Did you know that Richard Nixon could bench press 220 pounds? Or that Ronald Reagan ordered 12 tons of jelly beans during his presidency? Or that Harry Truman's mother, a sympathizer of the Confederacy, refused to sleep in the Lincoln Bed Room when she visited the White House?

If not, Derek Bartlett would like to fill you in about those matters and dozens of other little-known facts about former presidents. Bartlett, founder of the Cape And Islands Paranormal Research Society, spoke Monday to the Wareham Historical Society on "Dead Presidents, Mysteries, Myths and the Macabre about our Nation."

The meat of his presentation had much less to do with mysteries and the macabre than with what might best be considered good material for a presidential version of Trivial Pursuit. In Bartlett's words: "I'm just telling you some weird stuff." Among the "stuff"culled from government and other sources:

-- John Quincy Adams regularly swam naked in the Potomac River.

-- George Washington demanded that his six white horses have their teeth brushed every day.

-- Thomas Jefferson's admirers sent him a 1,235-lb. block of cheese with a note: "The greatest cheese in America for the greatest man in America."

-- James Madison was the smallest president: 5-feet-4-inches and weighing less than 100 lbs.

-- William Howard Taft was the heaviest: At 332 lbs., he got stuck in the presidential bath tub.

-- William McKinley is thought to hold the record for handshaking -- at 2,500 an hour.

-- James Garfield could write Latin with one hand while simultaneously writing Greek with the other hand.

-- Calvin Coolidge's wife had a pet raccoon.

-- Herbert Hoover's son had two pet alligators.

-- Dwight Eisenhower's dog was banned from the White House after it did "you know what" in the Diplomatic Reception Room.

-- Gerald Ford locked himself out of the White House while walking his golden retriever.

-- Richard Milhouse Nixon was the first president whose name contained all the letters in the word "criminal." William Jefferson Clinton was the second.

When Bartlett got to one of his Grover Cleveland facts, it turned out that the audience contained some expertise itself. The basic story: During the financial panic of 1893, Clevand discovered a cancerous growth in his mouth. Not wanting to further upset financial markets, he hired a boat for a "fishing trip," and used the boat as a floating hospital to have the growth removed.

"That was in Buzzards Bay!" interrupted several members of the audience. And society member Mack Phinney elaborated on the local connection with the former First Fisherman: "He also had special legislation passed to allow smelt fishing in the Weweantic River. To this day, it's the only place you can fish for smelts with nets."