Almost all great people had their little oddities - nothing surprising, because all these are character traits, and every person has them, regardless of his fame. Another thing is when it comes to genius: then small eccentricities and habits turn into a "calling card", and sometimes even into jokes.

· Ivan the Terrible in the mornings and evenings personally rang the bells on the main belfry of Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. Thus, they say, he tried to drown out mental suffering.

· Alexander Suvorov, the famous commander, was a real lark: he got up long before dawn, at two or three in the morning. After that, he doused himself with cold water, had breakfast, and, if it happened on the battlefield, drove through the positions, crowing like a rooster and awakening the soldiers. At seven in the morning, the count was already having dinner, and at six in the evening he went to bed.

·Napoleon Bonaparte - the French commander is known for his maniacal love of hot baths. In peacetime, he could take a bath several times a day. A special servant had to ensure that the water in it was always at the required temperature. Napoleon soaked for at least an hour, dictated letters, received visitors. On military expeditions, he always took a camping bath with him. Towards the end of his life on the island of Saint Helena, the deposed emperor spent most of the day in hot water. In addition to the fact that Napoleon received hygienic benefits and pleasure from this, he considered baths an excellent remedy for hemorrhoids, which he suffered from from his youth.

Another characteristic habit of Bonaparte is to have breakfast very quickly, inattentively and untidy, always all alone (applicants or a wife with a child were allowed into the room, but Bonaparte did not invite any of them to the table). The emperor demanded that all dishes be brought at the same time, and ate from all plates at once, making no distinction between soup and dessert. Breakfast usually took no more than ten minutes. As for the famous cocked hat, Napoleon really wore it all the time during his campaigns. However, hats were often changed: in anger, the commander used to throw them on the ground and trample them underfoot. In addition, in the rain, the felt cocked hat got soaked rather quickly, its brim hung over the face and back of the head. However, Napoleon did not lose his dignity at all.

· Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, did not wear socks. In July 2006, a collection of personal letters from the scientist was made public, in which he confesses this little oddity to his wife: "Even on the most solemn occasions, I did without socks and hid this lack of civilization under high boots."

In addition, Einstein was fond of playing the violin and riding a bicycle.

Also, Einstein did not speak until the age of four. His teacher described him as mentally retarded.

· Lev Davidovich Landau, the Nobel laureate in physics, constantly quoted some "chuckles, poems, rhyming lines that you can't even call poetry."

“For example, as soon as I hinted that I was going to Anapa, he answered: “I will put on a black hat, I will go to the city of Anapa, there I will lie on the sand, in my incomprehensible longing. In you, O abyss of the sea, a luxurious man will perish, who lay on the sand in his incomprehensible longing ... "

In our garden, in the very back,

all grass is crushed.

Don't think bad

all love is cursed!" Maya Bessarab wrote in her book "Thus Spoke Landau". ev Landau

In the summer at the dacha, the scientist was very fond of playing solitaire games, especially those where you have to calculate the options. Even the most difficult things always worked out for him. “This is not for you to do physics. You have to think here! he said.

· When Marconi came up with the radio and told his friends that he would transmit words at a distance through the air, they considered him crazy and took him to a psychiatrist. But within a few months, his radio saved the lives of many sailors.

· Winston Churchill, the habit of the British Prime Minister to smoke cigars and drink whiskey in the morning, is known to all. And the great politician was also an ardent admirer of the siesta. Usually he left the house only in the evening. In the morning, Churchill had breakfast and business correspondence right in bed, then he took a bath, dined, and then, after playing a game of cards with his wife or painting, he put on his pajamas and again retired to the bedroom for a couple of hours. During the war, the household routine had to be somewhat changed, but even in the parliament building, the prime minister kept a personal bed, on which he regularly napped in the afternoon, despite any news from the fronts. Moreover, Churchill believed that it was thanks to daytime sleep that he managed to repel Hitler's air attack on Great Britain.

Churchill, changed the sheets every night. Moreover, in the hotels where he stayed, often even put two beds side by side. Waking up at night, Churchill lay down on another bed and slept on it until morning. Biographers see the reasons for this in the fact that he had a powerful excretory system, in other words, he often sweated ...

By the way, Winston Churchill also collected soldiers. It is known that he had several armies at home, which he enjoyed playing with.

· Charles Dickens every 50 lines of written text necessarily washed down with a sip of hot water.

Salvador Dali - the great painter tried to make his life more extravagant. He reworked the simple Spanish habit of napping after dinner in a surreal way. Dali called it "afternoon rest with the key" or "second siesta". The artist sat in an armchair, holding a large copper key between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. An inverted metal bowl was placed next to the left foot. In this position, you should try to sleep. As soon as the goal was reached, the key fell from the unclenched hand, a ringing sounded, and Dali woke up. He assured that a second dream is incredibly refreshing, inspiring and gives amazing visions.

