WEIRD FACTS ABOUT
ADMIRALTY ISLANDS

curly underline

ADMIRALTY ISLANDS

Natives of the Admiralty Islands in the Pacific are said to have made cricket bats for generations from the wood of a tree grown from the artificial leg of a 19th century missionary.

Elisha Fawcett was a Manchester clergyman who, in the words of a contemporary, 'devoted his life to teaching the natives of the Admiralty Islands the Commandments of God and the Laws of Cricket.

When he died, his parishioners were too poor to afford a tombstone, so planted his wooden leg at the head of his grave.

Miraculously it took root and provided a bountiful harvest of cricket bats.


| Share |

You may also be interested in:

PAPER
Paper was invented by a Chinese eunuch named Ts'ai Lun. He was an official at... MORE

LAOS
According to the CIA, Laos is the world's third largest illicit opium producer. Its currency... MORE

JACKSON M
Madame Tussaud's in London made 13 wax figures of Michael Jackson during his career, more... MORE

YODELLING
On 4 October 1988, the Bavarian Minister for the Environment requested people not to yodel... MORE

PLUTO
The US Dialect Society voted "Plutoed" its Word of 2006 from the verb 'to pluto'... MORE

ART
The Chilean artist Marco Evaristti displayed an exhibit at a museum in Denmark in 2000... MORE

QUEUEING
A world record for the longest queue for a toilet was set in 2009 by... MORE

BALLET
Two thousand ballet-goers were evacuated from London's Royal Opera House one evening in 2001 when... MORE

WATERFALL
Waterfalls are grouped into ten classes based on the average volume of water present on... MORE

BURIAL
Sir Walter Raleigh was buried with his favourite pipe and a tin of tobacco. Wild... MORE

SLOGAN
In September 2010, the Taiwanese government announced the winners of a competition to write a... MORE

ARCHERY
The science of archery is known as toxophily or toxophilism, after a treatise on archery... MORE

TREVINO
Golf champion Lee Trevino was struck by lightning during the 1975 Western Open golf tournament... MORE

KARAOKE
The word 'karaoke' comes from a Japanese phrase meaning 'empty orchestra'. In 2009, Kim Sun... MORE

ANTELOPE
The mating behaviour of antelopes is called 'lekking'. In 2008, it was reported that high... MORE