People Who Sleep Naked Have A Better Night’s Sleep  (and other crap I bet you didn’t know)

Now that I have your attention...

Since moving to England, there have been a few cultural adjustments, some societal compromises I needed to make. The most obvious was the weather. I had to learn pretty damn quickly that it didn't matter what the forecast, there was always, always a chance of rain.

Then, there was the desensitizing to that “C’ word that Brits like to drop more frequently than the chance of rain. To further flush out this Fun Fact, 94% of British people admitted to having talked about the weather in the past six hours.

And of course, the horror when it’s discovered that not only do I not have a football club (soccer for my North American friends) I support, I actually don't give a shit about the sport. 

But the one thing I’ve been able to climb on board with is their quizzes. Now for all those who have never attended a Quiz Night with me, my contribution to the team (other than getting us all into the Soho House) can be summed up with my knowledge of only two niche categories; 1970’s US Television Theme Songs or Fun Facts about Colin Firth Movies. But somehow I’ve managed to park my humiliation and every month I look forward to it. With this, my interest in useless trivia, shit that you’d never need to know unless you’re at a Quiz Night, has peaked. 

So Here’s My List of Unusual Facts (or almost facts)…

Stuff I’d like to see in a quiz, and not surprisingly, there’s not a single footballer mentioned anywhere.

  • Guinness estimates that 93,000 litres of beer are lost in facial hair each year in the UK alone. Why does this not surprise me? 

  • Although the British royal family may be the only royals the UK talks about (thank you Prince Andrew), there are 25 other royal families.

  • Spread across their lifetime, most people spend an average of one whole year sitting on the toilet. Men with reading material, this stat does not pertain to you. 

  • Guys who pose with dogs in dating apps are more likely to settle down. But beware of Dog-fishing, my girlfriends. Men who use dogs who aren’t their’s to lure the ladies.

  • A whopping 6.25% of all country songs written since 2000 have referenced trucks. To put that into context, it would take you 43 hours of non-stop listening, to hear them all! Truck Yeah! 

  • You can produce enough saliva to fill two bathtubs a year. 

  • The entire surface of your skin is replaced every month. That’s over 30,000 dead skin cells shed every minute. That does explain the dust. 

  • On average you fart enough in one day to fill a party balloon. However, if you love the British baked beans for breakfast scenario, I am guessing that number is significantly higher.

  • You’re shorter at night than you are in the morning.

  • If you put the world’s population of more than 7.5 billion and stand them shoulder-to-shoulder, they could all fit within the 500 square miles of Los Angeles. 

  • The hottest chili-pepper in the world, the weapon-grade Dragon’s Breath is so hot that it could potentially throw your body into a type of anaphylactic shock, burning your airways, closing them up, and killing you. 

  • The best place in the world to see rainbows is in Hawaii.

  • The Canary Islands are not named for the bird, but actually for another animal. As part of Spain, in Spanish, the area's name is Islas Canarias, which comes from the Latin phrase Canariae Insulae for "island of dogs.”

  • The longest place name in the world is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaung-ahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, New Zealand. It is 85 letters long. May you never need to spell it.

  • People who are currently alive today represent about 7% of the total people who ever lived.

  • All giant pandas in zoos around the world are the legal property of the Government of China and are rented out for approximately one million dollars collectively each year.

  • According to National Geographic, the world’s most typical person is right-handed, makes less than $12,000 per year, has a mobile phone, and doesn't have a bank account.

  • Facebook has more users than the population of the U.S., China and Brazil combined.  

  • Some cats are allergic to humans.

  • Tsundoku is the act of acquiring books and not reading them. I am guilty of this and I heard (didn't read) the Number 1 book that falls into that category is The Road Less Travelled. 

  • Maya Angelou was the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco.

  • Blood donors in Sweden receive a thank you note when their blood is used. 

  • An estimated 1 million dogs in the U.S. have been named the primary beneficiary in their owners' wills.

  • Sleep literally cleans your brain, flushing the harmful proteins and toxins that build up during the day. Saying that… genius Albert Einstein prided himself on getting 10 hours of sleep every night. 

  • The first sales pitch for the Nerf ball was “Nerf: You can’t hurt babies or old people!

  • When Canada's Northwest Territories considered renaming itself in the 1990s, one name that gained support was “Bob."

  • After OutKast sang "Shake it like a Polaroid picture," Polaroid released a statement: "Shaking or waving can actually damage the image.

  • The tin can was patented in 1810. The can opener however was not patented until almost 50 years later.

  • There are 71 streets in Atlanta with "Peachtree" in their name.

  • The inventor of Pringles, Fredric Baur, had his ashes buried in one of his cans.

  • In Switzerland, it's illegal to own only one guinea pig. 

  • Queen Elizabeth II has had over 30 corgis in her lifetime.

  • In 1930 the BBC reported there was no news, so they played piano music instead. Man, how nice would that be? 

  • Relative to their bodies, Chihuahuas have the biggest brain in the dog world.

  • In 2014, Tinder made its first match on the continent of Antarctica. Not surprisingly, both parties were research scientists.


And …my absolute favourite fun fact...

The annual number of worldwide shark bites is 10 times less than the number of people bitten by other people in New York.

So there you have it. My kind of quiz. So as my Quiz Buddies are now actively fact-checking this list, at least you can say you’re now a little more informed than you were three minutes ago.

You're welcome.