Lady Bird Johnson’s real name was Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson (b. 1912). The wife of President Lyndon Johnson got her nickname after the family cook called her “purty as a lady bird.”
As the subject of the first children’s book of the same name, the character Goody Two-Shoes helped to usher in the children’s book industry. Goody Two-Shoes was a poor girl, who, when given a pair of shoes, became so happy that she told everyone she met about them. The tale was written by Oliver Goldsmith…
The term chauvinism originally referred to Nicolas Chauvin, a French soldier of the Napoleonic era whose devotion to Napoleon was considered excessive and unreasonable. He later appeared in a number of plays and literary works, including Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel (1905), always representing an exaggerated patriotism. The term has since taken on a more general…
Genghis Khan was born circa 1162 and died in 1227. His real name was Temiijin; the title Genghis Khan meant “universal ruler.” He ruled Mongolia, conquered China, devastated the Muslim empire of Khwarizm (now part of Soviet Uzbekistan), and raided Persia and Russia.
There has been only one female winner of the U.S. Medal of Honor. It was Mary Walker who served as a surgeon in the 52nd Ohio Regiment during the Civil War. She was awarded the medal in 1865 by President Andrew Johnson.
Michel de Notredame, aka Nostradamus (1503-1566), seems to have predicted his own death. On July 1, 1566, his assistant rose to leave him for the evening, saying, “Tomorrow, master,” to which Nostradamus said, “Tomorrow at sunrise, I shall no longer be here.” The next morning he was found dead from an attack of dropsy.