Firsts

The first person to ever survive the fall over Niagara Falls was in 1901 when Annie Edson Taylor, a 43 year-old widowed school teacher from Bay City, Michigan, survived the fall in a 260 pound oak barrel.

The deepest point in the deepest ocean is the Marianas Trench in the Pacific with a depth of 35,837 feet (10,923 m) according to a recent hydrographic survey. This is close to 7 miles (11 km) down, 29 times the height of the Empire State Building.

According to the Guiness Book, the fastest restaurant in the world serves the client's food within 13 seconds after the order is made. The name of the restaurant is Karne Garibaldi and is located in Guadalajara, Mexico.

World's tallest freestanding indoor climbing structure is the Game Works climbing wall standing at 75 feet (23 m).

The fastest Pony Express ride was 7 days, 17 hours and was carrying Lincoln's inaugural address.

The fastest tectonic movement on Earth, 9.4 inches (24 cm) per year, is at the Tonga microplate near Samoa.

Pioneer 11's speed going past Jupiter was over 107,000 miles (172,163 km) per hour, the fastest speed ever traveled by a human-made object.

The fastest moving landmass on the planet, the Tongan Island of Niuatoputapu in the South Pacific, has recently been clocked at almost 10 inches (25.4 cm) per year.

The Bureau of Standards says that the electron is the fastest thing in the world.

The Steel Phantom in West Millen, Pennsylvania, is the fastest roller coaster in America, reaching speeds of 80 miles (129 km) per hour.

The fastest typist can type at 211 words per minute.

The world's fastest ship weighs 112 tons and travels at 102 miles (164 km) per hour.

President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute.

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the first American to have plumbing installed in his house, in 1840.

The first female monster to appear on the big screen was Bride of Frankenstein.

The first ever TV commercial in the U.S. was for Bulova watches. It aired in 1941 on WNBT, New York, and cost Bulova 9 dollars.

Toronto was the first city in the world with a computerized traffic signal system.

The first female guest host of "Saturday Night Live" was Candace Bergen.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to be televised, on April 1939 at opening of the New York World's Fair.

The first city in modern history to reach 1 million people was London in 1811.

New Zealand was the first place in the world to allow women to vote.

The first television shows to have the characters take bathroom breaks were "All in the family" and "Married with children."

The first music video was aired on August 1, 1981 "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Bugles on MTV.

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