Vaguely Interesting Snippets | 13 November 2012
- Mein Kampf was required reading in Hitler’s Third Reich – so much so that the state provided marrying couples with a special version for free – the Hochzeitsausgabe, or Wedding Edition. It came in a white slipcase and featured the seal of the province embossed in gold onto a parchment-like cover.
- The Queen’s Speech is written on goatskin vellum – this BBC article shows the trouble that is taken to continue this tradition
- One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween, according to this post from the History Channel
- It might have been with some superstitious trepidation that Barack Obama approached election day – until his victory the Republicans had won every Presidential election held on 6 November:
- 1860: Abraham Lincoln
- 1888: Benjamin Harrison
- 1900: William McKinley
- 1928: Herbert Hoover
- 1956: Dwight Eisenhower
- 1984: Ronald Reagan
- George Washington had no children of his own. He adopted two of his wife Martha’s children.
- John Adams (the USA’s second president) and Thomas Jefferson (its third) died on the same day, 4 July 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the declaration of independence.