Modern research has proven that at the moment of transition between nap, which is the first phase of sleep, and a deep second phase, a person’s creative potential is revealed, he is able to offer completely unexpected solutions to problems that seemed unsolvable. Unless, of course, someone will guess to wake him up.

· When we look at Ford cars, we mean that their creator Henry Ford has always been a rich, successful businessman. We see this huge empire that has been living for more than a hundred years. But few of us know that before achieving financial success, Ford declared himself bankrupt several times, went bankrupt clean - a man who changed the course of history, putting the world on wheels.

· Ludwig van Beethoven went constantly unshaven, believing that shaving hinders creative inspiration. And before sitting down to write music, the composer poured a bucket of cold water on his head: this, in his opinion, should have greatly stimulated the brain. Beethoven's teacher considered him a completely mediocre student.

· Johannes Brahms "for inspiration" constantly unnecessarily cleaned shoes.

Isaac Newton once boiled a pocket watch while holding an egg and looking at it.

In letters to friends, the great physicist complained of insomnia, which tormented him because of the habit of falling asleep in the evenings in an armchair by the fireplace. Waking up in this position in the middle of the night, it is completely useless to move to the bedroom: there will be no normal sleep.

· Benjamin Franklin - the founding father of the United States was famous, firstly, for early rises (at five in the morning he was already on his feet), and secondly, like Napoleon, for his love of hot baths. In the bath, Franklin preferred to work - to compose his scientific and journalistic articles, and even the US Declaration of Independence. Sir Benjamin also considered air baths very useful, that is, he simply sat naked and, again, pored over the texts. He loved, so to speak, that nothing hampered his thoughts.

And yet - Benjamin Franklin, sitting down to work, stocked up on a huge amount of cheese.

· Johann Wolfgang von Goethe used to bathe every day in the river Ilm, which flowed near his house. Even Goethe always opened the window at night, and sometimes even slept on the veranda, while his contemporaries and compatriots considered drafts to be the main enemy of health.

· Friedrich Schiller - a German poet and philosopher could not write if his desk drawer was not full of ... rotten apples. Goethe, a friend of Schiller, said: “Once I came to visit Friedrich, but he went away somewhere, and his wife asked me to wait in the study. I sat down in a chair, leaned on the table and suddenly felt a sharp attack of nausea. I even went to the open window to get some fresh air. At first I did not understand the reason for this strange condition, and then I guessed that it was a pungent smell. Soon its source was revealed: in the drawer of Schiller's desk lay a dozen spoiled apples! I called the servants to clean up the disgrace, but they told me that the apples were put there on purpose, that otherwise the owner could not work. Friedrich returned and confirmed all this!

· Joseph Stalin was known for his addiction to the simple same clothes. If he got used to some thing, then he wore it all the way. “He only had one dress shoe. Still pre-war, - recalls the bodyguard of the leader A. S. Rybin. “Their skin is all cracked. Soles worn out. The shoes were terrible. Everyone was terribly embarrassed that Stalin was wearing them at work and receptions, everywhere. All the guards decided to sew new shoes. At night, Matryona Butuzova put them on the sofa, and took the old ones away ... ”However, the substitution did not work out. Waking up, the Secretary General made a scandal and demanded that he return the old shoes. He wore them almost until his death. And Stalin also had a habit of walking back and forth when he said something. At the same time, if he moved away from the listeners or turned his back on them, he did not care at all to raise his voice. Subordinates had to observe deathly silence, listen and grasp everything on the fly. They say that after long meetings, people almost swayed from the endured stress and fear of missing something important. The source of this habit is actually simple: due to polyarthritis, the leader was tormented by pain in his legs, which intensified if he sat in one place for a long time.

Nikolai Gogol was an excellent pasta cooker. Living in Rome, Gogol specially went to the kitchen to learn from the cooks, and then treated his friends.

·Alexander Pushkin, in addition to the famous habit of drawing all kinds of scribbles on the margins of manuscripts, Alexander Sergeevich was terribly fond of drinking lemonade while working. “It used to be like writing at night - now you put him lemonade for the night,” said the poet’s valet Nikifor Fedorov. Even Pushkin, a desperate duelist and an incredibly superstitious person who believed in the prediction that he was destined to die at the hands of a blond, constantly walked with a heavy iron stick, more like a club. “In order for the hand to be firmer: if you have to shoot, so as not to flinch,” the poet explained to friends.

Alexander Sergeevich was very fond of shooting in the bathhouse. They say that in the village of Mikhailovskoye, almost nothing authentic since the time of the poet has been properly preserved, but the wall that Pushkin shot at, surprisingly remained intact.

