Interesting Facts - Page 4

Stan Laurel joined Karno's travelling performers & was understudy to Charlie Chaplin. In 1910 the troupe went to America & Stan decided to go it alone.

Charles Alcock was the first ever player to be ruled offside on 31 Mar 1866. The offside rule in football has its origins in the Cambridge Rules of 1848.

The shortest street in Europe is Ebenezer Place in Wick, Scotland. The street's length stands at 2.06 metres (6ft 9ins), & is also the world's shortest.

The average length of an adult's scarf is 60" (152.4cm). The world's longest scarf measured 25.68 miles. Many people across the UK supplied the sections.

The word boycott comes from an Irish land agent named Charles Boycott. His tenants used a non-violent tactic (boycott) to vent their disapproval of him.

Coca Cola taste varies as the Coca Cola Co. makes a syrup which bottlers mix with water & sweeteners. More/less sweetener is used in different places.

On 14 Feb 1876, both Alexander Graham Bell & Elisha Gray filed a patent for the telephone within a few hours of each other. Bell got there first.

Healthy pet iguanas can grow up to six feet long, can be litterbox trained and live for up to 20 years. They can sever 2 to 3 fingers with a single bite.

The first speeding ticket in the UK was issued to Mr Walter Arnold on January 28 1896. He was fined one shilling (5p) for doing 8mph in a 2mph zone.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris was nicknamed the "truly tragic lamp post" when it opened. It took 2 years to build, from 1887 to 1889. It is 300 metres tall.

Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) & C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) both died on 22 November 1963, the same day that John F Kennedy was assassinated.

Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as kado, which literally means the "way of flowers". It began as a ritual flower offering.

A watch of nightingales is the collective term for a group of them. Also, a congregation of plovers, a fling of sandpipers and a murder of crows.

What was termed 'calf love' in Elizabethan times is now termed 'puppy love'.The term 'calf love' was most famously used in "Romeo and Juliet".

The most notable towns omitted from the Domesday Book were London, Winchester and Bristol. There are no entries for Durham or Northumberland either.

Love apples are tomatoes. In the 16th century tomatoes were known in Italy as pomo dei Mori; transliterated to the French pomme d'amour, 'love apple'.

'Move Closer' was released by 1985 by Phyllis Nelson, and reached Number 1. It was the first UK number 1 written and recorded by a black female.