Love dates
The Facts of Love
Don't get caught with your guard down this Valentine's Day, here's some facts to help you rack up points with your significant other or win a few trivia contests.
Romantic moments
February 14, 1929 -- Chicago crime boss Al Capone was suspected to have ordered the murder of five men of a rival gang.
Other big days in the history of love
The Taj Mahal - True love knows no bottom line
The Mogul emperor Shah Jahan loved his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, so much that when she died in 1629 he ordered construction of a tomb for her that would be deemed the finest example of Indian Muslim architecture. The emperor brought skilled craftsman from all over Asia and Europe to build the beautiful domed structure in Agra, North India.
The Taj Mahal was designed by a Turkish architect and its construction took 18 years and the lives of many laborers.
The white marble exterior is inlaid with semiprecious stones, floral designs, and arabesques. The dome is 80 feet high and 50 feet in diameter inside.
Today, the Taj Mahal is still considered one of the most magnificent and treasured sites in India.
Statistics from Publishers Weekly, Ingram, the Book Industry Study
Group, and ABA:
- 49.8% of paperback books sold in America are romances
- Romance generates approximately $1 billion per year in sales; this is up from 1992, when sales totaled $885 million.
- The average price of a romance paperback is $5.50
- Approximately 19 publishing houses produce romance novels. They include (listed in order of houses that released the most romances in 1996: Harlequin Enterprises, Kensington Publishing, NAL-Penguin, Leisure, Bantam, Avon, Berkley-Jove, Harper, Pocket, Barbour, Fawcett, St. Martin's, Dell, Bethany House, Warner, Questar Palisades, Tyndale, Avalon, and Genesis Indigo.
- In 1996, 2,020 romance novels were released, 150 more than in 1995
- In 1996, 182 million copies of romances were sold
Harlequin Enterprises research statistics
- An estimated 45 million women in North America read romance novels
- Romance readers range in age from 15 to 105
- 68% of romance readers attended or graduated from college
- 55% of romance readers work outside the home and maintain an average household income of $45,300 per year
- 48% of romance readers began reading romances when they were 17 or younger
- Women with full-time, executive-level jobs report reading an average of 14
romances per month
Romance Writers of America's 1998 Most romantic list
- Actor: Mel Gibson (3rd time)
- Actress: Julia Roberts
- Couple: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman
- Film: Jerry Maguire
- TV Show: Mad About You (5th time)
- Song: Unchained Melody (4th time)
- City: San Francisco (6th time)
- Gift: Roses (7th time)
- Idea for Date: Picnic
- Commercial: Taster's Choice (6th time)
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