·Lev Tolstoy. Many contemporaries believed that Lev Nikolaevich had completely lost his mind on the basis of his religious ideas, which is why he walks in rags and hangs around with all sorts of rabble. However, the Yasnaya Polyana count explained his addiction to plowing and mowing by the usual habit of movement. If Tolstoy never left the house even once for a walk during the day, then in the evening he became irritable, and at night he could not fall asleep for a long time. He did not ride a horse - there were only exercises with a scythe and a plow. In this sense, autumn and winter were especially difficult for the count with their forced seclusion. However, Lev Nikolaevich came up with an occupation for himself - to chop wood. In winter, in his Moscow home, the writer did not allow anyone to do this work. Every morning he went out into the yard and chopped a pile of firewood, and then he brought water from the well on a sleigh.

· Lord Byron came to the extreme degree of irritation at the sight of a salt shaker with salt.

Honoré de Balzac, author of The Human Comedy, used to write almost exclusively at night and was an avid coffee drinker. “Coffee enters your stomach, and your body immediately comes to life, thoughts set in motion,” he wrote. “Images rise, paper is covered with ink ... ” In addition to ink, Balzac’s manuscripts were covered with traces of coffee cups: he drank them one after another, preparing them on a special spirit lamp, which stood next to the desk. It is estimated that during his life he drank about 50 thousand cups of coffee. Thanks to coffee, the writer could work for 48 hours in a row, but doctors believe that this habit largely caused his death: his heart could not stand it.

In addition, as a sign of deep respect for the brilliant man, he always took off his hat. Ask what's strange? Balzac did this when he spoke ... about himself!

· Physicist Walter Nernst, author of the third law of thermodynamics, bred carp. When asked why exactly carps, and not any other fish or animals, he answered that he would not breed warm-blooded animals, because he did not want to heat the world space for his money.

Darwin, who had abandoned medicine, was bitterly reproached by his father: “You are not interested in anything but catching dogs and rats!”

To Mozart, one of the most brilliant composers, Emperor Ferdinand said that in his "The Marriage of Figaro" "too little noise and too many notes."

· Our compatriot Mendeleev had a triple in chemistry.

Walt Disney was fired from the newspaper for lack of ideas.

Edison's mentor said about him that he was stupid and could not learn anything.

· The father of Rodin, the great sculptor, said: “My son is an idiot. He failed three times in art school.”

Remember this when it seems to you that you will not succeed!

"It's not Gods who burn pots." I am sure you are capable of many positive deeds. All the best!!!

Text: Katya Chekushina
Illustrations: Alexander Kotlyarov

Stalin was known for his fondness for simple clothes, and the same ones. If he got used to some thing, then he wore it all the way. “He only had one dress shoe. Still pre-war, - recalls the bodyguard of the leader A. S. Rybin. - The skin is already cracked. Soles worn out. In general, they breathed their last. Everyone was terribly embarrassed that Stalin was wearing them at work and receptions, in the theater and other crowded places. All the guards decided to sew new shoes. At night, Matryona Butuzova put them on the sofa, and took the old ones away ... ”However, the substitution did not work out. When he woke up, Secretary General Plyushkin made a scandal and demanded that his old shoes be returned to him. He wore them almost until his death.

And Stalin also had a habit of walking back and forth when he said something. At the same time, if he moved away from the listeners or turned his back on them, he did not care at all to raise his voice. Subordinates had to observe deathly silence, listen and grasp everything on the fly. They say that after long meetings, people almost swayed from the endured stress and fear of missing something important. The source of this habit is actually simple: due to polyarthritis, the leader was tormented by pain in his legs, which intensified if he sat in one place for a long time.

2 Salvador Dali

The great painter and brawler carefully tried to make his life as extravagant as possible. Even the simple Spanish habit of napping after dinner, he remade in a surreal way. Dali called it "afternoon rest with the key" or "second siesta". The artist sat in an armchair, holding a large copper key between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. An inverted metal bowl was placed next to the left foot. In this position, you should try to sleep. As soon as the goal was reached, the key fell from the unclenched hand, a ringing sounded, and Dali woke up. He assured that a second dream is incredibly refreshing, inspiring and gives amazing visions. By the way, it is possible that there is even some scientific basis under this. Modern research has proven that at the moment of transition between the nap, which is the first phase of sleep, and the deep second phase, a person’s creative potential is revealed, he is able to offer completely unexpected solutions to problems that seemed unsolvable. Unless, of course, someone will guess to wake him up.

3 Isaac Newton

In letters to friends, the great physicist complained of insomnia, which tormented him because of the stupid habit of falling asleep in the evenings in an armchair by the fireplace. Waking up in this position in the middle of the night, it is completely useless to move to the bedroom: there will be no normal sleep.

In terms of perversions, the German poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller, who could not write if his desk drawer was not stuffed with ... rotten apples, managed to surpass everyone.

