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POTATO
'Spud' originally meant a short knife. Nobody knows how the meaning transferred to a slang... MORE

SLOGAN
In September 2010, the Taiwanese government announced the winners of a competition to write a... MORE

YAWNING
Research has shown that around one in three chimpanzees will yawn back when a human... MORE

WISDOM
The comedian and actor Norman Wisdom is the only person to have been awarded the... MORE

POPCORN
The definitive science of popcorn can be found in the paper 'The Effects of Ingredients... MORE

PLINY
Scientific encyclopedist and historian Pliny the Elder was killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.... MORE

PLAGUE
Under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, it is against British law to... MORE

STRAWBERRY
Grown on every continent except Antarctica, the strawberry is technically a 'false fruit'. Strictly speaking,... MORE

BEAVER
It has been calculated that a beaver 68ft long with a 51ft tail could have... MORE

TAX
Police in Poland hunting the killers of a taxman whose dismembered body was found in... MORE

MUBARAK
'Hosni Mubarak' is an anagram of 'I ambush Koran'. 'Mubarak' means 'blessed' in Arabic.... MORE

HELICOPTER
The word 'helicopter' was coined by the French aviation pioneer Gustave de Ponton d'Amecourt who... MORE

PRIME MINISTER
The phrase "prime minister" was originally a term of abuse. The title of Prime Minister... MORE

GEORGE III
When the film The Madness of King George III was released in the US, the... MORE

WEREWOLVES
Between 1520 and 1630, some 30,000 people were reported to the French authorities for being... MORE