stackyFACTS
History

Dickens carried a compass to arrange his bed

HERE’S THE INTERESTING PART

Charles Dickens could write a thousand-page serial, but he couldn't sleep if a bed was facing the wrong way. He carried a compass everywhere he traveled, completely rearranging the furniture in any hotel room he stayed in. He insisted his bed must align perfectly North-to-South, believing it synchronized his creative energies with the Earth's magnetic currents.

Dickens carried a compass to arrange his bed
STACKY / History
One discovery leads to another.

Keep exploring facts in this topic.

History →
STACKY FOR IPHONE

A bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.

Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.

Download on the App Store
ONE MORE DISCOVERY?

Keep exploring

All in this topic →
Why Nikolai Gogol slept sitting in a chair
History

Why Nikolai Gogol slept sitting in a chair

Laying down is apparently only for the weak and the untalented. The neurotic Russian writer completely refused to sleep horizontally, insisting on spending…

Discover more
Socrates was famous for never bathing
History

Socrates was famous for never bathing

While wandering the ancient intellectual hubs dropping absolute truth bombs, Socrates notoriously smelled terrible. He actively shunned footwear, completely…

Discover more
Rimbaud quit poetry at 20 to sell coffee
History

Rimbaud quit poetry at 20 to sell coffee

Arthur Rimbaud casually redefined French poetry as a rebellious teenager, then decided the entire literary world was fundamentally boring. By the ripe old age…

Discover more
A Russian novelist punished himself with a dunce cap
History

A Russian novelist punished himself with a dunce cap

Self-discipline is weird. Whenever the Russian giant felt he hadn't written enough good pages, he would put on a dunce cap and force himself to stand…

Discover more
Edgar Allan Poe was briefly enlisted in the US Army under a fake name, but even more bizarrely, he was expelled from West Point after showing up to a public parade wearing nothing but his white belt and gloves.
History

Edgar Allan Poe was briefly enlisted in the US Army under a fake name, but even more bizarrely, he was expelled from West Point after showing up to a public parade wearing nothing but his white belt and gloves.

Edgar Allan Poe was briefly enlisted in the US Army under a fake name, but even more bizarrely, he was expelled from West Point after showing up to a public…

Discover more
When two writers dueled over a poem
History

When two writers dueled over a poem

Grammar police used to have some serious bite to back up their pedantry. In the 17th century, two prominent French writers, Charles-Claude Genest and an…

Discover more
StackyMore discoveries in the app
Download on the App Store