The first service animals were established in Germany during World War I, but references to service animals date back to the mid-16th Century.
100 Mind-Blowing During Facts
The British government coined the slogan “Keep Calm and Carry on” during World War 2 to motivate citizens to stay strong. Posters with the slogan were printed but never officially issued and were only unEarthed in 2000.
Hanna-Barbera pitched The Flintstones to networks for 8 weeks before it was finally picked up. It became the first-ever animated show to air during primetime.
For nearly 60 years, Texas didn’t have an official state flag between 1879 & 1933. During that time, the Lone Star flag was active, but the unofficial flag.
During WWII, a U.S. naval destroyer won a battle against a Japanese submarine by throwing potatoes at them. The Japanese thought they were grenades.
Gaming-related accidents increased by 26.5% during the first 5 months of Pokémon Go being released. This included 2 deaths and $25.5 million in damages.
During the 1908 Olympics in London, the Russians showed up 12 days late because they were using the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar.
There is a Scottish tartan designed for Mars exploration. It was officially registered in 2016 to be worn during Mars science, exploration, and outreach activities.
During the entire run of Gilligan’s Island, it was never revealed if “Gilligan” was his first or last name.
Roselle, a guide dog, led her blind owner down 78 flights of stairs during 9/11. The descent took about an hour, and they both safely made it out.
During a conversation, each speaker’s “turn” averages 2 seconds, and the pause in between is only 200 milliseconds. That figure is nearly universal.
During the Second World War, German tank drivers would drive their vehicles over camel droppings, thinking it would bring them good luck.
Nutella was invented during WWII when an Italian pastry maker mixed hazelnuts into chocolate to extend his chocolate ration.
A woman faked her entire tragedy and the loss of her husband during the 9/11 attacks and became President of the Support Network in New York.
Abraham Lincoln loved cats and once let one eat from the table during a formal White House dinner.
During the first live iPhone presentation, Steve Jobs had to frequently switch phones behind his desk. Otherwise, it would run out of RAM and crash.
Your tonsils can grow back if there is tissue left behind during the removal process. Sometimes it’s accidental; other times, it’s left on purpose.
Daniel Radcliffe had the same stunt double for the first six Harry Potter movies – until the double was paralyzed from an accident on set during the filming of the 7th movie.
During the Aztec reign, a slave could be bought for 100 cocoa beans.
During the cremation process of a 500-pound body, the corpse was so obese that it set the crematorium on fire.
It was Nicholas Cage who first advised Johnny Depp to pursue a career in acting during the mid-1980s.
Frederick Douglass was the most photographed man of the 19th Century. He wanted to ensure an accurate depiction of Black Americans during the Civil War.
During the Prohibition era, the U.S. Government allowed Whiskey to be sold through pharmacies. As a result, Walgreens grew from 20 retail stores to almost 400.
During 9/11, some fighters took off without live ammo, knowing that to stop the hijackers, the pilots might have to crash their fighters into the planes.
Due to the paralytics administered, if you wake up during surgery, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell anyone.
Most catfish are normally active at night; however, the Peppered Cory Catfish is active more often during the day.
The British tried to invent a ship made out of wood pulp and ice during World War II. Called Project Habakkuk, it was shelved due to costs.
During World War II, the very first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
Giraffes are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than people. True, there are only five well-documented fatal lightning strikes on giraffes between 1996 and 2010. However, due to the population of the species being just 140,000 during this time, it makes for about 0.003 lightning deaths per thousand giraffes each year. This is 30 times the equivalent fatality rate for humans.
Identical twins don’t have the same fingerprints. You can’t blame your crimes on your twin, after all. This is because environmental factors during development in the womb (umbilical cord length, position in the womb, and the rate of finger growth) impact your fingerprint.
Chainsaws were first invented for childbirth. It was developed in Scotland in the late 18th Century to help aid and speed up the process of symphysiotomy (widening the pubic cartilage) and removal of disease-laden bone during childbirth. It wasn’t until the start of the 20th Century that we started using chainsaws for woodchopping.
