random facts

[Bosscat]

The term "Mad as a Hatter" comes from the Millinery profession.

Mercury was used in the Felt industry.

Mercury poisoning of hat-makers – In 18th and 19th century England, mercury was used in the production of felt, which was commonly used in the hat-making trade at the time. Long-term use of mercury products often resulted in mercury poisoning-induced erethism among hat-makers.

In the late 19th-century United States, a notable example occurred in Danbury, Connecticut, where hat making was a major industry. Instances of erethism were so widespread among hat-makers, the condition became known locally as the "Danbury Shakes." It was characterized by slurred speech, tremors, stumbling, and in extreme cases hallucinations.

[Bosscat]

Long Preston is actually quite a short village.

You wouldn't want to push an Asthmatic Volvo through it though at 1 mile from Bridgend to Westend

[Volvoclaret]

Nor an automatic

[karatekid]

Barley is full.

[houseboy]

We all know there is no largest number but there is the googleplex. It is 1 followed by 10 to the power of 100 zeros. It would take more than the current lifetime of the universe to write it out at two digits per second. If written out in books of around 400 pages the mass of the books would be more than the mass of the universe. So although there is no ‘biggest’ number a googleplex is probably as big as you would ever need.

[houseboy]

Barley is full.

It was pretty busy on Saturday. But the cabin on the car park makes the best hot chocolate ever.

[NRC]

The largest French speaking city is not in France (nor Canada). It is Kinshasa in Congo

[NRC]

The country of Kiribati lies in all four hemispheres

[NRC]

how many islands does the UK have? You'll never guess this - it's 6,300! Which country has the most? Sweden, with 222,000

[JMU81]

The man who invented Vimto was from Blackburn

[ChrisG]

The country of Kiribati lies in all four hemispheres

On a similar note, New York City is on the same latitude as Madrid.

[ChrisG]

The man who invented Vimto was from Blackburn

As a Burnley born Old Blackburnian, I'm equally happy yet appalled at that fact.

[Silkyskills1]

Mama Cass and Keith Moon both died in the same hotel room. Not the same year though.

[fatboy47]

It was pretty busy on Saturday. But the cabin on the car park makes the best hot chocolate ever.

It sure does.. Lovely tasty stuff.
I've heard a rumour that they'll be serving it free of charge to anyone wearing a Burnley top next Sunday.

All day too. Too good to miss imo.

[Vintage Claret]

You can't eat 3 cream crackers in a minute without a drink of water

[GordonvaleClaret]

Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters mt.

"amt" as in "Ay amt gorrit".

[what_no_pies]

There are more people alive than dead

Nonsence.

[what_no_pies]

There are more people alive than dead

Nonsense.

[elwaclaret]

Nonsense.

To be fair that was believed to be true up to about 20 years ago, we’ve found quite a bit of pre-history since.

[Tricky Trevor]

On a similar note, New York City is on the same latitude as Madrid.

The Titanic hit the iceberg very close to that latitude. Which made me search for how far South an iceberg has been found. From the Arctic they have crossed the equator.

[CombatClaret]

On average, mercury is the closest planet to earth (and every other planet).

[Rick_Muller]

You can't eat 3 cream crackers in a minute without a drink of water

I can

[ClaretLoup]

William Shakespeare was born and died on the same date, April 23rd

[nonayclaret]

nothing rhymes with "purple"

[Guitargeorge]

In 1989, Pepsi owned a small navy. In fact they had as many submarines as India. This came about because they wanted to sell their product to the Soviet Union, but didn’t want payment in roubles, which were not traceable currency. So they accepted a number of obsolete warships and sold these on for scrap, thus finally receiving their payment.

[atlantalad]

Stretching your right arm over your right shoulder and down your back you can reach your left hand thrown behind you and up your back. You cannot achieve the reverse.

[Jjjack]

nothing rhymes with "purple"

No it doesn't.

[tiger76]

Nikola Tesla spoke 8 languages.

A Scotch egg isn't actually Scottish.

Haggis has been banned in the US since 1971.

[claret2018]

CS Lewis and Aldous Huxley died on the same day, but both were overshadowed as JFK died on this day too.

[claret2018]

When Ronald Reagan was shot in an assassination attempt in 1981 no one initially knew he had been shot as there was no blood. Secret service agent Jerry Parr suspected something was wrong so went against every rule in the book and took Reagan to the nearest public hospital as opposed to the private medical facility at the White House.

When they arrived at hospital they found a bullet lodged inside him and had Parr not made the decision to go to the hospital Reagan would have almost certainly died.

Jerry Parr had been inspired to become a secret service agent as a boy after watching the 1939 film “Code of the Secret Service”. The actor who portrayed the lead agent in the film was………. Ronald Reagan.

[Cirrus_Minor]

Florence Nightingale (the lady of the lamp) invented the pie chart.

Mike Nesmiths (Monkees) mother invented tipex.

[Buxtonclaret]

Nobody has ever proved Humpty Dumpty to be a bad egg. Or a good egg. Not even an egg at all.




And there's still no 'proper name' for the back of the knee.

[houseboy]

Stretching your right arm over your right shoulder and down your back you can reach your left hand thrown behind you and up your back. You cannot achieve the reverse.

Must be a myth. I used to do yoga and I used to do it both ways all the time. No physical reason to not be able to do it. Sorry.

[houseboy]

How to tell the difference between a man and a woman just looking at arms. A man’s elbow is roughly two thirds up his arm, giving him about two thirds forearm. A woman’s is roughly halfway. The increased leveridge is one reason why, generally, men are stronger.

[HiThere]

There's a "second brain" in your gut called the Enteric Nervous System. It's where 'gut feeling' comes from.

[Claret Toni]

The White House Chief of staff Donald Regan served under President Ronald Reagan.

[fidelcastro]

nothing rhymes with "purple"

Or orange.

[claretonthecoast1882]

nothing rhymes with "purple"

Gurgle

[bpgburn]

Or orange.

A tinge of Orange ?

[IanMcL]

When is "middle-aged."

According to Keith Waterhouse (a brilliant columnist in times past) he realised he was middle aged at a family gathering. He was asked to pass the sauce and realised, in that moment, that the Daddy picture on the sauce bottle resembled his son, not him!

[SalisburyClaret]

The fastest 100m run by someone over 100 years old is just over 28 seconds

[mkmel]

Elvis Presley was born with natural blonde hair which he had till his late teens.

He then started dyeing his hair black initially using black shoe polish

[Bosscat]

nothing rhymes with "purple"

Burple ...

Burple is a discontinued drink mix that was packaged in an expandable accordion-like plastic container. There were two sizes of Burple available, a lunchbox-size (8 oz) and a full-size (64 oz) container. It was distributed by Sundale Beverages of Belmont, California and sold mainly in the Midwest.

[gawthorpe_view]

nothing rhymes with "purple"

Curple, hind quarters of a horse.

[dsr]

Virginia State stretches further West than the state of West Virginia.

And if you head south from Detroit, the next country you reach is Canada.

[nonayclaret]

quite a few obscure things rhyme with purple!

[Woonderbah]

On average, a golf ball has 336 dimples

[Rick_Muller]

Stretching your right arm over your right shoulder and down your back you can reach your left hand thrown behind you and up your back. You cannot achieve the reverse.

I cannot achieve either!

[Aclaret]

Gary Newman is older than Gary Oldman.

[Fretters]

Vincent Kompany can slam a revolving door.