Believe or not – it’s true!

Sports fans have brains that are full of statistics, interesting stories and other snippets of information that are mostly useless – that’s unless it's pub trivia night!

Yet despite our endless thirst for sporting knowledge, there are many worthwhile anecdotes that will always fall through the cracks.

So, like a prospector from the gold rush-era, I’ve sourced these true sports-related facts, some of which you’ll probably never believe!

■ Tennis stars John McEnroe (pictured below right - who had received lessons from David Bowie) and Vitas Gerulaitis, played guitar on stage with Joe Cocker, Carlos Santana and Meatloaf at a charity concert in New York in August 1982.

■ US golfer Arnold Palmer (pictured below) appeared in the film Call Me Bwana with Bob Hope.

■ Jack Johnson, the first official black African-American heavyweight boxing champion, played the part of Othello on stage. Johnson was also refused to board the Titanic in 1912 because of his colour. In 1913 he was found guilty on several charges of immorality, including child abduction. He fled to Canada and then to Europe to escape imprisonment. He died in the USA in 1946, aged 68.

■ Every year since WW2, two teams, The Yule Logs and the Noel Bennett XI, have played each other at cricket in Brighton.

■ This is what former wrestling champion ‘Giant Haystacks’ used to eat and drink for breakfast: two pounds of steak, a pound of cheddar cheese, two loaves of bread, two pounds of mashed potatoes and ten pints of milk.

■ In 1955, American singer Johnny Mathis was ranked equal 85th in the world at the high jump, with a best jump of 6ft 5½ins.

■ Between his wedding ceremony and the reception, jockey Willie Carson sped off to Chester where he rode a winner before returning to his wife!

■American golfer Billy Casper – a practising Mormon fathered 11 children.

■ Jockeys John Francome and Lester Piggott (pictured right), tennis star Rosie Casals and singer Joe Brown (he of the Bruvvers fame) all smoked Havana cigars.