Goethe, a friend of Schiller, said: “Once I came to visit Friedrich, but he went away somewhere, and his wife asked me to wait in the study. I sat down in a chair, leaned on the table and suddenly felt a sharp attack of nausea. I even went to the open window to get some fresh air. At first I did not understand the reason for this strange condition, and then I guessed that it was a pungent smell. Soon its source was revealed: in the drawer of Schiller's desk lay a dozen spoiled apples! I called the servants to clean up the disgrace, but they told me that the apples were put there on purpose, that otherwise the owner could not work. Friedrich returned and confirmed all this!

5 Alexander Suvorov

The famous commander was a real lark: he got up long before dawn, at two or three in the morning. After that, he doused himself with cold water, had breakfast, and, if it happened on the battlefield, drove through the positions, crowing like a rooster and awakening the soldiers. At seven in the morning, the count was already having dinner, and at six in the evening he went to bed.

6 Richard Wagner

Biographers claim that the great German composer had a habit of composing music in a special setting. He surrounded himself with silk cushions and sachets of flower petals, and poured a bottle of cologne into a tub of water in the corner of his office. However, this whole boudoir quite accurately conveys the courtly atmosphere of Wagnerian music. Some researchers also reveal to us such an intimate detail from the life of a genius as an addiction to silk underwear. We might have been embarrassed to write about this in our honest men's magazine, if Wagner himself did not explain this weakness of his with regular erysipelas of the skin, which did not allow him to wear ordinary underwear.

The French commander is known for his manic love of hot baths. In peacetime, he could take a bath several times a day. A special servant had to ensure that the water in it was always at the required temperature. Napoleon soaked for at least an hour, dictated letters, received visitors. On military expeditions, he always took a camping bath with him. Towards the end of his life on the island of St. Helena, the deposed emperor spent most of the day in hot water. In addition to the fact that Napoleon received hygienic benefits and pleasure from this, he considered baths an excellent remedy for hemorrhoids, which he suffered from from his youth.

Another characteristic habit of Bonaparte is to have breakfast very quickly, inattentively and untidy, always all alone (applicants or a wife with a child were allowed into the room, but Bonaparte did not invite any of them to the table). The emperor demanded that all dishes be brought at the same time, and ate from all plates at once, making no distinction between soup, roast and dessert. Breakfast usually took no more than ten minutes. As for the famous cocked hat, Napoleon really wore it all the time during his campaigns. However, hats were often changed: in anger, the commander used to throw them on the ground and trample them underfoot. In addition, in the rain, the felt cocked hat got soaked rather quickly, its brim hung over the face and back of the head. However, Napoleon did not lose his dignity at all.

8 Truman Capote

Capote called himself a "horizontal writer". For productive work, he needed three things: a sofa, coffee and a cigarette. However, in the afternoon, coffee could be replaced with a glass of brandy or whiskey. Strictly in the prone position, Capote wrote with a simple pencil on paper: he did not recognize typewriters.

9 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

He had a habit of swimming every day in the Ilm River, which flowed near his house. Even Goethe always opened the window at night, and sometimes even slept on the veranda, while his contemporaries and compatriots considered drafts to be the main enemy of health.

10 Henrik Ibsen

The Norwegian playwright also had a rather strange relationship with his muse. While working, Ibsen periodically looked at the portrait of the Swedish playwright August Strindberg, whom he hated fiercely. The Swede reciprocated the Norwegian: he could not stand it and accused him of impudent plagiarism. Ibsen, in turn, called Strindberg a psychopath, which, by the way, he had some grounds for. Augustus suffered from persecution mania: sometimes he turned around sharply, drawing a knife from his pocket, and threatened unseen enemies. When friends asked Ibsen what Strindberg was doing on his wall, the Norwegian replied: “You know, I can’t write a single line if these crazy eyes are not looking at me!”

The great scientist never wore socks. He said that he did not see the need for socks, besides, holes instantly form on them. For official events, Einstein wore high boots so that the absence of this detail of the toilet was not conspicuous.

12 Benjamin Franklin

The founding father of the United States was famous, firstly, for early rises (at five in the morning he was already on his feet), and secondly, like Napoleon, for his love of hot baths. In the bath, Franklin preferred to work - to compose his scientific and journalistic articles, and sometimes the US Declaration of Independence. Sir Benjamin also considered air baths very useful, that is, he simply sat naked and, again, pored over the texts. He loved, so to speak, that nothing hampered his thoughts.

13 Alexander Pushkin

In addition to the famous habit of drawing all kinds of scribbles on the margins of manuscripts, Alexander Sergeevich was terribly fond of drinking lemonade while working. “It used to be like writing at night - now you put him lemonade for the night,” said the poet's valet Nikifor Fedorov. Even Pushkin, a desperate duelist and an incredibly superstitious person who believed in the prediction that he was destined to die at the hands of a blond, constantly walked with a heavy iron stick, more like a club. “In order for the hand to be firmer: if you have to shoot, so as not to flinch,” the poet explained to friends.

