1. Nelson Mandela was from the Transkei homeland, now a part of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, so his first language was Xhosa, the ‘click’ language of that part of Africa. He would have spoken 3 or 4 other Bantu languages as well.
2. Gilles de Rais, a Breton knight, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, was thought to be the inspiration for the serial killer Bluebeard.
3. A pentimento is the alteration in a work of art painted over a previous work. and showing the artist’s change of mind for a composition. Pentimento is the Italian for ‘repentance’.
4. Slieve League is a mountain on the Atlantic coast of Ireland in County Donegal, with some of the highest cliffs in the country, nearly 2,000 feet, dropping into the sea.
5. O J Simpson was the first American professional football player to rush more than 2,000 yards in a season.
