Fascinating Facts and Trivia

One of history’s longest wars was between the Netherlands and the Isles of Sicily. It lasted for 335 years and not a single person was killed.

Instead of saying ‘cheese’, Victorians would say ‘prunes’ when their picture was about to be taken.

The image of Santa Claus flying his Sleigh began in 1819 and was created by Washington Irving, the same author who dreamt The Headless Horseman.

The Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square is donated to the people of London every year by the people of Oslo, Norway in thanks for their assistance during World War 2.

Japanese spend their Christmas Eve eating in KFC's. This is a popular tradition in Japan, so much that customers have to book their seats 2 months in advance.

In 2014 approximately 10 million turkeys were consumed in the United Kingdom during Christmas.

Before Turkey, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pigs head and mustard.

Funny you should mention the Japanese and KFC as a few of my friends and I were discussing that last night by sheer coincidence. I wonder why KFC-and what did they do before it existed?

Former Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwole was fixing the star to the top of the Christmas tree for Trafalgar Square once and bearing in mind they used the same one for years, managed to drop it and it smashed to pieces...luckily they had a spare. Carols are traditionally sung around it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC_in_Japan

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cult...161666960/

The British tradition of pantomime at Christmas is many, many years old but in recent times there have been some interesting additions in the form of American actors such as David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff, Henry 'The Fonz' Winkler and (Captain Hook in Peter Pan) and Lisa Marie Presley(Cinderella, though not the main lead) The idea that they can grasp the idea that a man is dressed as a woman(Widow Twankey in Aladdin) and a woman is known as the Principal Boy(Dick Whittington and his Cat) must confuse people, but we've been doing it for years but you don't have to be gay although some of the best like Christopher Biggins and the late John Inman(who was in Are You Being Served as camp Mr Humphries) were very good but Les Dawson, the comedian, used to regularly dress up as Cissie in sketches with Roy Baraclough as Ada. You can go right back to his inspiration for Cissie, Norman Evans, who used to be a gossiping woman over the garden wall. Anyway back to pantomime. It has a lot of audience participation and it is traditional to cheer the hero and boo the villain/s when they come on stage, and to shout "He's behind you!" and the equally traditional "Oh no yes we are...oh no we're not!" and other phrases to put inbetween them. It also spawns some terrible jokes and one liners such as "Go and tell the Widow her rents in arrears" "What's it doing in her ears?"
It is a big production now with songs, jokes, magic and comedy and always attracts big and small names from the world of showbusiness both here and abroad(USA) I suppose this tradition will continue as long as there is a call for it and I can't see it dying out any time soon "Oh yes it will...oh no, it WON'T"

The other tradition here at Christmas is something on ice. A big production usually Disney-related like Frozen is stage and put on ice with the usual songs from the film and actors portraying the best loved characters. As a child I never went to a pantomime BUT I did once accompany a load of Brownies(that's young girls not the chocolate sponge things) when I was a Cub Scout to see a production of Dick Whittington on Ice-that was an experience in itself me and a load of screeching girls! Anyway it was very done and like a pantomime on a stage but on ice. Still immensely popular with adults and kids today.

The deadliest wildfire in US history was the Peshtigo Fire, which happened in Wisconsin of all places. It took place on the same day as the Great Chicago fire, so was kinda overshadowed and got memory-holed. When all was said and done, an area 50% larger than Rhode Island (fun fact about Rhode Island - when visiting NFL teams go to play New England, they stay in hotels in Providence, RI because the strip clubs are better than in Massachusetts (fun fact about Massachusetts - marijuana is legal, but plastic bags are banned in many towns) was burned, and estimates put the death toll at 1,500-2,500.

Now I know 4 things about Wisconsin:
- Cheese
- Cranberries
- Fire
- Brett Favre

And on KFC, I said it before in another thread, but the first KFC franchise location opened in Salt Lake City. There's also more KFC's in China than in the US.

(15-12-2018 15:37 )GreenMachine Wrote:  Funny you should mention the Japanese and KFC as a few of my friends and I were discussing that last night by sheer coincidence. I wonder why KFC-and what did they do before it existed?

Pigs head & mustard, like us??? (even the idea of it makes me wanna puke)

Well I'm Jewish so pigs head is RIGHT out!

Canada and Denmark have had one of the funniest border disputes in history over an island. Each nation’s military will visit the place, uproot the other country’s flag, and leave a welcome note with a bottle of schnapps or Canadian club, depending on their nationality.