Many contemporaries believed that Lev Nikolaevich had completely lost his mind on the basis of his religious ideas, which is why he walks in rags and hangs around with all sorts of rabble. However, the count of Yasnaya Polyana explained his addiction to plowing and mowing by the usual habit of movement. If Tolstoy never left the house even once for a walk during the day, then in the evening he became irritable, and at night he could not fall asleep for a long time. He did not ride a horse, there were no gyms in Yasnaya Polyana for the next hundred years - only exercises with a scythe and a plow remained.

In this sense, autumn and winter were especially difficult for the count with their forced seclusion. However, Lev Nikolaevich came up with an occupation for himself - to chop wood. In winter, in his Moscow house in Dolgokhamovnichesky Lane, the writer did not allow anyone to do this work. Every morning he went out into the yard and chopped a pile of firewood, and then he brought water from the well on a sleigh.

15 Victor Hugo

Perhaps no one can boast of such extravagant habits as writers who pursue the muse in the most intricate ways. For example, the French classic Victor Hugo often wrote his imperishable works naked*. It was a kind of self-blackmail: Victor ordered the servant to take away all his clothes in order to eliminate any temptation to leave the house and distract from work. Voluntary confinement ended only after writing a certain number of pages. We, people in this sense scorched, can only be surprised at the poverty of the imagination of the French classics. After all, even if you turn off the Internet in the house, you can always find so many wonderful temptations there that distract from work! What is worth just studying the cleanliness of teeth in the mirror, the depth of wrinkles and the brutality of the profile ... And looking out the window, and carrying out the project of rearranging the sofa ?! One can only wonder how this article was written.

* - Note Phacochoerus "a Funtika:
« By the way, if you think that Hugo was alone in his habit, then you are deeply mistaken. Benjamin Franklin and Ernest Hemingway had the same weakness.»

16 Mao Zedong

Following a simple peasant habit, the great helmsman did not recognize brushing his teeth in any way. He firmly believed in the Chinese folk way of caring for the oral cavity: you should rinse it with green tea, and eat the tea leaves. It was this procedure that Mao did every morning. True, such hygiene affected the condition of the teeth in the most deplorable way: by the middle of life they were covered with a copper-green coating, periodontal disease developed ... But, since Hollywood wide smiles did not correspond to the canons of communist ideology, Mao, like Gioconda, smiled in formal photographs with the corners of his mouth and was not particularly worried about the color and presence of his teeth.

17 Emperor Alexander III

Let's start with the fact that the Russian autocrat regularly and heavily drank. It’s also a habit for me, you say, and you will, of course, be right. In the conditions of Russian, and even more so pre-revolutionary reality, this is rather a national feature. However, Alexander III still did something interesting. In fact, he knew how to drink and, even being very drunk, he could not show it at all for a long time. Nevertheless, sooner or later there came a moment when the sovereign unexpectedly fell on his back, began to jerk his legs in the air and grab everyone who passed by, especially preferring women. His wife did not like this habit very much and made sure that her husband refrained from abuse. However, the autocrat, together with his friend, the head of the royal guard P. A. Cherevin, still managed to outwit her. “The Empress, like some kind of warden, will pass by his card table ten times, see that there is no drink near her husband, and, happy, calmly leaves,” Cherevin said. “Meanwhile, by the end of the evening, look, his majesty will again deign to flounder on his back and chat with his paws, squealing with pleasure ... The queen only raises her eyebrows in amazement, because she does not understand where and when it came from. She watched all the time ... And His Majesty and I managed: boots with such special tops were ordered to include a flat flask of cognac with a capacity of a bottle ... The Queen is next to us - we sit quietly, play like good boys. She moved away - we looked at each other - one, two, three! - they pulled out the flasks, sucked, and again, as if nothing had happened ... He liked this fun terribly ... Like a game ... And we called it “need for inventions is cunning” ...

- One two Three!..
- Cunning goal, Cherevin?
- Cunning, your Majesty!
One, two, three - and suck.

The author of The Human Comedy was accustomed to writing almost exclusively at night and was an avid coffee drinker. “Coffee enters your stomach, and your body immediately comes to life, thoughts set in motion,” he wrote. “Images rise, paper is covered with ink…” In addition to ink, Balzac’s manuscripts were covered with traces of coffee cups: he drank them one after another, preparing them on a special spirit lamp, which stood next to the desk.

Thanks to coffee, the writer could work for 48 hours in a row, but doctors believe that this habit largely caused his death: his heart could not stand it.

19 Thomas Edison

The great inventor constantly boasted to his friends that he could get by with only three or four hours of sleep per night. On the one hand, it was true: Edison went to bed for no more than four hours. However, he had a habit of dozing several times during the day in the most inappropriate places. Thomas could fall asleep in an armchair, on a bench in his laboratory, in a closet, and even almost leaning on a laboratory table with reagents. As a rule, this dream lasted about half an hour and was so strong that there was no way to wake the inventor at that moment.

