Our first list on Historical Oddities was very popular, so we are now presenting you with a second list! Here are 20 strange facts of history that you are probably not aware of.

Oddities 1 - 5

1. Charles Darwin married his first cousin.

2. John F. Kennedy, Anthony Burgess, Aldous Huxley, and C.S. Lewis all died on the same day.

3. Officially, the longest war in history was between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, which lasted from 1651 to 1986. There were no casualties.

4. Gay marriage was legally recognized in Rome, and Nero himself married at least two gay couples.

5. Adolf Hitler’s nephew, William Hitler, immigrated to the United States in 1939 and fought against his uncle.

Oddities 6 - 10

6. Thomas Paine was elected to the first post-revolution French parliament, despite not speaking a word of the language.

7. William Howard Taft is the only US President to come third in his campaign for re-election, losing to eventual winner Woodrow Wilson and fellow Republican Theodore Roosevelt.

8. Technically, Henry VIII had only two wives. Four of his marriages were annulled.

9. King Richard II invented the handkerchief.

10. The Parliament of Iceland is the oldest still acting parliament in the world. It was established in 930.

Oddities 11 - 15

11. The people who founded the Futurism art movement also founded the first Italian Fascist party in 1918.

12. Albert Einstein was offered the role of Israel’s second President in 1952, but declined.

13. New Zealand was the first country to enfranchise women. It gave them the vote in 1895.

14. The 27th amendment to the US constitution took 202 years to ratify, having been proposed in 1789 and finally ratified in 1992.

15. Until April 2008, the island of Sark remained the last feudal state in Europe.

Oddities 16 - 20

16. Tomatoes were considered poisonous for many years in Europe and they were grown for ornamental reasons only. In fact, the leaves and stems of tomatoes are poisonous (but they can be used in moderation for food flavoring).

17. Soon after building started in 1173, the foundation of the Pisa tower settled unevenly. Construction was stopped, and was continued only a 100 years later. Therefore, the leaning tower was never straight.

18. Ancient Egyptians used slabs of stones as pillows.

19. People have been wearing glasses for about 700 years.

20. King Charles the Second often rubbed dust from the mummies of pharaohs so he could “absorb their ancient greatness.
我們首次列舉的歷史上的奇人異事非常受歡迎，因此我們準備列出第二份名單！這是歷史上20件你可能從沒意識到的奇異的事實。

奇人異事1-5

1.查爾斯·達爾文 娶了他的第一個表妹。

2.約翰·F.·肯尼迪（美國總統）， 安東尼·伯吉斯（英國著名作家），阿爾都斯·赫斯利（美國著名編劇），C.S. 劉易斯（英國評論家）都死于同一天。

3.據官方稱，歷史上最長的戰爭是荷蘭與賽麗群島之間的戰爭，其從1651年持續至1986年。這場戰爭沒有帶來人員傷亡。

4.男同性戀婚姻早在羅馬時代就被承認為合法，尼祿自己就至少娶了兩個男性為伴侶。

5.阿道夫·希特勒的侄子，威廉·希特勒于1939年移居美國，并反對他的叔叔。

奇人異事 6-10

6.托馬斯·潘恩被選為大革命后首屆法國國會的議員，盡管他沒有說過一句競選詞。

7.威廉·霍華德·塔夫脫是唯一一位重新參加了三次總統競選的美國總統，他輸給了最終的勝利者伍德羅-威爾遜以及后來的共和黨人西奧多-羅斯福。

8.從技術上來說，亨利八世只有兩個妻子，他有四次婚姻被抹殺掉了。

9.手帕是英國王理查德二世發明的。

10.冰島國會是世界上最老的仍在運轉的國會，它建立于公元930年。

11.未來派藝術運動的創立者同時也在1918年創立了第一個意大利法西斯政黨（菲利普·托馬佐·馬里內蒂，墨索里尼的重要幫兇）。

12.1952年，阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦被邀請擔當第二任以色列總統，但被他拒絕了。

13.新西蘭是第一個給予婦女選舉權的國家，時間是在1895年。

14.美國憲法的第27次修訂花了202年才被批準，它被提交于1789年，于1992年方才獲批。

15.直到2008年四月，薩克群島仍然是歐洲的最后一個封建國家。

奇人異事 16-20

16.在歐洲，人們在很多年時間里都認為西紅柿是有毒的，并一直將其作為觀賞植物種植。事實上，西紅柿的莖和葉的確是有毒的（但它們可以被適度的用作食物調味品）。

17.1173年，比薩斜塔剛開始建造，就發現地基不平，建造停止了，并在一百年后得以繼續。因此，斜塔從來就沒有直過。

18.古埃及人用石板作為枕頭。

19.人們佩戴眼睛已經700年了。

20.英王查爾斯二世經常擦拭法老王木乃伊的灰塵，這樣他就可以“吸收”他們古代的偉大精神。