Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for August 22, 2014

Hey, ‘tater. Even my own father, as a child, was an accordionist. Nick and Mary Yankovic thought their son Alfred would make one more famous accordion-playing Yankovic (the other being non-relative Frankie).

Nixon also bowled.

Nixon played the accordion? I wonder if he made any recordings…

1958! Genius!

Alexander the Great : Killed more people of more nationalities than anyone else had before him.Also, no one had the nerve to call him Alex the so and so!

And Myron Floren!

If I were asked to name someone who plays the accordion, all I could have answered is, “Jack Van Impe.” The accordion was invented during Charles Dickens’ teen years, in Continental Europe. Accordions arrived in Britain when Dickens was nineteen years old. He would live 20 fewer years than Mohandas Gandhi, but accordions had been in the British Empire for fifty years when Gandhi was born. (Dickens died at 58, Gandhi at 78).

“Weird Al” Yankovic ought to be on that list. He’s the most famous.

Only one?

So the Spanish introduced a salamander to the Americas that can grow an accordion in three months. I learn so much here!