Football players spit so much because exercise increases the amount of protein in saliva. When you exercise, the amount of protein secreted into the saliva increases. A protein mucus named MUC5B makes your saliva thicker when you’re exercising which makes it more difficult to swallow so we tend to spit more. It may occur during exercise because we breathe through our mouths more. MUC5B could activate to stop our mouths from drying out, therefore.
Interesting facts aren’t just nice to have in your back pocket, but they can help foster a sense of connection with others, spark curiosity during a boring dinner conversation and even help you break past small talk on a first date. Get ready to show off your trivia prowess with one or more of the below fun facts across categories like food, travel, history, science, music and more. Be sure to bookmark this page for your next trivia night, and share it with your fellow fun fact obsessives. Dr Pepper was founded in Waco, Texas, by a pharmacist, in 1885, making it the oldest big soft drink brand in the country, per Southern Living.
The O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, Wisconsin, makes 7,000 Kringles a day during the holiday season and has made landfall in all seven continents. A Kringle is Wisconsin’s State Pastry, originally hails from Northern Europe and is a sweet variation on a pretzel.
You can visit or stay in the “Scandal Room” (originally room 214) at The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., where E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy communicated with burglars via radio during the 1972 Watergate break-in.
The Philippines consists of 7,641 islands. The Philippines is an archipelago, which means it’s made up of a group of islands—7,641 islands, to be exact. That figure does not include the thousands of sandbars and other landforms that emerge during low tide.
A one-way trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway involves crossing 3,901 bridges. Not only is the Trans-Siberian Railway the longest railroad in Russia, but it’s also the longest one in the world. The journey takes seven days, during which time passengers pass through eight different time zones and cross 3,901 bridges.
Professional athletes used to perform in vaudeville during the off-season. Before today’s big-league salaries, professional baseball and football players often had to take on jobs during the off-season, The Atlantic reports. Some of them took advantage of their name recognition and hit the vaudeville circuits, doing everything from comedy routines to reciting poems. Babe Ruth even sang—if you could call it that. Frankly, many of the athletes had no business being on stage, but it’s not like it was against the rules.
Kleenex tissues were originally intended for gas masks. When there was a cotton shortage during World War I, Kimberly-Clark developed a thin, flat cotton substitute that the army tried to use as a filter in gas masks. The war ended before scientists perfected the material, so the company redeveloped it to be smoother and softer and then marketed Kleenex as facial tissue instead.
The Eiffel Tower can grow more than six inches during the summer. The high temperatures make the iron expand.
An employee at Pixar accidentally deleted a sequence of Toy Story 2 during production. Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar, wrote in his book, Creativity Inc., that the year before the movie came out, someone entered the command ‘/bin/rm -r -f *’ on the drive where the files were saved, and scenes started deleting. It would have taken a year to recreate what was deleted, but luckily another employee had a backup of the entire film on her laptop at home.
A waffle iron inspired one of the first pairs of Nikes. Bill Bowerman was a track and field coach in the 1950s who didn’t like how running shoes were made. He first created the Cortez shoe but wanted a sneaker that was even lighter and could be worn on a variety of surfaces. During a waffle breakfast with his wife in 1970, he came up with the idea of using the waffle texture on the soles of running shoes. Waffle-soled shoes made their big debut in the 1972 U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Uncle Ben’s rice was air-dropped to World War II troops. German chemist Erich Huzenlaub invented a process of parboiling rice to keep more nutrients in the rice and lessen the cooking time. The “Huzenlaub Process” had another unexpected benefit: It stopped bug infestations. The quick-cook, bug-free rice was a big advantage during World War II, and converted rice (as it was then known) was air-dropped to American and British troops. After the war, the company rebranded itself and became Uncle Ben’s Original Converted Brand Rice, named after one of the company’s best rice suppliers. The product hit grocery store shelves in 1947.
170-year-old bottles of champagne were found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The bottles of bubbly are believed to have been travelling from Germany to Russia during the 1800s when they sank to the bottom of the sea, according to New Scientist. It turns out that the bottom of the sea, where temperatures are between two and four degrees Celsius, is a great place for wine ageing. Wine experts sampled the champagne and described it as “sometimes cheesy” with “animal notes” and elements of “wet hair.” Mmm.
