Late one blustery night, an elderly couple dashed out of the rain and into the lobby of a small Philadelphia hotel, hoping to secure a room for the night. But much to their disappointment, the hotel was full.
“There are three conventions in town,” the cheerful front desk officer said, “I’m afraid all the hotels are full.”
The couple started to turn away, and the clerk continued, “But I can’t send a nice couple like you out in the rain at one o’clock in the morning.
"Would you be willing to sleep in my room? It’s not exactly a suite,” he added, “but it will make you comfortable for the night.”
The couple was reluctant, but he insisted, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll make out just fine,” he said, and they finally accepted his offer.
When they checked out the next morning, the elderly gentleman said to the clerk, “You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I’ll build one for you.” The man at the desk simply smiled and thanked them.
Two years later, the hotel clerk received a letter from the elderly gentleman. In it was a round trip ticket to New York City and a note. The note reminded the clerk of the night he had helped the couple and invited him to come up to visit them.
Though he had nearly forgotten the incident, he decided to take them up on their offer.
They met him at the station in New York and then took him to the corner of Thirty-Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue.
“That,” said the elderly man, pointing to a mammoth new building made of reddish stone on the corner, “is a hotel I have just built for you to manage.”
“You must be joking,” the clerk said.
“I can assure you that I am not,” said the old gentleman with a smile.
The elderly man’s name was William Waldorf Astor. The huge turreted building was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. And the young clerk was George C. Boldt, the hotel’s first manager.
King Louis XIV (September 5, 1638 – September 1, 1715) of France, remains the longest reigned monarch in European history. He reigned for 72 years and 110 days. He was 4 years old when he became king.
During Louis' reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three major wars: the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession.
Warfare defined the foreign policy of Louis XIV, and his personality shaped his approach. Louis sensed that warfare was the ideal way to enhance his glory so that in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war.
Therefore, on April 22, 1985, a certain Gloria Okon, whose real name was Chinyere, was about to board a Nigeria Airways flight at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano when she was apprehended and arrested with substances suspected to be heroin which weighed about...
...57 grammes and other drugs as well as local and foreign currencies.
Gloria Okon was said to be a drug courier for Babangida and his wife. In an exclusive interview with Sahara Reporters published on June 8, 2009, Dr. Taiyemiwo Ogunade described the event thus...
HOW EMMANUEL NWOBOSI MURDERED LADOKE AKINTOLA IN 1966
“Akintola, come down; you are for lawful arrest by the army on orders from HQ 2 Brigade,” Nwobosi shouted.
“Under arrest ke?” Akintola said to himself, “Oya, come and greet your mother’s husband,” as he cocked his gun.
When Nwobosi hit the door in an attempt to force it open, the Premier opened fire from inside his bedroom with a submachine gun, shooting contiguously and continuously through the closed door.
“Return fire,” Captain Nwobosi ordered his men, which they did, enormously.
“Please sir, surrender sir. Stop shooting, please. They only came to take us to Lagos,” Fani-Kayode pleaded and shouted from the landrover urging the Premier to cease firing and surrender. But the Premier kept on firing until he ran out of ammunition.
The final wall of the sealed burial chamber of the 18-year-old Boy King Tutankhamun of Egypt was breached for the first time in 3,000 years on February 17, 1923.
Archaeologist Howard Carter whispered breathlessly that he could see `things, wonderful things' as he gazed in awe at the treasures of Tutankhamun. As Carter, together with fanatical Egyptologist Lord Carnarvon, looked at the treasures of gold, gems, precious stones, and other...
...priceless relics, they ignored the dire warning written all those centuries ago to ward off grave robbers.
"Death will come to those who disturb the sleep of the pharaohs."
The Urhobo people of Southern Nigeria believe that nobody dies a natural death under the age of 60 years. Such deaths must have been caused by witches and wizards, etc. Hence, the oracle determines the type of traditional burial the person gets.
People who died without children are buried, but with no festivities and other rituals. The reason is that they do not have children who will continue to have their names and perform ancestral worship.
A good young person who died is buried but without death festivities and rituals. However, weapons, such as cutlasses, knives, broken bottles, etc., are put in the coffin to help him/her to fight and avenge his/her death.
Wallace Henry Hartley (1878–1912) was an English violinist and bandleader on the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage. He became famous for leading the eight-member band as the ship sank on April 15, 1912. He died in the sinking.
After the Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink, Hartley and his fellow band members started playing music to help keep the passengers calm as the crew loaded the lifeboats. He and the band continued to play until the very end.
None of the band members survived the sinking. As he was dragged down into the water with the ship's bow, his last words were, ''Gentlemen, I bid you farewell!''