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MI6 did, in fact, employ a spy named James Bond.
In 1964, James Albert Bond was sent to Warsaw to collect military secrets from behind the Iron Curtain.
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The average person swears 80-90 times a day.
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According to a 2000 poll, the Japanese believe their greatest invention of the 20th century was the instant noodle.
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Be pleasant until ten o'clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself. ELBERT HUBBARD 1856-1915
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Ecstasy was patented in 1913 as a diet pill.
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Word of the day: ARSLE - to move backwards.
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A study showed that mosquitoes in the Central, Victoria, and Bakerloo lines of the Tube are genetically different from each other. According to the researcher, the only way for them to get genetically mixed would be ‘for all of them to change trains at Oxford Circus station’.
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From 1912 to 1948, when art competitions were a part of the Olympic Games, three sculptors received Olympic medals for the medals they had created.
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In 12th-century Milan, many politicians had surnames starting ‘Caga’ or ‘Caca’, i.e. ‘shit’. For instance, Gregorio Cacainarca (Gregorio the Shit-In-a-Box); Arderico Cagainosa (Arderico the Shit-In-Your-Pants); and Girardo Cagapisto (Girardo the Shit-Pesto). (h/t @ProfSimonton)
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According to a recent Russian law, it’s only ‘champagne’ if it is produced in Russia. Otherwise — and even if it comes from the Champagne region of France — it’s just ‘sparkling wine’.
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Bats give birth upside down and catch their babies in their wings.
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If a dog jumps up into your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer. ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD.
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Psychopaths tend not to procrastinate.
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Soccer was originally ‘socca’ – a late 19th century Oxbridge slang term created by shortening the Association in ‘Association football’ to distinguish it from ‘rugger’ (rugby football).
(Image: Christopher Bruno)
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The political terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ date back to the physical layout of the French National Assembly during the early stage of the Revolution in 1789: supporters of the king were ranged to the right of the presiding officer and their revolutionary opponents to the left.
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Sharks (or shark-like creatures) appear in the fossil record before trees.
(Image: Albert kok)
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There is evidence that Greenland sharks can live as long as 500 years, meaning some older specimens might have been born during the reign of Henry VIII.
(Image: Hemming1952)
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Phrase of the Day: ‘avoir le cul entre deux chaises’ (French) - to be torn by a dilemma (literally ‘to have one’s arse between two chairs’).
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A 2015 study found that cheese can trigger a response in the same brain receptors activated by heroin. (Image: Christian Bauer, CC-BY-2.0)
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To protect itself from parasites while it sleeps, the parrotfish encases itself in a bag of mucus burped from its gills. (Image: RobertoCostaPinto, CC-SA-4.0)
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A church clock in Worsley, Manchester strikes thirteen each day. The Duke of Bridgewater supposedly had it made in the 18th century to stop workers extending their lunch breaks, as 13 strikes at 1pm was much harder to miss than a single one.
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Word of the Day: VOCABLES - words that convey sound, such as ‘lalala’ or ‘dum-de-dum’, or meanings that make sense within a particular culture, such as ‘uh-huh’ or ‘uh-oh’.
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Word of the day: PENELOPISING - to deliberately delay finishing a task to avoid something else, as Penelope in the Odyssey
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"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning." BILL WATTERSON
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According to a leading 2021 study, it's coming home.
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves