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The Turbulent HISTORY Of The LITTLE MERMAID SCULPTURE.

August 5th 2009 12:06

One of Denmark's most famous attractions is the statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen who was based on the story by Danish Storyteller Hans Christian Anderson. Usually tourists are surprised at first, on witnessing her small size as she is only 1.25 metres high and weighs around 175 kg. She was sculpted by Edvard Eriksen and revealed to the public in August 1913.

Her history since has been a very turbulent one, even having her cut cut off more than once. There is actually a very faint line that can still be seen on her neck from having her head replaced. Having just come back from seeing her myself, I can attest to that, but I had no idea until this that she had been vandalised so often until I was introduced to her 'vandalism timeline'.

* 24 April 1964 – Her head was sawn off and stolen.The head was never recovered and a new head was produced and placed on the statue. (Apparently, or so I was told, the original mould for her head is still in existence.)

* 22 July 1984 – her right arm was sawn off. The arm was returned 2 days later.

* 1990 – another attempt was made to cut her head off as she was discovered with an 18 cm deep cut in the neck.

* 6 January 1998 – she lost her head again. The head was returned anonymously to a nearby TV station, and by February the head was back on.

* Red paint has been thrown on her several times, including one episode in 1961 where her hair was painted red and a bra was painted on her.

* March 8, 2006 – a dildo was attached to the statue's hand, green paint was dumped over it, with 'March 8' scrawled on it. Suspicion pointed to something to do with International Women's Day (March 8).

* March 3, 2007 – the statue was covered with pink paint.

* May 2007 – the statue was again covered in paint.

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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Countries, Interesting Facts, Interesting History

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WHY Are SHIPS Christened With A Bottle Of CHAMPAGNE???

June 30th 2009 16:10

Upon the launching of a newly completed ship, a bottle of champagne is usually smashed over the bow to christen it. The origins of this are a little unclear and can vary slightly from culture to culture, but for the most part it is believed that blood or wine, depending on the particular culture, was originally used as a sacrifice to the gods of the sea to allow for a smooth passage.

Over time this became wine by those who originally used blood, and the wine was poured first into a silver chalice, from which a sip was taken before spilling the wine over the ship and casting the chalice into the sea.
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Alcohol, American, Britain, Countries, Interesting Facts, Interesting History

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CRAZY About CARROTS And Their NON-ORANGE COLOUR!!!

June 17th 2009 08:13

According to the World Carrot Museum, (yes, it really does exist!), carrots are the second-most popular vegetable after potato, and the most popular in the UK.

Originally carrots were found in a variety of colours including purple, white, black, yellow and red. Orange carrots did not appear until later on in the 1500's when the Dutch Royal House of Orange was in power and the Dutch decided therefore to breed an orange carrot by using a mutant yellow carrot seed from North Africa. Beta carotene, found in orange carrots is converted in the human body to vitamin A.
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Countries, Food, Interesting Facts, Interesting History

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HARI KARI? HARI KUYO!

May 21st 2009 10:49

In Japan, every village has a shrine dedicated to broken sewing needles. Yes, that's right, broken sewing needles! The name for this shrine is Hari Kuyo.

This is done in the belief that a sewing needle which has performed its task well over its entire life and in the service of others, has 'died' whilst in active service. Broken needles are therefore laid to rest on a soft bed of tofu.

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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Countries, Interesting Facts, Loose Ends, Weird Facts

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The MYTH Behind SALUTING As A WINNER Or LOSER Of The WAR!

March 7th 2009 10:00

U.S Naval salute - palm down.

Recently I was involved in a conversation where an American decided to, quite arrogantly I might add, tell an Englishwoman that the reason that the American military salute with their palms down (as if shading the eyes from the sun) is because they have never lost a war, whereas the British, who salute with their palms facing outwards, have lost in the past and therefore must salute as such.

Upon pointing out that they lost at Vietnam, the American initially tried to deny that it was actually a war, and when challenged on the issue subsequently snapped and the night turned into a smaller, but more tense version of Fawlty Towers ‘don’t mention the war.’
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: American, Britain, Countries, Idiots, Interesting Facts, Interesting History

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Alphabetical CAMELS!!!!

February 21st 2009 09:32

During Persia's 10th century, the ruling grand Vizier had amassed a private library collection of a considerable size - 117,000 books..

The almost unbelievable part about this however, is that he took his entire library with him whenever he went travelling. How did he manage this?
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Animals, Books, Countries, Interesting Facts, Interesting History, Weird Facts

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STRANGE AUSTRALIAN RACES

January 26th 2009 10:50

Australia hosts some strange races and sporting events. Here's a quick rundown of a few.

1. The Cockroach World Championship - Brisbane
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Animals, Australian, Countries, Humour, Interesting Facts, Weird Facts

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Christmas Babies

December 8th 2008 10:27

Here is a short list of famous people who happen to have been brought into this world on Christmas day.

Marcus Trescothick - cricketer - 1975
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Children, Countries, Interesting Facts, Interesting History

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REVENGE Publicised for Posterity!!! Moral Included!

November 30th 2008 23:45

This gravestone is located in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Montreal, Section C, Plot: 01369.

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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Countries, Humour, Interesting Facts, Loose Ends, Strange Occurences, Weird Facts

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Sho Who Really Is The Biggest???

October 22nd 2008 13:16

OK, so following on from my last post, here is a list of the top 15 airlines according to who has the biggest fleet of aircraft. The number of aircraft is also shown.

1. USA - American Airlines = 655
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: American, Britain, Countries, Interesting Facts

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I'm Off, I'm Off!!!

October 20th 2008 13:15

No, I don't mean smell-wise. In fact I smell rather sweet today even if I do say so myself. After all, it is my birthday and I'm wearing a rather nice perfume - all in aid of the fact that in about 6.5 hours or so I, along with my two rug-rats, or maybe that should be Wii-rats seeing as they're a little old to be amused by a rug any more, will be hopping on our first plane back home to Sydney in little over a year.

I'm looking at the weather here in the north-west of England today and thinking I couldn't pick a better time to leave. Mind you, by the time we arrive in Sydney, it's forecast to be around 15 degrees Celsius, and wet to boot - rather like here, but the rest of the week that we're down will be looking much better.
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: American, Britain, Countries, Interesting Facts

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The English Between The Sheets!

October 13th 2008 09:31

In England, the average age for losing it for the first time is 16.

Supposedly the average number of partners for both men and women combined is 20, with 13 of those being the number for men, and 7 the number for women. However it has been said that even in anonymous surveys, people, especially men do have a tendency to exaggerate.
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Britain, Countries, Interesting Facts

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The TOP 10 FUNERAL Songs of the UK!

September 30th 2008 13:01

Here is the top 10 list of the most popular songs requested for funerals in Britain according to the UK's The Bereavement Register.

1. Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Britain, Countries, Interesting Facts, Loose Ends

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ALL The TEA In CHINA!

August 4th 2008 21:31

Most of us have heard the phrase "all the tea in China", as in " I wouldn't give up xxxx for all the tea in China".

But how much tea is there really in the whole of China???
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Posted By: MelissaA - Category: Countries, Food, Interesting Facts, Loose Ends, Quotes

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