Thursday 15 July 2010

Interesting Facts

Here are some interesting facts I have gathered on my travels. They may or may not be true, but it is too much bother to try to find out:
*Chinese people use chopsticks because an emperor decreed they couldn't use spoons any more, as they were all getting indigestion.

*St Andrew's bones were moved from Patras to Kinrymont in the 4th century.

*The first recorded sighting of Nessie was by St Columba.

*The only sound that doesn't echo is a duck's quack.

*A policeman can't arrest you if he isn't wearing his helmet.

*The Saltire became the Scottish flag after a victorious Pictish army saw it in the sky prior to a battle with the Angles.

*The thistle became the Scottish emblem after a maurading army of Danes attempted a night attack on the camp of the Scottish king, and their yells of "ooyah!" on running through a field of thistles woke the camp and saved the day.

*The French revolution started because Marie Antoinette said "let them eat cake!"

*A revolution in a South American banana republic began when an opposition team scored a goal against the national team at football.

*Haggis can't run backwards, that's how you catch them.

*The kilt was invented by an Englishman.

*Horses sleep standing up.

*A student at Glasgow University in the 1980s spent his grant money on a package holiday and ate nothing but cheap pasta for the rest of term, resulting in him getting scurvy.

*Should the traffic cone ever be knocked off the Duke of Wellington statue in Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow shall fail.
Does anyone else know any interesting facts that they aren't 100% sure of but can't be bothered verifying?

2 comments:

Paul McMc said...

But that's what snopes.com is for! :)

Robert Craig said...

"woman in elevator falls to the ground when black man tells her to 'hit the floor'"

"bromide was administered to men in the trenches to dampen their libidos"

"the number of people alive today is greater than the number of people who have ever died"


And endless source of possibly untrue facts :)