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Original poster

To want to know the useless facts you store in your brain..

334 replies

IseeNarcPeople · 31/07/2023 20:25

The ones that never get an outting, the chance to use them has never arisen.
For instance, from the many useless facts in my brain:
The phrases "Not enough room to swing a cat" and "Don't let the cat out of the bag" are actually about a whip "Cat O' nine tails" which was kept as a warning and punishment on ships.
Oh and snails can sleep for three years.
Please release some of yours.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
MissJoGrant · 31/07/2023 21:43

The M61 (Preston bypass) is the oldest motorway in the UK.

RumNotRun · 31/07/2023 21:43

Margaret Thatcher was on the team of scientists who developed the technology to make Mr Whippy ice cream.

Not sure if this is true, but I like it anyway and want it to be true. Bottles are 75cl cause this was the average lungful of air back when bottles were blown by mouth. I didn't want to put that "fact" here as I don't want someone to tell me it's wrong, but if it is true then it's a good but useless fact

Okaywhatevs · 31/07/2023 21:42

Neil Tennant from the Pet shop boys was the editor of smash hits.

orangeyeahthatsright · 31/07/2023 21:42

I can remember the names of pretty much every child in each of my classes at primary/secondary school, in the order in which the register was taken, and the registration number of the car my family had when I was 5... and yet I constantly forget what I went into a room for. Gotta love midlife!

Echio · 31/07/2023 21:42

@Nodeepdiving OMG that's a brilliant one, totally bonkers. Love it!

There's another crazy stats one about gameshows and your stick or twist options that one I'm still dubious about!

Timetoflower22 · 31/07/2023 21:42

Volkswagen, Audi. Seat and Skoda are all owned by Audi

Nodeepdiving · 31/07/2023 21:41

orangeyeahthatsright · 31/07/2023 21:40

That's bloody scary!

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Yup. Use cloth people!

MissJoGrant · 31/07/2023 21:41

AlanJohnsonsBeamer · 31/07/2023 20:34

The word used to describe the smell of rain is Petrichor.

I learnt this from Doctor Who.

orangeyeahthatsright · 31/07/2023 21:40

Nodeepdiving · 31/07/2023 21:37

If Henry VIII had worn disposable nappies, they'd still be in landfill today.

That's bloody scary!

Soubriquet · 31/07/2023 21:40

Catterbat · 31/07/2023 21:34

Kangaroos have 3 vaginas.

Yep, and they have a joey nearly all the time in adult life.

One in the womb, one in the pouch and one hopping around.

When the joey is evicted from the pouch, the female will choose to give birth to the next one. They can actually choose it!! They young blind thing will then crawl from the vagina into the pouch where it will latch on to the nipple and stay there until it’s big enough to come out. Meanwhile, mum will be gestating a new baby

Timetoflower22 · 31/07/2023 21:39

Octopus' have three hearts

Nodeepdiving · 31/07/2023 21:37

If Henry VIII had worn disposable nappies, they'd still be in landfill today.

gingerguineapig · 31/07/2023 21:36

Birdienumnumm · 31/07/2023 21:27

Same - but I can’t remember all the colours. I tend to go “it was red and yellow and pink and green and blah blah blah and orange and purple and BLUE”. Can you tell me all the colours?

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I can remember them all if I sing it. But I can't type as fast as I can sing :)

Nodeepdiving · 31/07/2023 21:35

If it were possible to fold the same piece of paper in half 20 times, it would be between 50 and 100 metres thick.

Elephants can't jump.

Australia does not have any native beasts of burden.

gingerguineapig · 31/07/2023 21:34

Laiste · 31/07/2023 21:06

At 2 and a half years old you are half the height you are going to be as an adult.

Sounds nuts but it's true. I checked with my 4 DCs (3 are in their 20s now) and it's accurate to within an inch or so.

I saw that on another thread today and went and checked. It actually didn't apply to my son - he was a very small toddler. Thankfully he must have grown a bit extra!

My fact is that Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinnear created the font that we use on street signs and on railway signs.

And a lot of London underground stations were designed by Leslie Green (the ones with the red tiles).

Catterbat · 31/07/2023 21:34

Kangaroos have 3 vaginas.

Needhelp101 · 31/07/2023 21:31

Queen ants can live for over thirty years (that one blew my mind).

Only guinea pigs, a specific species of monkey and humans cannot synthesise their own vitamin C and have to consume it, or get scurvy.

Nodeepdiving · 31/07/2023 21:30

The number of people required in a group for the chances of any two of them sharing the same birthday to be more than 50% is 23. Blows pupils' minds every time!

Jewelanemone · 31/07/2023 21:30

maddiemookins16mum · 31/07/2023 21:28

The B side of David Soul’s number 1 hit ‘don’t give up on us baby’ was called Black Bean Soup.

'All I want, is black bean soup
And you to make it with me!'

DismantledKing · 31/07/2023 21:29

Gary Numan is two weeks older than Gary Oldman

maddiemookins16mum · 31/07/2023 21:28

The B side of David Soul’s number 1 hit ‘don’t give up on us baby’ was called Black Bean Soup.

Birdienumnumm · 31/07/2023 21:28

C1N1C · 31/07/2023 20:49

If you line up all the planets on the solar system, you could fit them between the Earth and the Moon.

Surely not.

Jewelanemone · 31/07/2023 21:28

FrangipaniBlue · 31/07/2023 21:22

@Jewelanemone it is also further west than Liverpool

But, but how can that be? (Goes off to find a map.)

AffIt · 31/07/2023 21:28

Usernamenotavailabletryanother · 31/07/2023 21:15

Dammit @AffIt 😂

Although I can’t find anything saying it has 21?

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I am so sorry, you're right - 20 platforms it is.

I'm not sure why my brain decided that I had once got the London train from platform 21 (some kind of false memory syndrome?).

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Edinburgh-Waverley-Map.pdf

DysmalRadius · 31/07/2023 21:27

Brad Pitt is older than Nigel Farage.

Charles Darwin grew the beard he is famous for to avoid being recognised.

Lincoln grew his beard on the advice on an 11 year old who wrote to him.