1946 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

• Politics: Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech in Missouri, USA marked the beginning of the Cold War between the West and the USSR.
• Geography: The United States tried to purchase Greenland from Denmark for $100 million.
• Influential Songs include: On The Atchison Topeka and The Santa Fe by Judy Garland and Get Your Kicks on Route 66 by Nat King Cole
• The Big Movies included Song of the South, The Best Years of Our Lives and It's A Wonderful Life
• Price of Scotts paper towels, 150 count in 1946: 7 cents
• The World Population was ~ 2,489,000,000
• The 'Baby Boom' began, and continued until 1954, or 1964 if you look at different statistics.
• And... Thomas the Tank Engine first appeared in 1946 in the second book in The Railway Series. The TV show began in 1984.

Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech that first recognized the Cold War was delivered to Westminster College in Missouri in 1946. Mikhail Gorbachev gave a speech there in 1992, declaring the end of the Cold War.

Francis W. Davis patented (#2410049A) Power Steering.

Coca-Cola produced a secret "White Coke" variant of the popular drink. It was made specifically for a powerful Soviet Military Marshall who loved Coca-Cola but needed to hide the fact he was drinking it as it was seen as an American imperialist product.

Spook Busters was a 1946 comedy film about a group of recent graduates who set up a company to exterminate ghosts in New York. #whoyougonnacall?

7-Eleven changed it's name from Tote'm to reflect the company's new extended hours, from 7 am to 11 pm seven days a week.

The 1946 Adventures of Superman radio show revealed the 'secret' codes and rituals of the KKK, making it a laughingstock and drying up Klan recruitment almost overnight.

George Orwell loved a cup of tea so much that in 1946 he published a guide to making it called A Nice Cup Of Tea.

It's a Wonderful Life was considered a box office failure upon release in 1946. A clerical error placed the film in the public domain in 1974 causing many local TV networks to play the film for free, popularizing it as a Christmas classic.

Jacques Heim and Louis Reard designed the first bikini for public consumption, names after the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

During a land survey of Sichuan province in China, a forester encountered a tree he'd never seen before, so took a sample. He came to find it was as yet unknown to science, only previously existing as a fossil. It came to be known as the 'Dawn Redwood'.

On May 21st, 1946, a US scientist named Louis Slotin was doing experiments to find critical mass when he let a screwdriver slip and accidentally started a fission reaction.

Kodak customers complained about film developing cloudy. Kodak investigated & found the corn husks used for packing was radioactive. They discovered something that was not public knowledge; the packaging was exposed to fallout from the world's first nuclear bomb explosion.

The United States offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100,000,000 but Denmark did not agree to sell.

In September 1939 the last thing BBC television aired before going off the air was a Mickey Mouse cartoon. When broadcasts resumed in 1946, the same cartoon was replayed.

After his 1946 plane crash, Howard Hughes decided he did not like the design of the hospital bed he was laying in. He called in his engineers and had them design a new bed that would allow someone with severe burns to move freely. It became the prototype for the modern hospital bed.

Shemp was an original member of The Three Stooges- before Curly. Curly took Shemp's place in 1932 and Shemp returned to the role in 1946 when Curly left.

Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini became the first American Saint.

Rolls Royce didn't start selling cars with body work until 1946. Up until then, they only sold the chassis and motor with a recommendation to use Barker & Co Ltd to build a customized body and coach.

July 4, 1946 was the Independence day from the United States of America for the Philippines.

The fastest typing speed was 216 words per minute, achieved by Stella Pajunas-Garnand in 1946. The average typist reaches 50 to 80 words per minute today, and she used a mechanical typewriter!.

Magic 8 Ball (Syco Seer), Lionel Trains with 'steam', Streater Steam Shovel truck

Fidelity Investments was founded in Boston, Massachusettes.

The first photo from space was taken from a V2 rocket in 1946, almost 11 years before Sputnik.

Treasure Chest of Fun and Facts Magazine (1946-1972)

Holiday Magazine (1946-1977)

SPORT Magazine (1946-2000)

Highlights for Children began publication