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AUSTRALIA
In Australia, December is the least common month for births but the most common month... MORE

BANANA
The banana plant is the largest known plant without a solid trunk. Botanically it is not... MORE

BERLIN
It is frequently claimed (over 6,000 times on the Internet) that the first bomb dropped... MORE

BRASSIERE
The word 'brassiere' comes from an old French word originally meaning an upper-arm protector, then... MORE

BUNKER
Chang and Eng, the original Siamese Twins, were brought to America by the promoter P.T.... MORE

CHOCOLATE
Montezuma started the myth about chocolate being an aphrodisiac. His cup of cocoa at bedtime... MORE

FRANCE
In the ninth century, France was ruled by kings known as Charles the Bald, Charles... MORE

GEORGE II
The victory of George II at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 in the War... MORE

HAIR
Hairiness, said Aristotle, is a sign of 'abundance of residual matter', which, he went on... MORE

HUDSON
Also known by the name Lord Minimus, Jeffrey Hudson quite literally sprang to fame at... MORE

INDEPENDENCE
The number of soldiers killed in conflict in the American War of Independence was 4,435,... MORE

KISSING
More germs are transferred shaking hands than kissing. During World War I, it was reported... MORE

MALARIA
More soldiers died from malaria in World War I than were killed by weapons. ... MORE

MARS
The red appearance of the planet Mars is caused by oxidised iron on its surface... MORE

OLYMPIC GAMES
Nobody knows when the first Olympic Games took place. There was certainly such a festival at... MORE

PIGEON
The British royal family has kept racing pigeons since 1886 when King Leopold of Belgium... MORE

SAUSAGES
The word 'sausage' comes originally from the Latin 'salscius' meaning 'prepared by salting'. The earliest known... MORE

SINGAPORE
Since 1992, it has been illegal to import chewing gum into Singapore. By then the... MORE

SNAIL
Thanks to the sticky carpet they exude, snails can crawl along the edge of a... MORE

SOAP OPERAS
According to a paper in the Christmas 1997 issue of the British Medical Journal, characters... MORE

SPIRITUALISM
In 1942 the American National Association of Spiritualists resolved that for the duration of war... MORE

SWIMMING
'Fornication avec l'onde' was how Paul Valèry described swimming, and humans have been fornicating with... MORE

TATTOO
The first tattoos were carried out by the Egyptians, possibly as early as 4000BC. The... MORE

THAILAND
Siam officially changed its name to Thailand on May 11, 1949, one hundred and thirty-eight... MORE

TOLSTOY
Tolstoy's War And Peace has about 460,000 words in Russian, but about 560,000 in English... MORE

TUESDAY
Tuesday is named after the Norse God Tiw or Tyr. The Romans called it dies Martis,... MORE

UMBRELLA
The original ancient Chinese and Egyptian umbrellas protected against the sun, not the rain, while... MORE

WELLS
H.G. Wells, author of such science fiction novels as The Invisible Man, War of the... MORE

WIMBLEDON
An average four-set match in the men's singles at Wimbledon lasts two-and-a-half hours, of which... MORE

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BOTSWANA
According to a report in 2007 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature,... MORE

St PAUL'S
The first cathedral dedicated to St Paul's was said to have been built on the... MORE

GEORGE VI
King George VI was naturally left-handed but was forced to learn to write with his... MORE

POVERTY
Police in Taiwan took a collection to buy a bicycle for a bicycle thief in... MORE

RELIGION
In 2004, a 67-year-old woman was killed when a three-metre tall metal crucifix fell on... MORE

YETI
Reports of a large, human-like creature in the Himalayas date back to 1832 when B.H.... MORE

TURKEY (BIRD)
In Turkey, the turkey is called the 'American bird'. The correct collective noun for turkeys... MORE

MORTGAGE
A 73-year-old man who was charged with robbing three banks in Florida in 2010 admitted... MORE

ROBBERY
Here are brief details of some of the least successful robberies in recent years:... MORE

CELIBACY
Celibacy, which has been the cause of so much introspection within the Catholic Church for... MORE

TUATARA
The tuatara is a reptile that is found in New Zealand which has been classed... MORE

EYELASH
False eyelashes were invented by the film director D.W. Griffith for the 1916 film Intolerance... MORE

NUDISM
Nudist Tomas Cameselle was fined a total of £65 in July 1982 in Pontevedra, Spain.... MORE

PATIENCE
'Patience: a minor form of despair disguised as virtue' - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.... MORE

DONALD DUCK
A US federal judge in 2011 heard a case brought by a woman who claimed... MORE