Company introduced its Edsel division. Here are a few facts about one of the biggest marketing disasters in automotive history. In 1955, Ford began developing a new intermediate car brand that would fit between the company’s upmarket Lincoln and medium-price Mercury divisions. Its main competition was General…

On September 3, 1967, drivers in Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right. Here are a few things you may not have known about what was called Dagen H. First off, Dagen is the Swedish word for day and the “H” stands of Hogertrafik, or right-hand…

The Great Fire of London started on this date in 1666. Here are some things you may not have known about the fire. It started in the bakery of Thomas Farriner in Pudding Lane. The family managed to escape the fire by climbing to the house next door. At the time, the common method of…

30 years ago today, a joint American and French expedition discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean. Here are a few things you may not have known about the discovery. Soon after the vessel sank in 1912, schemes to find and or raise the wreck were hatched…

On this date in the year 1314, the city of Oslo became the capital of Norway. Here are some things you may not have known about the city. Oslo traces its history to about 1000 AD with the building of St. Clement’s Church. King Hakkon the Fifth moved the capital of Norway from Bergen on…

On this date in 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most iconic speeches of the last century on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Here are some things you may not have known about the “I Have a Dream” speech: The full name of the event…

On this date in 1859, the first large-scale oil well began operating in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Here are some things you may not have known about the early days of oil. Oil naturally seeps from the ground in large parts of western Pennsylvania. Native Americans had used the oil for centuries as an insect repellant, and…