Irish bars used to be closed on Saint Patrick’s Day. You might associate Saint Patrick’s Day with wearing green and drinking so much you think you see leprechauns. But until 1961, there were laws in Ireland that banned bars from opening on March 17. Since the holiday falls during the period of Lent in the heavily Catholic country, the idea of binge drinking seemed a bit immoral.
Martin Luther King Jr. got a C in public speaking. The world remembers Dr. King as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, and people often quote his “I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered in 1963. Yet more than a decade before that legendary speech, while attending Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, he earned a C in public speaking during his first and second terms.
Adult cats are lactose intolerant. Like some humans, adult cats don’t have enough the lactase enzyme to digest lactose from milk, causing them to vomit, have diarrhea, or get gassy. Cats only have enough of that enzyme when they’re born and during the early years of their lives.
A one-armed player scored the winning goal in the first World Cup. Héctor Castro, who accidentally cut off his right forearm while using an electric saw as a teenager, played on the Uruguay soccer team during the first-ever World Cup in 1930. In the last game between Uruguay and Argentina, Castro scored the winning goal in the last minute of the game. The final score was 4–2, making Uruguay the first country to win the World Cup title.
The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona. The Spanish city thought the design was too ugly, so Gustave Eiffel pitched it to Paris instead, as a temporary landmark during its 1889 International Exposition. French critics didn’t like it much either though.
British military tanks are equipped to make tea. There’s a boiling vessel inside so the crew can make tea and coffee anytime—including during battle. How frightfully English.
The Eiffel Tower can be 15 cm taller during the summer, due to thermal expansion meaning the iron heats up, the particles gain kinetic energy and take up more space.
During the 2024 Summer Olympics, four sports made their debut. Climbing, breaking, skateboarding, and surfing.
Video games help surgeons perform better. According to a 2007 study, surgeons who play certain video games at least 3 hours a week performed 27% faster with 37% fewer errors during surgery.
The name for the Pringles shape is a hyperbolic paraboloid. The saddle shape of a Pringles chip is known in math as a hyperbolic paraboloid. Pringles were made in this shape because it allows the chips to be stacked easily and kept in place during packageing.
Tea bags were an accidental invention. When Thomas Sullivan distributed tea samples in small, silk bags in 1908, his customers dunked them in water – bag and all. Now, this seems like the normal thing to do – but this was during a time when you could only drink tea through big strainers. From Sullivan’s samples, the conventional tea bag was born.
Herring fish communicate by farting. When herring fish release gas, the bubbles they produce make a high-frequency sound that only herring can hear. The fish use this noise to arrange themselves into “protective shoals” during the night to keep them safe from predators.
During the first 5 months of Pokémon Go, gaming-related accidents increased by 26.5%. People may joke about Pokemon Go bringing world peace, but the game was doing quite the opposite. Upon the first few months of its release, Pokemon Go-related casualties included 2 deaths and $25.5 million in property damages.
Hershey’s Kisses were named after the kissing sound, the chocolate makes on the conveyor belt. Before discovering this fun fact, I thought Kisses were named after the shape your mouth makes when you place the chocolate on your lips, tip-first. However, Hershey’s is named for the sound it makes during the manufacturing process. A machine squirts the chocolate mixture onto the conveyor with a “kiss” sound. Another Hershey’s fun fact? The paper-strip plume on top of Hershey’s Kisses is trademarked.
It takes 142.18 licks to reach the centre of a Tootsie Pop. The Tootsie Pop was created in 1931 and was a popular staple during the Great Depression because of its cheap price. The more you know, right?
Human birth control pills work on gorillas. During an experiment conducted on four captive gorillas, scientists observed a difference in behaviour. Peak sexual behaviour was observed during menstruation rather than after.
During World War II, the Oscar awards were made of painted plaster. The prestigious Oscar awards were made of painted plaster for three years following the metal scarcity of WWII. After the war, the Academy offered to replace the plaster figures with gold-plated metal ones.
Napoléon Bonaparte’s penis was stolen. Posthumously, if that makes it any better. The genitalia were removed from his body by his doctor during the autopsy. Allegedly, it was given to a priest in Corsica. However, his junk was not properly preserved, so now it has been compared to dried leather and beef jerky. It was first displayed in a museum in 1927. Currently, the daughter of a urologist (who bought it for US$3,000 to keep under his bed) keeps it. Bids for the shrivelled genitalia have reached US$100,000.
