First Happens Facts

The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was formed in 1866.

The 1st performance of Handel's "Messiah" was on April 13, 1742 at the New Music rooms in Fishable St., Dublin. Because of the demand for space, the men were asked not to wear their swords and the ladies not to wear hoped skirts.

The first toothbrush with bristles was developed in China in 1498. Bristles were taken from hogs at first, later from horses. The nylon bristles were developed in 1938 by DuPont.

In the 1800s, the Chinese believed that strangling a man was less sever a punishment than beheading because the body would not be permanently disfigured.

The first reference to a monetary prize in a horse race was offered by Richard I in 1195.

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

Police dogs were first used in 1816 in Scotland.

Laika the dog was the first living thing which was sent to space.

It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so that the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses its' forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.

Barbara Bush's book about her English Springer spaniel, Millie's book, was on the bestseller list for 29 weeks. Millie was the most popular "First Dog" in history.

The first seeing-eye dog was presented to a blind person on April 25, 1938.

Felix the Cat is the first cartoon character to ever have been made into a balloon for a parade.

Dr. Guillotin merely proposed the machine that bears his name (which was rejected by the crown) and he never made a working model. The first working model was made by his assistant years later. When the machine attained infamy in the French Revolution, Dr.Guillotin protested its use and went to his grave claiming that the machine was unjustly named after him.

Chinese made the first wheelbarrow.

The Sumerians invented writing.