Many years ago, a popular zoo in England had to pay visitors for articles stolen by monkeys. But what puzzled them was the item the animals consistently snatched: eyeglasses. Was it the reflection off the lenses that provoked the theft? No one could figure it out…

There is a tale told of the great English stage actor, William Macready. One day, an eminent preacher asked him…

Writer Bob James recalls a time when he laid a small circle of poison around a hill of stinging ants. Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony. He returned later to see hundreds of the stinging ants carrying the poison down into their hill…

The Prussian king Frederick the Great was widely known as an agnostic. By contrast, General Von Zealand, one of his most trusted officers, was a devout Christian. So during a festive gathering one evening, the king began making crude jokes about Christ until everyone was rocking with laughter—all but Von Zealand, that is…

Mstislav “Slava” Rostropovich is a world-famous cellist. Since his exile from his native Russia in 1974, he has lived in the West. When Communist hard-liners pulled a coup several years ago, Slava was in Paris…

Years ago, a large statue of Christ was erected high in the Andes on the border between Argentina and Chile. Called “Christ of the Andes,” this statue symbolizes a pledge between the two countries that as long as the statue stands, there will be peace between Chile and Argentina…

Former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau fought many duels with various rivals. On one occasion, he surprised one of his assistants by asking the attendant at a Paris railroad station for a one-way ticket to the duel. “Isn’t that a little pessimistic?” asked the assistant…

A man in the Army of Alexander the Great who was also named Alexander was one day accused of cowardly actions. He was brought before Alexander, the great military conqueror, who asked what his name was. He replied softly, “Alexander.”…

When Queen Victoria was a child, she had no idea she was in line for the throne of England. Because of this, she was simply a happy-go-lucky child with no real focus or ambitions in life…

George Washington Carver, the scientist who developed hundreds of useful products from the peanut, is reported to have once said, “When I was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God answered, ‘That knowledge is reserved for me alone.’”…