20 Alexandre Dumas father

The French writer had a rather strange habit: every day at seven o'clock in the morning he ate an apple under the Arc de Triomphe. The initiator of this seemingly meaningless ritual was Dumas' personal physician. The fact is that his patient suffered from insomnia due to his extremely turbulent and disorganized life. The need to get up at six in the morning to reach the archway and eat the cursed apple should have encouraged the writer to go to bed early and organize his regimen.

The British Prime Minister's habit of smoking cigars and drinking whiskey in the morning is, of course, known to you even without us. And the great politician was an ardent admirer of the siesta. Usually he left the house only in the evening. In the morning, Churchill had breakfast and business correspondence right in bed, then he took a bath, dined, and then, after playing a game of cards with his wife or painting, he put on his pajamas and again retired to the bedroom for a couple of hours.

During the war, the household routine had to be somewhat changed, but even in the parliament building, the prime minister kept a personal bed, on which he regularly napped in the afternoon, despite any news from the fronts. Moreover, Churchill believed that it was thanks to daytime sleep that he managed to repel Hitler's air attack on Great Britain.

22 Orhan Pamuk

The famous Turkish writer once admitted that he absolutely cannot work where he lives. The habit of “going to work” was so ingrained in him that during his studies in the United States, when Pamuk lived in a modest apartment and could not afford to rent another office space, he had to use a trick. In the morning, before starting to write, Orkhan had breakfast, said goodbye to his wife, left the house, circled around the neighborhood for a while, then returned home and sat down at his desk with concentration, without talking to anyone.

23 William Faulkner

You will not surprise anyone with writers who create while intoxicated. But Faulkner had a more original creative style: he worked exclusively from a hangover. This art was taught to him by writer Sherwood Anderson when they met in New Orleans. It was in the midst of Prohibition, and Faulkner moonlighted as a bootlegger - illegally selling alcohol. They met with Anderson in the afternoon, had a drink, then another and another. William listened most of the time, and Sherwood shone with eloquence. One day, Faulkner came for a friend not at the usual time, but right in the morning and found him in a strange, almost ecstatic state: he was quickly writing down something. “If writers live like this, then this life is for me!” - thought the future classic of American literature and borrowed the secrets of craftsmanship from Anderson.

African American bodyguard of the first black president of the United States Reggie Love (you noticed how we polished correctly avoid the words "Negro"?) Recently left his post and gave a few interviews about Obama's personal habits. In particular, we learned that Barack hates car air conditioners and even in the most desperate heat does not allow them to be turned on in the presidential car. “It was killing me,” Reggie complained. - I am very hot. I sweat. I tell him: it’s thirty degrees in this gas chamber, I’m about to lose consciousness!

25 Lev Landau

In the summer at the dacha, the scientist was very fond of playing solitaire games, especially those where you have to calculate the options. Even the most difficult things always worked out for him. “This is not physics for you, you need to think here!” he said.

Almost all great people had their little oddities - nothing surprising, because all these are character traits, and every person has them, regardless of his fame. Another thing is when it comes to a genius: then small eccentricities and habits turn into a "calling card", and sometimes even into jokes.

Perhaps the main source of inspiration for everyone was, is and will remain for a long time "Divine Dali" Even his appearance can be called an eccentricity: long slicked hair, a waxed mustache, an ermine robe and a cane with a silver handle. Meanwhile, by his own admission, he woke up with the thought of "what would be so wonderful to do today?" And he did it very successfully. In Mikhail Veller's story "Sabre Dance" from the book "Legends of Nevsky Prospekt" Dali's meeting with the composer Aram Khachaturian is described. It is unlikely that anyone other than a great artist could "hold" a meeting in this way:

"... the clock strikes four times, and with the last blow, a deafening call "Saber Dance" comes from the hidden speakers!" across the hall, waving their saber, to the opposite doors - they let him in, and slam shut!

During his first trip to America, Salvador Dali showed reporters who met him a picture of Gala, naked, with lamb chops on her shoulders. When asked what the chops had to do with it, he replied: "It's very simple. I love Gala and I love lamb chops. Here they are together. Great harmony!"

At a lecture in New York, he once appeared in a sea-green suit and a diving helmet, explaining that it would be much more convenient to descend into the depths of the subconscious. And it was said absolutely calmly.

However, most likely, he was hardly serious in his actions and statements - to a greater extent it was shocking, a game for the public. How else can one explain such a statement of his: "Sometimes I spit on a portrait of my own mother, and it gives me pleasure."

But history also knows "serious eccentrics." Great commander Alexander Suvorov was famous for his strange antics: an unusual daily routine - he went to bed at six in the evening and woke up at two in the morning, an unusual awakening - he poured cold water on himself and shouted loudly "ku-ka-re-ku!", an unusual bed for the commander - at all ranks, he slept in the hay. Preferring to walk in old boots, he could easily go out to meet high officials in a sleeping cap and underwear.

