Wednesday, February 13, 2013

1,227 QI Facts to Blow Your Socks Off


John Lloyd, John Mitchinson & James Harkin

Faber & Faber - Hardback - $25.00


I bought this little gem at UBS Canterbury the other day and it has provided me with so much amusement.

Did you know that: cows moo in regional accents; the entire internet weighs less than a grain of sand; the dialling code from Britain to Russia is 007; potatoes have more chromosomes than human beings; the London Underground has made more money from its famous map than it has from running trains; Tintin is called Tantan in Japanese because TinTin is pronounced 'Chin chin' and means penis; the water in the mouth of a blue whale weighs more than its body; Scotland has twice as many pandas as Conservative MPs; Saddam's bunker was designed by the grandson of the woman who built Hitler's bunker; Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it is explicitly illegal in Britain to use a machinegun to kill a hedgehog.

But my favourite - Michael J. Fox's middle name is Andrew.

Some of the phobia's mentioned are interesting too: Metrophobia - fear of poetry, Nomophobia - fear of being out of mobile phone contact,  Lachanophobia - fear of vegetables

And I was able to tell my friend Derek who lives in London that in 1881 there were only six men in Britain called Derek!

A book crammed full of useless but totally entertaining information.

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