Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

What random pieces of trivia have you learned lately?

131 replies

DawdlingService · 17/01/2023 15:19

I just learned that Frankie Valli doesn't sing the lead on Oh What A Night. The drummer, Gerry Polci does, and what a voice he has, I'm not a Four Seasons fan so didn't question it but listening to it now it's really obvious that it's a different person.

What random things have you discovered lately?

OP posts:
OldTinHat · 17/01/2023 22:39

That the Palace of Westminster is the Houses of Parliament.

I feel very stupid not knowing that...shuffles off in shame...

ReviewingTheSituation · 17/01/2023 22:46

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 17/01/2023 22:23

The Mona Lisa doesn’t have any eyebrows.

I was worryingly old before I realised she’s wearing a hood/headdress. I thought it was her hair!

You can see her hair though. She is wearing a very thin veil, but you can see through it and see her parting and slightly wavy hair underneath it.

bluebeardswife7 · 17/01/2023 22:57

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 17/01/2023 19:51

I went to The British Museum in 21.

Very few British things in it

Largely, it's Stuff The British Stole Museum

What we stole on our holidays

WhatIsThisMadness999 · 18/01/2023 00:52

OneHundredOtters · 17/01/2023 18:26

That Margaret Thatcher invented Mr Whippy ice cream and Rodger Moore (claimed to have) invented the Magnum

That’s not true (thank goodness)
www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-margaret-thatcher-soft-serve-myth

AlwaysAReason · 18/01/2023 01:46

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 17/01/2023 22:23

The Mona Lisa doesn’t have any eyebrows.

I was worryingly old before I realised she’s wearing a hood/headdress. I thought it was her hair!

Me too now!

Kapalika · 18/01/2023 03:58

Not lately but thought I'd add it.
If you were able to sneeze with your eyes open, your eyeballs would fly out at 88 miles per hour.

Kapalika · 18/01/2023 04:03

OldTinHat · 17/01/2023 22:39

That the Palace of Westminster is the Houses of Parliament.

I feel very stupid not knowing that...shuffles off in shame...

@OldTinHat oh god, don’t feel embarrassed about that! I worked there for 11 years and majority of us were confused!

Kapalika · 18/01/2023 04:13

But can I just add, in general if you work for the House, it’s for employees of MPs or MPs/Ministers.
if you work within the Palace in general it’s not a political role. So anything from Hansard, security, Royal Mail, general Admin etc. Basically to keep the place running.

ItsRainingCatsAndDogsAgain · 18/01/2023 04:27

That the Iowa State Fair (in the USA) holds a Husband Calling Contest. Women of all ages compete to see who can holler for their husband best. Here's the one from 2021:

FineBerol · 18/01/2023 04:51

The Chupa Chups logo was designed by Salvador Dali

FineBerol · 18/01/2023 04:55

There are more water molecules in a glass of water than there are glases of water in the oceans

sashh · 18/01/2023 06:13

BreatheAndFocus · 17/01/2023 20:04

That the banana tree isn’t a tree at all, it’s actually a herb.

They also walk, sort of.

Delphinium20 · 18/01/2023 06:14

That braids that look the opposite of French braids are called Dutch braids.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 18/01/2023 06:51

MrsHGWells · 17/01/2023 22:31

a blue whales tongue is as heavy as an elephant, and their aorta vein is large enough for an adult to crawl through.

I think you must have had the same primary school text book as me!

donttalkaboutbookclub · 18/01/2023 08:42

FineBerol · 18/01/2023 04:51

The Chupa Chups logo was designed by Salvador Dali

That's amazing! Just googled it expecting something a bit more than it is, but still...Salvador Dali!

NewFoxOldTricks · 18/01/2023 09:17

IcakethereforeIam · 17/01/2023 18:43

If you hold your nose closed, you can't hum.

Yes, definitely pufflings, Iolo says so.

If you hold your nose closed, you can't hum.
Yes you can, it sounds different in your head, and you cant do it as long

pigsinoodies · 18/01/2023 09:41

JoonT · 17/01/2023 18:23

That everything is made of atoms, including the human body, yet atoms are mostly empty space. In other words, we are mostly nothing. We’re “ghosts,” as Marcus Chown puts it.

That we are made of atoms, but not the same atoms. When you celebrate your 70th birthday, your body is made out of completely different atoms to the ones that made you on your first day at school. The same is true of cells (well, 99% of them).

That a massive percentage of our cells aren’t human. We’re full of bacteria, but they aren’t ‘us’.

Our body is made of a combination of stardust and Big Bang dust. But the atoms in your right hand are made of atoms from a different star to those in your left hand.

I think you may need to research the last two paragraphs rather more thoroughly. 🤣

AffIt · 18/01/2023 10:04

ItsRainingCatsAndDogsAgain · 18/01/2023 04:27

That the Iowa State Fair (in the USA) holds a Husband Calling Contest. Women of all ages compete to see who can holler for their husband best. Here's the one from 2021:

This is wonderful. 😄

gravyriceandchips · 18/01/2023 18:07

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 17/01/2023 22:23

The Mona Lisa doesn’t have any eyebrows.

I was worryingly old before I realised she’s wearing a hood/headdress. I thought it was her hair!

I had no idea I thought it was her hair too!

aonbharr · 18/01/2023 23:55

gravyriceandchips · 17/01/2023 22:12

Omg. That is fascinating

Show quote history

And broccoli is actually poisonous. (but like cherry pits, you'd have to eat a shitload of it!)

BearingFalseWitness · 19/01/2023 00:40

The brain is 60% fat.

Aphrathestorm · 19/01/2023 19:18

Apple pips have cyanide in them.

Neverknowinglysensible · 19/01/2023 19:25

That Spam is the closest tasting legal foodstuff to human flesh…(according to my DSS).

Peradventure55 · 19/01/2023 19:25

Despite having lived in Wales for most of my adult life, have just realised the etymology of the word penguin comes from the Welsh.
Pen= head
Gwyn= white.

Sunset6 · 19/01/2023 19:49

The song “Girls just want to have fun” was originally sung by a man - Cyndi Lauper’s version is just a cover