Useless facts. Share yours. No googling allowed.

ohmeohmy you are actually right about cockroaches and the post-apocalyptic world; they are actually the only species that would survive a nuclear holocaust. nice.

we are literally stardust - every atom from which we are made was created in the centre of stars and supernovae; only hydrogen and a small amount of helium was created in the Big Bang, all heavier elements are fused in the centre of stars and elements heavier than iron can only be created in the extreme temps and pressures of a supernova.

the dust clouds where new stars are forming are called stellar nurseries (i love the mental images this conjures up! )

many more astronomical useless facts if anyone wants them?!

The guillotine was last used in 1978 on a man who murdered his wife.

I'm typing this on a phone, please bear with!

'The same woman created Bliss Spa, Soap and Glory and fitflop'
I hate her.
My dad calls me 'the queen of crap' I cant however think of a useful fact at this time in the morning. Oh except for some reason:
If your car engine is overheating, turn the heat up to full and open all the vents and it will cool down enough to get you to a garage. Open the windows though or you will die of heat exhaustion.

Dogs have a third eyelid.

Edinburgh is further west than Liverpool and Bristol...

It will cost you just over £16 to stand up at a wedding and say you object to the nuptials.

If you can't pay the wedding goes ahead.

Cream and custard. Look on any map and see the longitudinal lines. There is overlap but Edinburgh city centre is definitely further west. Have won numerous bets with that. Glasgow is further west than Plymouth.

A fair number of vocal atheist Richard Dawkins' extended family are men of the cloth. I know this as one of my friends is married to one of his relatives - the Reverend Nigel Dawkins formally of the anglican chaplaincy in Yemen, now in Dubai due to the political unrest.

Pacific I grew up in Carlisle and I didn't know that! And I'm struggling to accept it

My fact is that you could have taken the tube to the last public hanging in Britain which was in 1868.

If you pour nail varnish remover onto a cigarette butt, it disintegrates and looks just like ejaculate.

But it doesn't ever wash out of clothes.

Edinburgh is further west than Carlisle

The word 'gay' used to refer to a woman of loose morals in Victorian times. Some people argue that Cary Grant originated the modern usage in the film Bringing Up Baby, when he dresses in a woman's negligée and says "just felt gay all of a sudden". That was in 1938.

Armadillos give birth to identical quadruplets.

2 is the smallest prime number and the only even prime.

Flour or icing sugar can be made to explode when mixed with air.

The probability of any land animal being fossilised is roughly 1 in 200 million.

When Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen, she wasn't crowned as Queen Consort but as Queen Regnant (ie as if she was the Queen like Elizabeth II is the Queen rather than just the King's wife).

Polar Bears are left handed.

William Shakespeare's 'real' name may not have been Shakespeare, it may have been Shakeshaft or something similar.

He was born on the same date that he died. (Shakey that is).

Jane Seymour was his favourite in so far as she produced a male heir and didn't cause him any aggravation by challenging him. Poor Jane Seymour...she was very highly educated and intelligent, but history remembers her for having a son, no more no less

BoffinMum - Cekoslavakyalilastiramadiklarimizdansiniz

That is the longest word I know. It means "You are one of those we couldn't turn into Czechoslovakians"

Wasn't Jane Seymour his favourite wife, the one who finally gave him a son and then died? I can't remember properly, I don't recall doing the Tudors since primary school! I do remember the rhyme about his wives though.
Divorced,
Beheaded,
Died,
Divorced,
Beheaded,
Survived.

August I bloody hope not! My sisters getting married 30th June next year and I said to my DP, "ooooh Poppy will be just over 1 by then!" and his reply was "She might not be!" He has no idea bless him :o

If I go 12 days overdue and have to be induced, it will be on fathers day, I was born on fathers day, I'd prefer to keep that tradition going if possible :o

Well Melly, if you want to keep the tradition going, you will just have to remain pregnant until August. Shouldn't be too difficult...
BTW, my useless amazing fact is that the HMV dog is called Nipper.

Edam, yes, Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr - Katherine of Aragon - annulled, Anne Boleyn and Katheryn Howard both had the marriages annulled begore their executions. I am a geek.

I hope not, I hate to sound horrible but it's my birthday! And also personally, I would hate to share my mums birthday

Melly19MummyToBeTue 07-Jun-11 08:42:45

Do you think this one will be born on the 16th as well? :)

Also, the thread is now in classics ;)

Pah! Purple and silver have made my fact redundant now :( Although I could argue purple, vimto made a word that rhymes with purple. It's shlurple. As in 'Shurple the Purple' :o

Horses and rabbits (and probably a few other animals that I don't know about) can't throw up.

It's illegal to beat your rugs outdoors before 8am in London