Cats sleep for ⅔ of their lives. People have a love-hate relationship with cats. It’s somewhat understandable since cats tend to be the exact opposite of the warm, eager demeanour loved by many in dogs. Another stark difference is that cats spend a lot of time asleep. Like, a 15-hour average is kind of a lot. Cats sleep mostly during the day and only become active around twilight.
During WWI, Kotex was first manufactured as bandages. No, they didn’t use the pads. However, the material used for these bandages (cellucotton) was what eventually became the first Kotex pad in 1919.
A single lightning bolt has enough energy to toast 100,000 slices of bread. One typical lightning strike could power a 1000-watt, 2-slice toaster for 84,000 minutes. During this time, you could make around 100,000 slices of toast.
Arnold Schwarzenegger once forgot to take off the Terminator look. During a break in filming Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger went to a restaurant in downtown L.A. to get lunch. However, he realized too late that he was still in Terminator makeup – missing eye, exposed jawbone, burned flesh, and all.
Brendan Fraser almost died filming The Mummy. During a scene where his character is hanged, Fraser nearly loses his life on the set of The Mummy. According to co-star Rachel Weisz, Fraser had to be resuscitated after the botched hanging scene.
Arnold Schwarzenegger practised with guns every day for a month to prepare for The Terminator. To achieve the mechanical motions of The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger worked with guns daily for an entire month. During the first two weeks of filming, he practised stripping and reassembly while blindfolded until he was able to do it robotically and with both hands. He also practised using different weapons without blinking or looking at them when reloading.
A pig was once held in trial for the death of a child. During the Middle Ages, it was normal for animals to be tried for human crimes. In 1386, a pig was even arrested for injuring a child. When the child died, the pig was placed on trial which ruled the pig’s public execution.
The design for the seatbelts we use now was given away by Volvo. Before 1966, seatbelts were not mandated. During this period, seatbelts just secured the lap but offered no upper-body protection. When Nils Bohlin of Volvo invented the three-point seatbelt design, he gave away the patent for free to keep drivers safe.
Our sense of smell and taste decreases by 20%-50% during flights. Because of the lack of humidity and pressure in high altitudes, our sense of taste and smell weakens.
Kleenex tissues were supposed to be for gas masks. During a cotton shortage in World War I, Kimberly-Clark devised a thin, flat cotton substitute to use as a filter for army gas masks. However, the war ended before scientists could perfect the material. In turn, the company constructed a thinner and softer material that eventually became Kleenex tissues.
The Eiffel Tower grows during the summer. In the summer heat, the high temperatures make the Eiffel Tower’s iron expand up to 6 inches.
A waffle iron inspired one of the first iconic Nike shoes. Nowadays, running shoes have a wide range of different technology and materials. However, that wasn’t the case back in the 1950s. Bill Bowerman of Nike wanted to make a lighter running shoe that could be worn on different surfaces. As such, the idea of using a waffle texture sole came to him during breakfast with his wife. Check out the waffle sole on the recently retired Nike Tailwind ‘79.
Brad Pitt injured his Achilles heel while playing Achilles. In the historic hit Troy, Pitt played the Greek hero Achilles. However, he might have gone too deep in character: he injured his Achilles heel tendon during a battle scene, which took 2 months for him to recover from.
A one-armed player scored the winning goal in the first World Cup. Héctor Castro played for the Uruguay soccer team during the first-ever 1930 World Cup. In the last round between Uruguay vs Argentina, Castro scored a last-minute goal that made Uruguay the first-ever winner of the World Cup.
Super Mario Land was the most popular game on the Game Boy during its release. It is also the first platform where the Mario games were released. To this day, Super Mario Land continues to be one of the highest-ranked games loved by retro gamers.
Rudolph the Reindeer is female. This can be observed through their antlers. Female deer shed their antlers in the spring and grow them back to full size by winter. The male reindeer stops its growth during the winter.
