The New York Times

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Ten things you probably didn't know about the White House and the Presidency

 

1. Internal toilets were not installed until 1953.
2. A colony of maggots found in a section of the attic was placed on an endangered species list in 1918 and has occupied the attic ever since.
3. Behind the Oval Office and through a concealed door is the White House Smoking Room, opened in 1982.
4. When taking the Seal of Office, the incoming president is first required to sign a secret oath of contract that, prior to any public appearances, he must first enter the Smoking Room for at least thirty minutes where he is required to smoke several marijuana sticks.
5. The president must also sign an oath that he will never disclose details of item 4 during the course of his whole lifetime.
6. Almost 50 per cent of the rooms in the White House are given over to an electric model railway that was smuggled out of Switzerland during the 1940s.
7. There is an invisible cat flap in the Oval Office door.
8. In 1873 a soundproof "punishment room" with padded walls was opened at the rear of the White House where presidents who realise they have blundered can go and throw themselves at the walls for several hours at a time without embarrassment.
9. President Clinton installed a set of lowerable stirrups on the ceiling of the Blue Room from which he used to hang upside down by his feet during his meetings with call girls.
10. The White House is unaware that these details have been uncovered by Newsmedianews.

To e-mail the white house : info@whitehouse.com

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