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I'm frequently lost in Wikipedia holes and can't be the only one, so thought this thread could do as a repository for any fun facts us citizens of The Bovrilian Republic of Pie come across.

 

To get started, I just found out that the Golden Retriever dog breed originates from Glen Affric. Because of Scottish geography, they needed a dog equally adept at retrieving game from both land and water, ending up with what is now called the Golden Retriever.

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There has only been about a dozen people to appear twice on Top of the Pops on the same night with different songs. Steve Archibald is one of them.

In 1982 he first appeared with John Gordon Sinclair and the rest of the Scotland World Cup squad with I Have a Dream, then later in the show he was in the Spurs squad with Chas and Dave with Tottenham, Tottenham.

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5 hours ago, peasy23 said:

There has only been about a dozen people to appear twice on Top of the Pops on the same night with different songs. Steve Archibald is one of them.

In 1982 he first appeared with John Gordon Sinclair and the rest of the Scotland World Cup squad with I Have a Dream, then later in the show he was in the Spurs squad with Chas and Dave with Tottenham, Tottenham.

Just a shame that Chaz, Dave, Steve Archibald and Eminem never made a supergroup.

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6 hours ago, peasy23 said:

There has only been about a dozen people to appear twice on Top of the Pops on the same night with different songs. Steve Archibald is one of them.

In 1982 he first appeared with John Gordon Sinclair and the rest of the Scotland World Cup squad with I Have a Dream, then later in the show he was in the Spurs squad with Chas and Dave with Tottenham, Tottenham.

Tony Burrows is the only person to appear in three different groups in the same episode of Top of the Pops.  First as one of the singers for Brotherhood of Man (United We Stand), then apparently as one of the backing singers for White Plains (My Baby Loves Loving) where somebody else mimes the song to give him a break and then finally as the lead singer of Edison Lighthouse (Love Grows) which was at number 1.

The producers thought something fishy was going on so he was banned after that.

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6 hours ago, peasy23 said:

There has only been about a dozen people to appear twice on Top of the Pops on the same night with different songs. Steve Archibald is one of them.

In 1982 he first appeared with John Gordon Sinclair and the rest of the Scotland World Cup squad with I Have a Dream, then later in the show he was in the Spurs squad with Chas and Dave with Tottenham, Tottenham.

Splitting hairs but apparently there has been about 50 folk who have done that - I reckon Steve Archibald is the most noteworthy although Mike Batt would be a good shout appearing as himself and Orinocco (perhaps) from the Wombles is a close 2nd

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7 hours ago, hk blues said:

Splitting hairs but apparently there has been about 50 folk who have done that - I reckon Steve Archibald is the most noteworthy although Mike Batt would be a good shout appearing as himself and Orinocco (perhaps) from the Wombles is a close 2nd

Chris Spedding was a Womble.

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1. In the 1400s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.
Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.'
2. Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...
Ladies Forbidden'... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
3. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David,
Hearts - Charlemagne,
Clubs -Alexander the Great,
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
4. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'
5. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.
Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
6. Since 1966,England fans have said they are going to win the cup at the start of every football competition, hence the phrase ‘deluded twat’.

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12 hours ago, kilMARKnock said:


1. In the 1400s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.
Hence we have 'the rule of thumb.'
2. Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...
Ladies Forbidden'... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
3. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David,
Hearts - Charlemagne,
Clubs -Alexander the Great,
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
4. In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'
5. It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.
Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
6. Since 1966,England fans have said they are going to win the cup at the start of every football competition, hence the phrase ‘deluded twat’.

I'm pretty sure at least the first 3 are false. 

Here's my current favourite. 

Not only is Edinburgh further west than Bristol, but the western end of the Panama Canal is further east than the eastern end. 

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18 hours ago, HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows said:

Hannibal Lecture was originally meant to be played by Sean Connery.

Spock's half-brother Sybok in Star Trek 5 was also supposed to be played by Connery. They even named the planet in the movie after him (Sha Ka Ree). 

He dodged a bullet there, this film was utter mince.

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The seabird with the Latin name Puffinus Puffinus is the Manx Shearwater.
Which was called the Manx puffin in the 17th Century. 
The Hobby's Latin name is Falco subbuteo. The tabletop football game was named such after the creator's application to register the trademark Hobby was rejected.
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35 minutes ago, Cardinal Richelieu said:

Not only is Edinburgh further west than Bristol, but the western end of the Panama Canal is further east than the eastern end. 

Arisaig is the most westerly train station in Great Britain.

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18 hours ago, tamthebam said:

The seabird with the Latin name Puffinus Puffinus is the Manx Shearwater.

Which was called the Manx puffin in the 17th Century. 

Animals like the puffinus  puffinus , the lupus lupus and all of this ilk are known collectively as tautonyms , my personal favourite , however is the lowland gorilla , who rejoices in gorilla gorillla gorilla . 

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3 hours ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

Cass Elliot 32 died in Flat 12, 9 Curzon Place, Mayfair in 1974.

Four years later Who drummer Keith Moon died at the same address in the same room also aged 32.

If he ate the same sandwich I'm not surprised. 

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23 hours ago, HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows said:

Hannibal Lecture was originally meant to be played by Sean Connery.

Don't know how Bond could tell students about an army traversing the Alps with elephants.

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