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
    • 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.