Fascinating Facts and Trivia

In 1963, major league baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, an hour after Neil Armstrong set foot on the surface of the moon, Perry hit his first, and only, home run while playing for the San Francisco Giants.

In 18th century England, gambling dens employed someone whose job was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their planes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.

Representations of butterflies are seen in Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years old.

Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.

14% of all facts and statistics are made up and 27% of people know that fact.

The original oranges from Southeast Asia were a tangerine-pomelo hybrid, and they were actually green.

In fact, oranges in warmer regions like Vietnam and Thailand still stay green through maturity.

In Switzerland it is illegal to own just one guinea pig,

This is because guinea pigs are social animals, and they are considered victims of abuse if they are alone.

(04-12-2019 19:10 )GMach1 Wrote:  In York, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow (except on Sundays)

(10-12-2019 20:49 )GMach1 Wrote:  A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
14% of all facts and statistics are made up and 27% of people know that fact.

I suspect that percentage might be higher in this thread


The myth about slaying Celts could have originated from a City Ordinance of 1403 passed in response to the Glyndŵr Rising, which imposed a curfew on the Welsh. Both Chester and Hereford were frequently under attack from Wales in the medieval period.

As for killing a Scot in York, a Mr Henry Shrimp submitted this Freedom of Information request to York City Council in 2012:

"In York, excluding Sundays, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow. As such, please tell me the number of Scots who have been shot in the last ten years by those taking advantage of this law."

In response, the council replied:

After an extensive search of our records I can confirm that there are no records of any Scotsmen being legally shot with a bow and arrow in the last ten years. There is however a vague recollection of an alleged occurrence several centuries ago which involved a group of men from the Nottingham area, dressed in green, who were enjoying a stag night in York.

Regardless of any ancient legislation, the Law Commission said: "It is illegal to shoot a Welsh or Scottish (or any other) person regardless of the day, location or choice of weaponry."

Murder and manslaughter laws, as well as the universal right to life under the Human Rights Act, would trump any ancient code.

I look forward to receiving your "Humourless Pedant Of The Year" award in your Alternative Forum Awards Thread

The Goodyear Blimp is the official bird of Redondo Beach, California.

Redondo Beach—a coastal city situated near the Goodyear Blimp's home airport in Carson, California—from passed a resolution in 1983 to make the blimp its official bird.

Shakespeare's epitaph contains a curse for grave robbers.

When Williams Shakespeare died at 52 years old on April 23, 1616, he was buried in a tomb that featured an epitaph meant to ward off grave robbers. "GOOD FREND FOR IESVS SAKE FORBEARE / TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HEARE / BLESTe BE Ye MAN Yt SPARES THES STONES / AND CVRST BE HE Yt MOVES MY BONES." Or more clearly: "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear / To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones / And cursed be he that moves my bones."

Why is the Boeing 747 so called?
The 4 refers to the model, preceded by the 737 and 727 and originally there was the 707.
So why is the Boeing 707 so called?
Its wings are swept at 45 degrees. The sine of 45 is 0.707106781