Fact 285: How many staircases and Lifts does the White House have?

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Fact 285: How many staircases and Lifts does the White House have?

The White House has exactly 8 staircases, and just 3 Lifts.



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Fact 196: When was MI5 formed?

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Fact 196: When was MI5 formed? MI5 was formed in 1909 by Vernon Kell, Vernon Kell was also the first director General of MI5, and Vernon Kell was director General from 1909 to 1940. There have been 17 Director Generals the current Director General is Ken McCallum, interestingly the first Director General to be (officially) publicly named was Dame Stella Rimington (Director General from 1992 to 1996) basically until 1993, the Prime Minister would appoint the MI5 Director General in secret and MI5 didn't disclose the Director Generals names to the general public.
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Fact 47: Did Roman legionaries punch their names into their helmets?

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Fact 47: Did Roman legionaries punch their names into their helmets? It was not uncommon for Roman legionaries (foot soldiers) to carve or punch their names into their helmets. In fact, there is a roman museum (Verulamium Roman Museum UK) that has a helmet with the name of the soldier punched into the helmet. It was discovered in 1880 and is said to have the name of the foot soldier name PAPIRI [VS]. roman Legionaries also decorated their helmets with plums to make them look taller and intimidating to their enemies because nothing says big and  intimidating like decorating your helmet with plums ( Prunus domestic)!  minimum height to enlist in the Roman Army was  5'10” it was later changed  to 5'8″ when they became desperate for recruits. and plums are only   2–7 centimetres. The roman helmet is only  37cm. 5'10” +  7 centimetres =  6 feet ¾ inch so the solder could have looked  slightly taller.
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Fact 95: Did MI5 ever investigate Agatha Christie for knowing about top-secret government information?

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