18. Lord Nelson may have been the first to turn a blind eye
During the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, the advanced fleet units under Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson were being pounded by the Danish defenses, and the overall British commander, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, ordered the flag signal hung for the fleet to withdraw. Nelson responded by clapping his telescope to his right eye and claiming that he could not see the signal, thus turning a blind eye to an undesirable sight. Nelson’s fleet prevailed in the battle, and ever since it has been claimed that the term to “turn a blind eye” came from the event, though the venerable Oxford English Dictionary traced the use of the term to the late 17th century, well before Nelson was born.