To ask for your most useless fact?

[NotChrisTarrant]

Rather importantly, I’ve been named Christmas Quiz Master 2019.

This is a ridiculous tradition in our family to have the most bonkers quiz, names go in the hat for Quiz Master and this year I lost won!

So can you please share the most useless piece of information /fact you know?

I will beat the bastards this year. It’s my year!

Last year my sister had a quiz which consisted of us having to name that tune.... after she played it on a bleeding recorder. It was terrible and fantastic - yes there was lots of wine.

[TooManyPaws]

Why is Princess Charlotte of Cambridge unique?

She's the only British princess (so far) not to lose her place in the succession to a younger brother.

[m4rdybum]

That here in Wales, we call Father Christmas, Sion Corn.

Which literally translates to Chimney John

[scarecrowfeet]

Condoms were issued to British soldiers to keep their rifle barrels dry during the landings. Churchill insisted on them being labelled 'extra small'.

[scarecrowfeet]

Should say D day landings

[scarecrowfeet]

Passport no. 1 belongs to Prince Phillip

[TooManyPaws]

What were the surnames of Mary, Queen of Scots' Four Marys?
Beaton, Seton, Fleming and Livingston

The folk song 'Mary Hamilton' has the line "Mary Beaton and Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael and me" so likely to be what people think of.
The real Mary Hamilton was a waiting woman at the Russian court and, according to Wiki though I've heard it as the High Chamberlain - highest steward...., mistress to the Tsar. She was executed in the early 18th century for infanticide.

[emsmum79]

**Cleave is the only word in English with two diametrically opposed meanings.

Sanction is another word with opposing meanings.

[Grumpyunleashed]

Q = How long is the road Grumpyunleashed lives on?
A = Grumpy neither knows nor cares.

[fourquenelles]

The little knob on the side of a watch is the Crown, not the winder or other such words.

Learnt this just today.

[Vexorg]

When we supplied condoms, among other things, to Russia in WW2, Churchill had them made extra large. They came in boxes marked British Army Standard Size.

[highheelsandweathercocks]

The Battenburg cake was created in honour of the wedding of Queen Victoria's granddaughter Victoria to Prince Louis of Battenburg.

The four squares of the cake represent the four Battenburg prices. Prince Louis, Prince Alexander, Prince Henry and Prince Francis Joseph.

[Toooldtobearsed2]

@ Vexorg now that one I like😁

[Ali1cedowntherabbithole]

Cadburys Flakes don't melt

Yes they do 🤣

But I'm sure I've read that M&Ms were invented for a proper purpose. It's a shame I can't remember what.

[keeperofthetrolls]

"But I'm sure I've read that M&Ms were invented for a proper purpose. It's a shame I can't remember what."

A. To boost chocolate sales in the summer. Sales dropped as the chocolate would be warmer and melt quicker.

[Bananablueberry]

My best friends favourite fact ( we are history students)

There were 18 king Louis of France

[Badbilly]

This is a weird one, and will cause a few arguments, but is true.

Which planet, on average, is closest to Earth.

The answer is Mercury. In fact, on average (and that is the key term) Mercury is the closest planet to all the other planets in the solar system. It’s all about the different orbits of the planets, and the shape of these orbits, and their relationship to each other.

[Leah91]

What is the name for the earthy smell you get after it's rained? Petrichor.

[TeeniefaeTroon]

You only breathe out of one nostril at a time, this changes around about every 4 hours. Right now I'm breathing out of my right nostril, in a few hours it'll be out of my left nostril.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

The Flake one is sort of true — it won't melt in a microwave or a Bain Marie. It will melt pretty quickly in your mouth though.

It's to do with the arrangement of fat to cocoa solids in those very thin sheets of chocolate — the melting fat can't lubricate it, so the cocoa burns instead, then that carbon shields the internal chocolate even more.

[sashh]

To add tot he flake one

Only 2 foods melt with body heat, chocolate and ice cream.

Oh and the country with the largest area of PERMANENT snow is Australia. I put permanent in capitals because people miss that one.


A couple of brain teasers?

An electric train leaves London heading to Edinburgh at 62 miles an hour, at the same time an identical train leaves Edinburgh travelling at 65 miles an hour. At the point where they pass each other which direction does the smoke blow?

You can add all sorts of bits to that, the number of passengers, or make one a freight train, add a couple of stops and a crossing.

What is special about these words: job, polish?

Answer: They are pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalised.

[k1233]

The only 2 words with aeiou are wrong. Trying to think of a word (turns out it was austerity) and good ole abstentious pops into my head.

[Linguaphile]

I once read that half of your perceived life is already over by age 7. However, adjusting for the years when you don’t remember anything, it’s possible that the more realistic age is 18.

[custardbear]

@sashh Canada is larger than Australia and has all year round skiing, I'd hazard a guess that Russia has permanent snow also .. again larger than Australia all countries

[punnetofgrapes]

Whatjusthappenedthere Swap shop number is 0181 811 8055

[sashh]

@sashh Canada is larger than Australia and has all year round skiing, I'd hazard a guess that Russia has permanent snow also .. again larger than Australia all countries

I'm not talking about the total area of a country, I mean the area of snow in one country, so in Canada you can ski in Whistler and Tremblant but you can't ski from one to the other.