What is your favourite piece of trivia?

[beale]

I'm collecting them..

[manolobesso]

Sissy Spaceck was originally cast as Princess Leia in "Starwars", and Carrie Fisher was cast in "Carrie". Fisher refused to do the nude scenes so swapped roles with Spaceck.

The most expensive reel of film ever is the famous footage, shot by Abraham Zapruder, of President Kennedy's assassination on November 22 1963. Zapruder, who was a bystander to the killing, happened to capture the shooting on his camera. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, an arbitration panel ordered the US government to pay $615,384 per second of film to Zapruder's heirs for giving the film to the National Archives. The complete film, which lasts for 26 seconds, is valued at $16m.

[dawntrader]

If all the people in China walked past a point in single-file, they would not be able to reproduce (you try making a baby on the march in single file). So eventually they would come to an end.

[Bangkok]

Roy Sullivan, the world's most lightening struck person (with an uncomfortable 7 strikes), committed suicide when his wife left him.

[JRB]

When you wish a person good luck on stage you say "break a leg"

The leg was a rope used to raise and/or lower  the curtains and if there were lots of curtain calls (ie a great success) the "leg" could break from overuse.

 

[Sean B]

Guinness does not own the land where the brewery is... they have a 2000 year lease at 40 pounds/year. 

[mycatis]

A slow-worm looks like a snake but is a lizard (with no legs) it lays eggs cause it's a reptile but they leave it's body after they hatch so it's giving birth to live young like a mammal

[WHJ]

The official state of war between Britain and Germany did not end until 9th July 1952. I used to win loads of bets with this one, though I shouldn't think I'll win many now that I've told you lot!

[helghast]

you're correct in the fact that the statue of Nelson doesn't have an eye patch but this is because he NEVER actually wore one.

well doesn't have the most meanings the actual word is set.

if a sheep falls on its back it can't get up and has to wait for the farmer to help it.

the earth has 5 moons but 4 are really tiny.

during WW2 the USSR only declared war on Japan one month before America dropped the nukes.

[Zen82]

pneumonomicroscopicvolcanoconiosis -- longest word so far in english language

[billywhizz]

When Jimmy Greaves and Dixies Dean, record goalscorers from different decades, scored their 200th league goals, they were both 23 years and 290 days old.

The original ship Queen Mary was supposed to be called Queen Victoria.  When Cunard approached George V and said they wanted to call it after the greatest Queen the world had ever seen (his grandmother) he said that his wife (Mary) would be very pleased with their tribute.  They were too embarrassed to change it!

The marathon distance is 26 miles and 365 yards long.  The extra 365 yards was added to the original distance so that the Royal Family could see the race through a window.  It has been there ever since. . 

[tracymort]

That elephants have a prehensile penis (although apparently there is some debate over the meaning of prehensile in this case).

[Bert]

Also, unfortunately, sddsddean is wrong about elephant's knees (nor do camels have four knees) and about Eiffel dining in his own restaurant to avoid the sight of his creation - how likely is that?  It was somebody else, I forget who.  A vowel is a sound, not a letter, so there is a vowel in RHYTHMS, two if you count the sound between the 'm' and the 's', sometimes called 'shwey' or something like that.  I'm afraid, beale, you will get a lot of urban myths, undocumented suppositions and haf-baked facts among the trivia.

[Bert]

Also unfortunately, sddsddean is wrong about elephants' knees (and nor does a camel have four knees), and about Eiffel dining in his own restaurant to avoid the sight of his own creation - how likely is that?  It was somebody else, I forget who.  A vowel is a sound not a letter, so RHYTHMS

[jonnyollet]

10% of americans do not have passports

[Cmitchell]

That apparently you can lead a cow up a staircase, but not down a staircase! [Wonder if anyone's tried???]

[cuddlycat]

che630, Brazil was not name after the nut. It was name after a tree called pau Brasil, which is red-ish in colour. Brazil nut isn't even called that in Brazil it's called castanha do Para. Para being a state in the northeast of Brasil.

[Sequin]

Nelson's statue is not missing an eyepatch, because he never wore one - he was blind in the eye, but it was ot missing or mangled, so he did not need a patch

[mynx]

Just wanted to post what I know about cat purring.

As far as I know it IS still a mystery how they purr. Some people believe it is created by a vibrating of vocal chords. Some that it is the vibrating of fake vocal chords positioned next to the real ones. Some believe that it is a vibration resonating through the chest windpipe and sinus cavities. And some believe it is caused by the muscles in the larynx and diaphragm contracting out of sync.

As for my tidbit facts.

Every cat purrs at 25 cycles per second regardless of it's size, age, sex or breed.

Goldfish turn white in the absence of sunlight.

The word 'SET' has the longest dictionary entry.

[pezza.......]

zen82:  Are you sure that word is not an abbreviated version which I believe is short for   pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosisis.

The spelling might be a little bit wrong but you get the idea.