He also gave the signal to attack to his beloved “ku-ka-re-ku!”, And, they say, after he was promoted to field marshal, he began to jump over chairs and say: “I jumped over this one, and through then!"
Suvorov was very fond of marrying his serfs, guided by a very peculiar principle - he lined them up in a row, selected those who were suitable for their height, and then married twenty pairs at a time.

Some seemingly great eccentricities are quite understandable. For example, Emperor Nero took baths in a tub of fish. This is due to the fact that the fish were not simple - they emitted electrical discharges, and the emperor was treated in this way for rheumatism.

Winston Churchill, for example, changed bed sheets every night. Moreover, in the hotels where he stayed, often even put two beds side by side. Waking up at night, Churchill lay down on another bed and slept on it until morning. Biographers see the reasons for this in the fact that he had a powerful excretory system, in other words, he often sweated ...

By the way, Winston Churchill also collected soldiers. It is known that he had several armies at home, which he enjoyed playing with.

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, as it turns out, did not wear socks. In July 2006, a collection of personal letters from the scientist was made public, in which he admits this little oddity to his wife: "Even on the most solemn occasions, I did without socks and hid this lack of civilization under high boots." In addition, Einstein was fond of playing the violin and riding a bicycle.

Lev Davidovich Landau, a Nobel laureate in physics, was constantly quoting some "chuckles, poems, rhyming lines that you can't even call poetry."

“For example, as soon as I hinted that I was going to Anapa, he answered: “I will put on a black hat, I will go to the city of Anapa, there I will lie on the sand, in my incomprehensible longing. In you, O abyss of the sea, a luxurious man will perish, who lay on the sand in his incomprehensible longing ... "

In our garden, in the very back,
all grass is crushed.
Don't think bad
all love is cursed!" Maya Bessarab wrote in her book "Thus Spoke Landau".

One of the physicist's favorite hobbies was solitaire. Laying out the cards, Dau said: "This is not for you to do physics. You have to think here."

Other strange habits of great people:

- Ivan the Terrible in the mornings and evenings he personally rang the bells on the main belfry of Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. Thus, they say, he tried to drown out mental suffering.

- Lord Byron came to an extreme degree of irritation at the sight of a salt shaker with salt.

- Charles Dickens every 50 lines of writing he necessarily washed down with a sip of hot water.

- Johannes Brahms"for inspiration" constantly unnecessarily cleaned shoes.

- Isaac Newton once cooked a pocket watch, holding an egg and looking at it.

- Ludwig van Beethoven went constantly unshaven, believing that shaving hinders creative inspiration. And before sitting down to write music, the composer poured a bucket of cold water on his head: this, in his opinion, should have greatly stimulated the brain.

- Benjamin Franklin sitting down to work, stocking up on a huge amount of cheese.

- Johann Goethe He worked only in a hermetically sealed room, without the slightest access to fresh air.

- Nikolay Gogol made great pasta. Living in Rome, Gogol specially went to the kitchen to learn from the cooks, and then treated his friends.

- Honore de Balzac did not sit down to work without drinking 5-7 cups of coffee. It is estimated that during his life he drank about 50 thousand cups of coffee. In addition, as a sign of deep respect for the brilliant man, he always took off his hat. Ask what's strange? Balzac did this when he spoke ... about himself!

Physicist Walter Nernst, author of the third law of thermodynamics, bred carp. When asked why exactly carps, and not any other fish or animals, he answered that he would not breed warm-blooded animals, because he did not want to heat the world space for his money.

- Jack the Ripper, the most famous murderer of the 19th century, committed his crimes only on weekends.

- Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin loved to shoot in the bath. They say that in the village of Mikhailovskoye, almost nothing authentic since the time of the poet has been properly preserved, but the wall that Pushkin shot at, surprisingly remained intact.

Life of the Stars

5762

23.06.14 15:31

Celebrities are not "celestials" at all (even though we call them "stars"). They are the same as us, only more talented and able to "catch fame by the tail." But even the most famous of them have their habits - harmful, strange, not aesthetic, funny or simply puzzling.

The most unusual habits of stars

Just like children!

For example, Britney Spears sometimes can not help biting her nails. Violently, to the point of blood, even an exquisite manicure does not interfere. This habit is common to many nervous people.

Probably, the situation with the nerves of the football player and recognized macho David Beckham is much better, but he sometimes sins the same. Can bite his nails, just like a small child, and even in public. How his wife Victoria feels about this is unknown. Weaning a person from such a habit can be very difficult.

Justin Timberlake once admitted that sometimes he does not deny himself the pleasure of ... picking his nose. But there is nothing wrong with this if you do it alone, and unless, of course, the paparazzi is hiding in the bushes. They say that Brad Pitt has a similar sin. Haven't you ever stuck your finger up your nose?