Pubic hair lives for about 3 weeks long. Pubic hair also indicates if the human body is ready for reproduction. It also protects the genital area during reproduction.
Children’s book author, Roald Dahl was a spy. To be more precise, he was an agent for the British Security Coordination. He was tasked to gather intel during the Second World War.
NASCAR drivers lose weight while racing. Because of the high temperatures during a race, the average driver can lose up to 10 pounds worth of weight by sweating. A racecar regularly reaches temperatures of 170 degrees despite the built-in ventilation.
Indians read the most in the world. On average, they spend 10 hours more of their time during the week just reading. In the age of digital media, this country still prefers an old-fashioned book rather than their phones.
Leeches were used to predict the weather. This was a common practice during the Victorian era. However, further research proved that this type of prediction method was not reliable.
The ‘?!’ punctuation mark has a term. It is called an interrobang and was invented during the 1960s. This combination of punctuation made it easy for advertisements to express emotional questions. The interrobang originally looked like both marks were overlapped (‽).
American Airlines saved money by getting rid of olives from their meals. About three decades ago the airline started looking into ways how to save money. They started by removing a single olive on their first-class meals which led to an annual savings of $40,000 during the 1980s.
North Korean teachers were required to play the accordion. This musical instrument is also known as the “people’s instrument” due to its convenient size suitable for taking to marches. Students from all schools in the country are required to learn them. This explains why teachers need to pass an accordion exam before they get their teaching licenses during the 1990s.
Alan Shepard played golf on the moon. He is also the one and only person to play golf on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission. His second shot travelled further than 200 yards.
Kummerspeck is German for the weight gained during emotional eating. This vaguely translates to ‘grief bacon’. In some languages, this German term is said to add insult to injury.
David Bowie helped topple the Berlin Wall. During a performance in 1987, Bowie’s performance of ‘Heroes’ near the Reichstag could be heard by the police in East Berlin. This resulted in a police crackdown because such music was forbidden there. Some say that the violent police crackdown during the concert was a necessity in changing the mood against the state.
Many pets from the U.S. run away on July 4th. This is highly due to their fear of fireworks during America’s Day of Independence.
Monty Python is one of the most requested songs for funerals in England. ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ is a common favourite during funeral services. This song was originally from the comedy classic Life of Brian.
The KKK was taken down with help from Superman. A 16-episode series titled’ The Adventures of Superman’ was aired on the radio during the 1940s. This series incorporated the findings that activist Stetson Kennedy had been able to get while undercover in the KKK.
A man was once saved by a sea lion. During a suicide attempt, a man by the name of Kevin Hines survived jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. However, during his jump, he had broken his back thus causing him to drown. A nearby sea lion witnessed this and swam beneath the man to keep him afloat until the coast guards arrived.
The inventor of the frisbee became a frisbee himself. During the 1950s, Steady Ed invented the frisbee, and later on the sport of disc golf in the 70s. He dedicated his life to frisbees and it was stated in his final testimonials that he wished to have his ashes turned into a frisbee itself. This was so that he would be able to play with his son even when he wasn’t around.
People used to answer the phone with “ahoy”. Back during the 1800s phone greetings were inspired by the Simpsons when Mr. Burns would pick up the phone with “Ahoy-hoy”. Thomas Eddison, however, wanted users to use ‘Hello’ instead. We know who won that argument.
Billy goats urinate on their heads to become more attractive. This is one of the many strange mating rituals that occur on the animal planet. Generally, they do this during the summer through fall.
Movie trailers were originally shown after the movie. Trailers were first introduced during the 1910s, hence the name. But now modern marketing finds that it is more efficient for trailers to play before a film rather than after.
Queen Elizabeth is a trained mechanic. During her time as a princess, she was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during WWII. This also makes her the only member of the Royal family to have served in the military.
If a body is too obese, it can cause complications when being cremated. A crematorium in Cincinnati was once set on fire during the cremation process of a 500-pound body. The body caused the fire to enlarge and spread to nearby containers which eventually set the entire place ablaze.
St. Lucia is the only country that is named after a woman. The French named this country after Saint Lucy of Syracuse. Lucy was a Christian martyr who had died during the time of the Diocletianic Persecution.