Oldale - A world of curiosities : surprising, interesting, and downright unbelievable facts from every nation on the planet

A FGHANISTAN

Easy to march into, hard to march out of.

Alexander the Great (a comment made after his
invasion of Afghanistan, 329 BCE )

R OCK VS H ARD P LACE . When it came to the big power rivalries of the 19th century, none was played out on a grander scale than the Great Game between Britain and Russiawith Afghanistan as the unenviable cockpit of confrontation where the competing claims threatened to come face to face.1 One echo of that century-old clash of empires is the curious tentacle that sprouts from the top of the modern country, stretching east for 200 miles to China. Known as the Wakhan corridor (shown below), the sliver of desolate Himalayan plateau was, in 1892, affixed to Afghanistan by the British and Russians jointly purely to avoid the discomfort of a common frontier.

R OOTS . Afghanistan is the original home of the carrot and remains its centre of diversity in the wild. Although cultivated for millennia, for most of this time just the leaves were eatenchopped as a herb like its relative, parsley. Only in the Middle Ages did people start to eat the root. Care should be exercised, however, as overindulgence causes ones nose to turn orange (a condition known as carotenoderma).

C HEM -I NT . Viagra forms a potent part of the CIAs armoury in the battle for the hearts and minds of Afghan tribal elders. Operatives have found a discreet gift of little blue pills does wonders for intelligence cooperation and, conferring, as it does, a very private pleasure, doesnt compromise a sources future value in the same way as, say, a shiny Rolex or wad of bills.

Pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogues, pictures, Christmas cards.

Partial list of unclean (and hence banned) items maintained by the Taliban Ministry of Virtue and Prevention of Vice

In 2007, Afghanistan produced a record 92% of the worlds opium. One acre of poppies typically yields 400 grams of heroin and earns an Afghan peasant 10 times as much as an acre of wheat.

Heroin was first launched in 1895 as a cough medicine for children. The name was created and trade-marked by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, and comes from heroisch (heroic)for its supposed effectiveness.

GSR: 66 WHS: Bamiyan (site of Buddha statues and remains) Jam (minaret)

By 2010, the area under poppy cultivation had been reduced by 35%.

And, less visibly, ones palms and soles, and the backs of ones knees (all being areas of high sweat gland density). Further really extreme carrot consumption gives the entire body surface a distinctive yellow hue.

A LBANIA S HQIPRIA

With Pickaxe in One Hand and Rifle in the Other.

Cold War signature tune of Albanias Radio Tirana

T HE W ORKS OF H OXHA . Enver Hoxha, Albanias dictator-for-life from 1945 to 1985, was a true Stalinists Stalinist. He wrote 79 volumes of memoirs (Albania Is Forging Ahead Confidently and Unafraid, etc., etc.), killed off his prime minister and first Central Committee, built 700,000 concrete bunkersthe prototype tested by live tank fire with its designer insideand ground his country into absolute poverty and isolation. In between, he found time for plenty of banning, including jeans, miniskirts, lipstick, pre-marital sex, boxing, bananas, Westerners, Yugoslavs, Russians, Chinese and God. He declared beardssymbolic to his Muslim and Orthodox Christian citizens alikeillegal and sent those caught baptizing children to prison for life.

N ORMAN C ONQUEST (I). When, in 1081, the Normans lined up against the Byzantine Empire at Dyrrachium on the Albanian coast, the battle went badly until they reprised an experimental new tactic first tried out at the Battle of Hastingsthe fixed lance charge. In its aftermath, the Normans overran much of the southern Balkans before they had to hurry back to Italy to rescue the pope (who had been besieged by the Holy Roman Emperor).

T HE H OUSE OF Z OG

F ATHER : King Zog I (ruled 1928-39), survived 55 assassination attempts. Fearing poisoners, Zog installed his mother as Head of the Royal Kitchens; he was also the only modern leader to return fire during an assassination attempt (wounding one of three assailants at the Vienna Opera House). In exile, Zog rented a floor of Londons Ritz Hotel, paying his bill in gold bullion bars.

S ON : Crown Prince Leka I, former Second Lieutenant in the British Army and arms-trader. Leka bought Ronald Reagan an elephant from Harrods, escaped arrest in Gabon brandishing a bazooka from the door of his jet and in 1993 entered Albania using a self-issued Royal passport which, under profession, stated king.

G RANDSON : Born in Johannesburg, Albania, Prince Leka II is a civil servant who helps out with good causes in his spare time; hobbies include music and volleyball.