TWAIN TRIES HAND AT WRITING, SALES DISAPPOINTING

Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” was the first novel he wrote without the help of another author. Initial sales of the book were disappointing.

Ulf Merbold was the first foreigner to fly into orbit and back on an American spacecraft. He was from Germany.

Warren G. Harding was the first U.S. President, who knew how to drive a car when he entered the nation’s top office. For the sake of the President’s safety, however, the Secret Service did not allow Harding to drive while in office.

The Roman Emperor Caligula commissioned a number of royal yachts, each more than 200 feet long. The boats included reception chambers, exercise rooms, baths, a grape arbor, and in at least one case, a brothel.

When Alexander Graham Bell realized he had fallen in love with the young Mabel Hubbard, he wrote her a 17-page letter, expressing his feelings. But he did not ask her to marry him. She was too young. Mabel thought otherwise, and on her 18th birthday, she surprised Bell, telling him she had grown to love him more than anyone except for her mother. She added that they could be engaged as soon as he liked. The two were married 18 months later.