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Did You Know? (Part 4 – Art & Music)

By The WebNo Comments
did-you-know

Did You Know?

This is the fourth in a series of Did You Know? blog posts. Each blog post will gives fascinating facts on a particular topic. In part 1 the topic was science. In part 2 the topic was history. In part 3 the topic was geography.

Today, I give you ten facts about Music & Art:

1. Vincent van Gogh produced his masterpiece Starry Night while admitted in a mental hospital.

2. Leonardo da Vinci completed the world’s most famous painting Mona Lisa from 1503 or 1504 to 1519. It is thought that Leonardo da Vinci could have been gay. He was 24 years old when he, along with several other men, were charged with sodomy. But the charges were dropped when no witnesses came forward.

3. Michelangelo is most famous for The Sistine Chapel ceiling, which it took him around 4 years to complete. But he was also a wordsmith. He created several hundred sonnets and madrigals in his lifetime.

4. Picasso was perhaps the most prolific creator of all time. During his 91 years of life he created: 13,500 paintings, 100,000 prints, 34,000 book illustrations and 300 sculptures/ceramics.

5. The top three best selling singles of all time are White Christmas by Bing Crosby, Candle in the Wind by Sir Elton John and Silent night, holy night by Bing Crosby.

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6. Mozart was a musical genius. He wrote half of his total symphonies between 8 years old and 19 years old. Mozart could listen to a piece of music once and write it down from memory without any mistakes. He died aged 36, successful in the creation of music, but without any money.

7. Beethoven performed for Mozart when he was 17 years old in Vienna. Mozart was notoriously unimpressed by other musicians, but apparently was impressed with Beethoven. No one really knows what happened at that meeting, but the myth says that Mozart left the room stating: “Keep your eyes on him—someday he’ll give the world something to talk about.”

8. Around 26 years old Beethoven began losing his hearing. He tried to keep the fact that he was loosing his hearing a secret. He was totally deaf by 44 years old. Beethoven used his memory of sound and imagination of how music could sound to continue producing music after becoming totally deaf.

9. Classical music helps plants grow faster, according to a 2007 study.

10. Art and music, along with eating and sex all increase serotonin (the happiness chemical) and dopamine (the motivation chemical) in the brain.

Write soon,

Antony

References
Degreed – Top 10 Facts About Vincent van Gogh
MostToday – 10 Most Famous Paintings In The World
Live Science – 5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Leonardo da Vinci
Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo’s Painting of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
History Stories – 9 Things You May Not Know About Michelangelo
Biography – Pablo Picasso
Picasso Mio – Picasso – How many artworks did Picasso create in his life time?
Express – TOP 20 best selling singles of all time
FactRetriever – 69 Interesting Facts about Mozart
Mental Floss – 19 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Beethoven
Classic FM – So if Beethoven was completely deaf, how did he compose?
Knowable – 27 Rarely Known Facts About Music And The Music Industry.

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Did You Know? (Part 3 – Geography)

By The Web2 Comments
did-you-know

Did You Know?

This is the third in a series of Did You Know? blog posts. Each blog post gives ten fascinating facts on a particular topic. In part 1 the topic was science. In part 2 the topic was history.

Today, I give you ten facts about Geography:

1. Africa is the only continent that is in all 4 hemispheres: North, South, East and West.

2. Canada has half of all natural lakes in the world.

3. At 8, 848 metres (29, 029 feet), Mount Everest is the world’s highest mountain.

4. Out of the highest 25 peaks in the world, 19 are in the Himalayas.

5. Every continent has a city called Rome, apart from Antartica.

6. The Antartica ice cap has 29m cubic kilometres of ice and represents 90% of all the ice on the planet.

7. Australia is wider than the moon.

8. The UK has over 100 small islands around it.

9. The Dead Sea is made up of 33.7% salt, an unusually high concentration, and it is this that allows people to easily float due to natural buoyancy.

10. Russia is the largest country in the world covering an area of 17,075,400 square kilometres.

Write soon,

Antony

References
Mental Floss – 11 Weird and Wacky Geography Facts
Scoop Whoop – 18 Interesting Geographical Facts You Probably Had No Idea About
Live Science – Mount Everest: World’s Highest Mountain
Cool Antarctica – Antarctica Facts
Fun Facts About the Antarctic

Travel + Leisure – 12 geography facts that will blow your mind
ThoughtCo. – Geography of England
Twisted Sifter – 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Dead Sea
Friendly Local Guides – 17 Interesting Facts about Russian Geography

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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