USELESS AND GEEKY FACTS

DONNA GRIFFITH IS CREDITED WITH THE

LONGEST-RECORDED BOUT OF SNEEZING.

IT LASTED 978 DAYS, FROM JANUARY 1981

TO SEPTEMBER 1983

LES MISÉRABLES HAS A THREE-PAGE, 823-WORD

SENTENCE THAT IS DIVIDED BY NINETY-THREE

COMMAS, FIFTY-ONE SEMICOLONS, AND FOUR

DASHES. WHY? ACCORDING TO RUMOURS

SOMEONE SUFFOCATED FROM LACK OF OXYGEN

IN THE 1940'S JUST SHORT OF THE SEVENTY-THIRD

COMMA WHILE GIVING A DRAMATIC READING

FROM THE WORK

THE LARGEST CITY IN THE UNITED STATES

WITH A ONE-SYLLABLE NAME IS FLINT, MICHIGAN

THE FIRST MAN TO SAIL SOLO AROUND THE WORLD

WAS JOSHUA SLOCUM. WHAT’S SO INTERESTING

ABOUT THAT FACT, YOU ASK? THE MAN

COULDN’T SWIM TO SAVE HIS LIFE

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER BEGAN HIS TRANSITION

FROM AN ELITE BODYBUILDER INTO FILM SUPERSTAR

WHEN HE MADE HIS SCREEN DEBUT IN 1970 UNDER

THE NAME “ARNOLD STRONG” IN HERCULES GOES

BANANAS. YEP, ARNOLD HAS ALWAYS HAD A

GREAT SENSE OF HUMOUR

CHARLES DICKENS KEPT THE HEAD OF HIS BED

ALIGNED WITH THE NORTH POLE, BELIEVING THE

EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD WOULD PASS

LONGITUDINALLY THROUGH HIS BODY AND

ENSURE HIM A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

BLACK WAS THE ONLY COLOUR IN WHICH FORD

PRODUCED THE MODEL T. IT WAS THE ONLY COLOUR

AVAILABLE THAT WOULD DRY FAST ENOUGH TO

KEEP UP WITH THE PACE OF THE ASSEMBLY LINE

THE WORLD’S FIRST COFFEE SHOP OPENED IN

1554 IN CONSTANTINOPLE, CAPITAL OF THE

BYZANTINE EMPIRE. BUT IT WASN’T UNTIL 1683

THAT COFFEE WAS SERVED WITH MILK AND

SUGAR, AND A STRAINER WAS USED TO SEPARATE

THE GROUNDS FROM THE BEVERAGE