Fascinating Facts and Trivia

High heeled shoes were originally created for men.

The word “orange” was first used to describe the fruit, not the colour.

Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars franchise, once called Anthony Daniels, or C-3PO, “the rudest man” he’s ever met.

Whether measuring by size (0.17 sq mi) or population (1,000), Vatican City is the smallest country in the world.

Baby porcupines are called “porcupettes”.

Mount Rushmore almost featured the heads of famous American West heroes, like Buffalo Bill Cody, but the lead sculptor argued that the subjects should be more recognizable.

At the 1908 Olympics, the Russians showed up 12 days late because they were using the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar.

The Amazon Forest is the largest natural rainforest in the world. At 2.7 million square miles, it covers 40% of South America.

More amazing facts.

China owns nearly all of the pandas in the world, even the ones you see at zoos. They rent them out for about $1 million a year.

Beer is one of the oldest recorded recipes in the world, with documentations of the beverage dating back to around 5,000 BC and the ancient Egyptians.

Lasting only 38 minutes, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 is generally considered to be the shortest war in history.

Bubble Wrap was originally intended to be used as 3D wallpaper.

Due to a discrepancy over border recognition between Egypt and Sudan, there is a region in Africa called Bir Tawil that belongs to no country.

At 3’7″, Eddie Gaedel was the smallest Major League Baseball player of all time. He walked in his only plate appearance.

Vales Marineris, a canyon on Mars, would stretch from from Los Angeles to the Atlantic coast if it were on Earth.

Serial killer Ted Bundy once received a commendation from the Seattle Police Department for chasing down a purse snatcher.

The average person walks the equivalent of five times around the world in their lifetime. Assuming the average person lives until they’re 80, they will walk about 110,000 miles in their lifetime. The circumference of the equator is 24,900 miles.

Michael Jackson offered to make a Harry Potter musical, but J.K. Rowling rejected the idea. Rowling defended herself because she says she turned down a lot of adaption opportunities, and Michael Jackson’s just so happened to be one of them.

The world record for stuffing drinking straws into your mouth at once is 459. Manoj Kumar Maharana, from India, broke the world record on 28th August 2017 for stuffing 459 drinking straws in his mouth at once! In order to break it, he had to keep them in his mouth for at least 10 seconds.

Nutella was invented during WWII, when hazelnuts were mixed into chocolate to extend chocolate rations. In an effort to extend his chocolate rations during World War Two, an Italian pastry maker mixed hazelnuts into chocolate. The final Nutella product was created by his son who decided to perfect the recipe.

Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd is credited as 'Aristocracy co-ordinator' in 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is credited in 2015's Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens ("thanks: Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Secretary of State, United Kingdom")

Americans consume around 150 million hot dogs on 4th of July each year.

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth.

Lord Byron allegedly kept a pet bear in his dorm room while studying at Cambridge University.

Geologic activity around the Ring of Fire is responsible for roughly 90% of all earthquakes worldwide.

Well that's me done for this thread. I'd like to thank everyone who helped make this thread so phenomenally successful, exceeding my wildest expectations and hell it even got nominated for an award making the final three in the end. Thank you particularly to Rpj316 and Carl Gen-X and Skyline for your contributions and I hope it was entertaining for everyone else.

Out with the old and in with the new....

Been a blast having you set this thread up GMach1 and have it become the riproaring success that it is. Best of luck with your playing tiddlywinks or whatever you'll now be doing with yourself.

This thread will not fade away and die.

The opposite of ‘kink’ (something that turns you on) is a ‘squick’ (something that turns you off sexually).

The word dude is used 161 times in the movie ‘The Big Lebowski’.

In Italian, tiramisu means “take me to heaven”.