1. Martin Luther, the monk who started the protestant reformation, was incredibly anti-Jewish and encouraged the idea that Jews should be denied civil rights, money and education. He even went as far as to preach that they should be forced to work on the land, or even be killed en masse.
2. Despite being hailed as the greatest Briton that ever lived, Churchill was a racist. There are plenty of direct quotes from the prime minister that back this up, such as: “I do not admit… that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia… by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race… has come in and taken its place.”
3. Apparently Adolf Hitler very nearly met his end during the battle of Marcoing in WW1. Henry Tandey, a decorated British soldier, saw a young Hitler wander into his line of fire. As Hitler was wounded and unable to raise his own rifle Tandey chose not to shoot, to which Hitler nodded his thanks.
4. Franklin D Roosevelt cheated on his wife Eleanor. In 1918, before he became president, his wife found a stash of love letters between Roosevelt and her own secretary, Lucy Mercer. He promised to stay away from her, but the affair continued until his death in 1945.
5. Mozart wrote many scandalous and filthy verses that haven’t proved as popular with the public. Almost all of these verses contained mention of excrement and a lot of them he sent to his own mother.
Discover five unusual historical facts here.