tlogic
Inactive User
Just a little bit of trivia to help blow away those post Christmas blues. The BBC News website team have put together a list of mostly useless facts that we didnt know this time last year:
1. The UK's first mobile phone call was made in 1986, when Ernie Wise rang the Vodafone head office, which was then above a curry shop in Newbury.
2. Mohammed is now one of the 20 most popular names for boys born in England and Wales.
3. While it's an offence to drop litter on the pavement, it's not an offence to throw it over someone's garden wall.
4. An average record shop needs to sell at least two copies of a CD per year to make it worth stocking, according to Wired magazine.
5. WD-40 dissolves cocaine - it has been used by a pub landlord to prevent drug-taking in his pub's toilets.
6. Baboons can tell the difference between English and French. Zoo keepers at Port Lympne wild animal park in Kent are having to learn French to communicate with the baboons which had been transferred from Paris zoo.
7. The energy used to build an average Victorian terrace house would be enough to send a car round the Earth five times, says English Heritage.
8. One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.
9. Until the 1940s rhubarb was considered a vegetable. It became a fruit when US customs officials, baffled by the foreign food, decided it should be classified according to the way it was eaten.
10. Prince Charles broke with tradition by giving Camilla a wedding ring fashioned from Cornish gold, instead of Welsh gold that has provided rings for all royal brides and grooms since 1923.
11. It's possible for a human to blow up balloons via the ear. A factory worker from China reportedly discovered 20 years ago that air leaked from his ears, and he can now inflate balloons and blow out candles.
12. The London borough of Westminster has an average of 20 pieces of chewing gum for every square metre of pavement.
13. Madame Tussauds spent £10,000 separating the models of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston when they separated. It was the first time that two waxworks had been joined together.
14. If all the Smarties eaten in one year were laid end to end it would equal almost 63,380 miles, more than two-and-a-half times around the Earth's equator.
15. The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations
16. The Queen has never been on a computer, she told Bill Gates as she awarded him an honorary knighthood.
17. One person in four has had their identity stolen or knows someone who has.
18. The length of a man's fingers can reveal how physically aggressive he is, scientists say.
19. Nelson probably had a broad Norfolk accent.
20. One in four people does not know 192, the old number for directory inquiries in the UK, has been abolished.
21. Only in France and California are under 18s banned from using sunbeds.
22. The British buy the most compact discs in the world - an average of 3.2 per year, compared to 2.8 in the US and 2.1 in France.
23. When faced with danger, the octopus can wrap six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists discovered.
24. "Restaurant" is the most mis-spelled word in search engines.
25. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has only been in an English pub once, to buy his wife cigarettes.
26. The Little Britain wheelchair sketch with Lou and Andy was inspired by Lou Reed and Andy Warhol.
27. Cyclist Lance Armstrong's heart is almost a third larger than the average man's.
28. Nasa boss Michael Griffin has seven university degrees: a bachelor's degree, a PhD, and five masters degrees.
29. Tactically, the best Monopoly properties to buy are the orange ones: Vine Street, Marlborough Street and Bow Street.
30. Britain's smallest church, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, opens just once a year. It measures 4m by 3.6m and has one pew.
31. Rubber gloves could save you from lightning.
32. Parking wardens walk about 15 miles a day.
33. Oliver Twist is very popular in China, where its title is translated as Foggy City Orphan.
34. Newborn dolphins and killer whales don't sleep for a month, according to research carried out by University of California.
35. You can bet on your own death.
36. MPs use communal hairbrushes in the washrooms of the Houses of Parliament.
37. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's home number is listed by directory inquiries.
38. The hotter it is, the more difficult it is for aeroplanes to take off. Air passengers in Nevada, where temperatures have reached 120F, have been told they can't fly.
39. The Very Hungry Caterpillar has sold one copy every minute since its 1969 publication.
40. First-born children are less creative but more stable, while last-born are more promiscuous, says US research.
41. A towel doesn't legally reserve a sun lounger - and there is nothing in German or Spanish law to stop other holidaymakers removing those left on vacant seats.
42. Each successive monarch faces in a different direction on British coins.
43. The day when most suicides occurred in the UK between 1993 and 2002 was 1 January, 2000.
44. The only day in that time when no-one killed themselves was 16 March, 2001, the day Comic Relief viewers saw Jack Dee win Celebrity Big Brother.
45. One in 18 people has a third nipple.
46. Fifty-seven Bic Biros are sold every second - amounting to 100bn since 1950.
47. Pulling your foot out of quicksand takes a force equivalent to that needed to lift a medium-sized car.
48. Croydon has more CCTV cameras than New York.
49. Musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognisable riff before they buy, thereby making a "public performance".
50. The average employee spends 14 working days a year on personal e-mails, phone calls and web browsing, outside official breaks, according to employment analysts Captor.
some interesting things there lol.
