Napoleon was short. This is so wide-spread that a short man syndrome bears his name. Two reasons exist for this misbelief. First, in 1821 when he died, the French physician listed the emperor's height as 5'2". This figure uses the French measurement know as pieds de roi. Using our measurement system Napoleon's height was 5' 6.5". At that time the average height was 5' 5", so he was of slightly above average height. The other reason is that history is written by the victors. Deriding Napoleon's stature sat better with his enemies.
Before Columbus' voyage of 1492 most people thought the world was flat. Blame this one on an 1828 biography of Columbus written by Washington Irving. It contains as much truth as the legend of Sleepy Hollow. Going back to the Ancient Greeks, most knowledgeable men understood the earth was an orb.
Sir Thomas Crapper invented the flush toilet. Two things are incorrect with this statement. Mr. Crapper was never knighted. Somehow along the way a "Sir" was added to his ignoble name. The first flushing commode was patented by an Alexander Cummings in 1775, sixty years before Thomas' birth. Crapper owned a plumbing store and held several patents to improve the toilet, but was not, nor ever claim to be, it's inventor.
There was never a battle on Bunker Hill, Jayne Mansfield was not decapitated, the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from space...exercise your skepticism because things aren't always as you were told. - as ever BB
"Great intellects are skeptical." - Frederich Nietzsche
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