Fancy That!

Facts to make you go“WOW!”

◆ EDINBURGH CASTLE IS BUILT ON AN EXTINCT VOLCANO.

◆ Vehophobia is the fear of driving. ◆ GCHQ IS NICKNAMED THE DOUGHNUT, DUE TO ITS SHAPE.

◆ The world record for folding a piece of paper in half is 12 times. ◆ BRIGHTON MARINA IS THE LARGEST MAN-MADE MARINA IN EUROPE, COVERING A TOTAL OF 127 ACRES. BIRMINGHAM HAS MORE CANALS THAN VENICE, WITH A TOTAL 34 MILES OF WATERWAYS.

◆ 31 is the average age at which people stop celebrating their birthday, except in milestone years.

◆ HYDE PARK PICTURE HOUSE IN LEEDS IS BRITAIN’S LAST GASLIT CINEMA, AND DATES FROM 1914. ◆ During the 1800s, many London streets were paved with wood, because it was quieter than cobbles when cartwheels ran over them. Rubber roads were also tried out.

◆ THE BIG BEN CLOCK TOWER WAS THE LAST DESIGN BY ARCHITECT AUGUSTUS PUGIN BEFORE HE WENT MAD.

◆ Chuck Berry recorded his number one hit MyDing-A-Ling at a Coventry dance hall.

◆ BRIDGE TAKES ITS NAME FROM BIRITCH, WHICH WAS ALSO KNOWN AS RUSSIAN WHIST. ◆ The Germans have a tradition of knocking twice on a pub table before sitting down.

◆ KEITAI SHOUSETSU IS A JAPANESE LITERARY GENRE OF NOVELS WRITTEN ON MOBILE PHONES.

◆ In 2013, 198 HO-scale model trains pulled a real 84-ton locomotive a

distance of 39ft 4in. ◆ THE FIRST EVER GREGGS BAKERY OPENED IN GOSFORTH BACK IN 1951.

◆ The word hundred is derived from the Old Norse word hundrath, which actually meant 120.

◆ DUBLIN’S OLDEST KNOWN PUB IS THE BRAZEN HEAD, ESTABLISHED IN 1198. ◆ THE RADIO TIMES NAMED THE TOP 5 COMEDIES OF ALL TIME AS 1) FAWLTYTOWERS, 2) FATHERTED, 3) IAMALAN PARTRIDGE, 4) BLACKADDER, 5) DAD’SARMY.

The world’s biggest stick of rock was 19 feet long and weighed 70 stones.

◆ LUCOZADE WAS CALLED GLUCOZADE BETWEEN 1927 AND 1929. ◆ Cluedo was invented by Anthony E. Pratt in 1944, and was originally called Murder!

It takes seven years to paint Blackpool Tower Ababyisborn in the UK every 39 seconds Tierce,kilderkin, rundlet, puncheon and pin areall UK wine cask sizes The North Carr Lightship, launched in 1933, is the oldest British-built warship still afloat