1. The UK's first mobile phone call was made in 1986, when Ernie Wise rang the Vodafone head office, which was then above a curry shop in Newbury.
2. Mohammed is now one of the 20 most popular names for boys born in England and Wales.
3. While it's an offence to drop litter on the pavement, it's not an offence to throw it over someone's garden wall.
4. An average record shop needs to sell at least two copies of a CD per year to make it worth stocking, according to Wired magazine.
5. WD-40 dissolves cocaine - it has been used by a pub landlord to prevent drug-taking in his pub's toilets.
6. Baboons can tell the difference between English and French. Zoo keepers at Port Lympne wild animal park in Kent are having to learn French to communicate with the baboons which had been transferred from Paris zoo.
7. The energy used to build an average Victorian terrace house would be enough to send a car round the Earth five times, says English Heritage.
8. One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.
9. Until the 1940s rhubarb was considered a vegetable. It became a fruit when US customs officials, baffled by the foreign food, decided it should be classified according to the way it was eaten.
10. Prince Charles broke with tradition by giving Camilla a wedding ring fashioned from Cornish gold, instead of Welsh gold that has provided rings for all royal brides and grooms since 1923.
11. It's possible for a human to blow up balloons via the ear. A factory worker from China reportedly discovered 20 years ago that air leaked from his ears, and he can now inflate balloons and blow out candles.
12. The London borough of Westminster has an average of 20 pieces of chewing gum for every square metre of pavement.
13. Madame Tussauds spent £10,000 separating the models of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston when they separated. It was the first time that two waxworks had been joined together.
14. If all the Smarties eaten in one year were laid end to end it would equal almost 63,380 miles, more than two-and-a-half times around the Earth's equator.
15. The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations
16. The Queen has never been on a computer, she told Bill Gates as she awarded him an honorary knighthood.
17. One person in four has had their identity stolen or knows someone who has.
18. The length of a man's fingers can reveal how physically aggressive he is, scientists say.
19. Nelson probably had a broad Norfolk accent.
20. One in four people does not know 192, the old number for directory inquiries in the UK, has been abolished.
21. Only in France and California are under 18s banned from using sunbeds.
22. The British buy the most compact discs in the world - an average of 3.2 per year, compared to 2.8 in the US and 2.1 in France.
23. When faced with danger, the octopus can wrap six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists discovered.
24. "Restaurant" is the most mis-spelled word in search engines.
25. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has only been in an English pub once, to buy his wife cigarettes.
26. The Little Britain wheelchair sketch with Lou and Andy was inspired by Lou Reed and Andy Warhol.
27. Cyclist Lance Armstrong's heart is almost a third larger than the average man's.
28. Nasa boss Michael Griffin has seven university degrees: a bachelor's degree, a PhD, and five masters degrees.
29. Tactically, the best Monopoly properties to buy are the orange ones: Vine Street, Marlborough Street and Bow Street.
30. Britain's smallest church, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, opens just once a year. It measures 4m by 3.6m and has one pew.
31. Rubber gloves could save you from lightning.
32. Parking wardens walk about 15 miles a day.
33. Oliver Twist is very popular in China, where its title is translated as Foggy City Orphan.
34. Newborn dolphins and killer whales don't sleep for a month, according to research carried out by University of California.
35. You can bet on your own death.
36. MPs use communal hairbrushes in the washrooms of the Houses of Parliament.
37. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's home number is listed by directory inquiries.
38. The hotter it is, the more difficult it is for aeroplanes to take off. Air passengers in Nevada, where temperatures have reached 120F, have been told they can't fly.
39. The Very Hungry Caterpillar has sold one copy every minute since its 1969 publication.
40. First-born children are less creative but more stable, while last-born are more promiscuous, says US research.
41. A towel doesn't legally reserve a sun lounger - and there is nothing in German or Spanish law to stop other holidaymakers removing those left on vacant seats.
42. Each successive monarch faces in a different direction on British coins.
43. The day when most suicides occurred in the UK between 1993 and 2002 was 1 January, 2000.
44. The only day in that time when no-one killed themselves was 16 March, 2001, the day Comic Relief viewers saw Jack Dee win Celebrity Big Brother.
45. One in 18 people has a third nipple.
46. Fifty-seven Bic Biros are sold every second - amounting to 100bn since 1950.
47. Pulling your foot out of quicksand takes a force equivalent to that needed to lift a medium-sized car.
48. Croydon has more CCTV cameras than New York.
49. Musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognisable riff before they buy, thereby making a "public performance".
50. The average employee spends 14 working days a year on personal e-mails, phone calls and web browsing, outside official breaks, according to employment analysts Captor.
some interesting things there lol.
Last edited:
