I have a firm belief in the power of the fact. Many a close friend, in a time of need (or boredom), has been subjected to an often lengthy text packed full of the very best of my factual repertoire. A nugget of irrelevant information may not aid revision or quicken a mind-numbing car journey but it does have the ability to absorb one’s attention, to even capture one’s imagination, for a few crucial minutes. In a time of sadness or strife, a moment’s distraction can provide a welcome respite; who doesn’t get a fleeting enjoyment from the fact that Wayne Allwine, the actor who voiced Micky Mouse for over 30 years, was married to Russi Taylor, the actress who played Minnie! So in homage to my love of facts, here are a few of my favourites to brighten up your day:
DID YOU KNOW…
Elton John does not own a mobile phone. (?)
The average Briton suffers 726 hangovers in a lifetime. (?)
There are only two beret factories left in France. (?)
More than 90% of UK schoolchildren study Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. (?)
Apple has more cash to spend than the United States government. (?)
The US only got its first roundabout in 1990, in Nevada. (?)
Singing sparrows are actually trading insults. (?)
The Queen’s swans get flu jabs. (?)
A rare version of God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols is the most valuable record of all time. (?)
Letters addressed to Kabul include directions – there are few street names and numbers, and no postcodes. (?)
Rival rugby teams face a fine if they stray over the half-way line while the All Blacks perform the haka. (?)
Jimmy Savile and Margaret Thatcher spent New Year’s Eve together eleven years in a row. (?)
The girl on the classic British road sign ‘children going to or from school’ is based on a school photo of its designer Margaret Calvert. (?)
CDs were designed to be 12cm (4.8 inches) in diameter, because it provided sufficient capacity at 75 minutes to store all of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. (?)
Red-haired donors are being turned away by the world’s largest sperm bank because there is a lack of demand for their ‘product’. (?)
Meerkats have family ‘traditions’ that are passed down through generations. (?)
Twenty babies born in the UK since World War II have been named Adolf. (?)
Houmous comes in pizza, peanut butter and chocolate mousse flavours in the US. (?)
There are 16 amateur superheroes patrolling UK streets at night. (?)
The penguin on Penguin books was named Frostie after one of the editors at the publishing house. (?)
David Beckham’s wife Victoria is named ‘Posh’ in his mobile phone. (?)
Each of us has at least 100 new mutations in our DNA. (?)
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