Sarah Jessica Parker, getting excited, can bite her cheek hard (on the inside). Which can be very painful and unpleasant, but this does not stop the actress.

Dustin Hoffman is able to scratch his crotch even in front of witnesses, in a public place. This does not cause any embarrassment in the star, although it would be strange to see this from the outside.

But the irresistible craving for sex - can this be considered an unusual habit? David Duchovny considered this feature of his as a serious addiction and even a disease and tried to get rid of it. However, he did not save his family.

culinary habits

The king of horror Stephen King would never eat oysters (they evoke some strange associations in the prose writer). But he loves cheesecake. It has already become a kind of ritual: before starting work, he must definitely eat a cheesecake.

Nicolas Cage is by no means a Muslim or a vegetarian, but he won't touch a pork dish.

Computer genius Steve Jobs was very fond of apples and carrots. And Mark Zuckerberg, who invented Facebook, had a period when he ate only what he himself grew or got on the hunt.

Renee Zellweger, who went to great lengths for the role of Bridget Jones, including gaining extra pounds, has her own habit-ritual. She fights hunger with an ice cube. While it slowly melts in the mouth, the feeling of hunger recedes.

A great original in food (he preferred soy products), auto magnate Henry Ford was not shy about eating weeds sometimes. Agree, bread with a “bush” of weeds is not quite ordinary food for a rich man?

little secrets

Many recognized beauties have their own habits and addictions in personal care: actresses, models, singers.

Gwen Stefani prefers to use baby lotions and creams - in them, according to the star, almost all the ingredients are natural, so there is a benefit!

Sophia Loren has always used perfumed water to wind her hair on curlers. This contributed to fixing the styling, in addition, the light fragrance “stuck” in the curls of the Italian diva for a long time.

Emma Watson is combing her hair for a very long time. At least 50 strokes of the brush - this is the norm for a young artist (this helps to strengthen the hair - the girl believes).

Hemorrhoid cream is a lifesaver for Sandra Bullock if you need to remove bags under the eyes, unnecessary blueness and even wrinkles.

Many people use thermal water to give their skin freshness, especially in the summer heat. But model Cindy Crawford splashes her face with water and milk (it nourishes the skin and whitens it).

Great people have had habits that will seem strange to you, and in some cases, absurd.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was one of the greatest writers in history, had a strange habit. He was annoyed by strands of protruding hair, so the writer always kept his comb nearby and combed it hundreds of times a day.

Benjamin Franklin

Every day, before starting work, Benjamin Franklin used to lie naked in his bathtub, taking "air baths".

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci did not believe in a regular sleep cycle and instead preferred a polyphasic cycle, meaning that he slept multiple times throughout the day.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla also had a strange dream, and he really rested for only two hours a day. He also twisted his toes as hard as he could every night before going to bed because he thought it increased the nourishment of his brain cells.

Yoshiro Nakamatsu

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu could have been the greatest inventor in history. He patented the floppy disk in 1952, as well as over 3,300 inventions during his lifetime.
Many of his greatest ideas hit him when he was close to drowning, as he believed that starving the brain without oxygen had many mental benefits. He also believed in brainstorming in a room with 24-karat gold, as this would block the television and radio waves that would impinge on the creative brain.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison, when selecting employees for himself, made them pass an unusual test. The inventor suggested that they eat a bowl of soup, if the subjects salted the soup before they started eating, they were considered to have failed the test. Since the test was aimed at finding out which of the candidates had too many assumptions.

Pythagoras


The Greek mathematician Pythagoras had a very meager diet, he refused to eat beans and even forbade his followers to swallow or touch them. The popular belief is that Pythagoras even refused to run across the bean field when his attackers ambushed him and ended up killing him.

Anthony Trollope

Anthony Trollope was a prolific writer, but oddly enough, he limited his work time, writing only three hours a day, and could produce 250 words every 15 minutes, meaning he ended the day with 3,000 words. If he finished a book that he wrote before three o'clock, he still continued to write.

Honore de Balzac


Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright who drank up to 50 cups of coffee a day. This may have helped his creativity, but it was detrimental to his health, he suffered from stomach cramps, headaches and high blood pressure.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche liked to work, and he liked to criticize his colleagues if they took a break.

Albert Einstein

One of Albert Einstein's oddities was his habit of playing the violin while watching birds, with tears usually running down his cheeks.

Demosthenes

Demosthenes was a respected ancient Greek statesman and orator. His most famous oddity is rehearsing his speeches with stones in his mouth for clearer diction.

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe always wrote his works only on thin sheets of paper and then assembled them together to make scrolls for easier storage, and he believed that this helped with productivity.

Igor Stravinsky

Russian-American composer Igor Stravinsky stood on his head for 15 minutes every night to clear his head.