Lesson 20

Secrets

Part One

Watch the video and do the exercises

Part Two

Top Secrets in History

KFC Recipe

The KFC founder Sanders created in 1940 the recipe of his famous fried chicken, which is kept secret. It is known that eleven spices mixed with the flour are used, but the rest of the ingredients are unknown. There’s a sheet with the original recipe signed by Sanders himself in a safe deposit box at KFC headquarters in Louisville. Only two company executives have access to it and their names haven’t been disclosed for security reasons.

Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper was a serial killer who committed several crimes in 1888, mainly in Whitechapel, London, as well as in the poor neighborhoods around. This psychopath was described by the experts as an intelligent, effective, mocking, and cold man, obsessed with murder. The attacks attributed to him involved women, whom he killed in such a violent but methodogical way that the police believed he had medical knowledge. His identity continues to be a mystery to the police.

Was Napoleon Murdered?

Napoleon was banished by the British to the island of St. Helena on July 15, 1815. There he was sick to the stomach and suffered from a pain in the right side, so the doctors diagnosed him with a possible stomach cancer. However, recent analyzes of samples of the Napolean's hair, cut shortly after dying and that have been preserved, reveal that they were full of the poison arsenic in a highly dangerous dose. This suggests that Napoleon could have died from a poisoning, which would also agree with his symptoms.

The Pyramids

The pyramid construction techniques rather than being one of the best kept secrets of the world, is just a mystery. This is a subject that has brought debates to historians, archaeologists and members of the scientific community. The people of Ancient Egypt built them more than 4,500 years ago, in the middle of the desert and with tools that today would be useless. So this issue remains a mystery and only the ancient Egyptians could give us the true answers.

Area 51

The United States Air Force Base known as Area 51 is a US military airfield located in Nevada - its main purpose is unknown but is thought to be probably supporting the development and testing of experimental aircraft. However, many secrets surround the base. The United States government didn’t admit its existence until 2003 and all research and occurrences in Area 51 are Top Secret; this has made this area the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central part of unidentified flying object stories.