1
The number of museums dedicated to strawberries (it’s in Belgium).
1
The number of foods that astronauts do not have to treat and dehydrate before eating when flying in space (pecans).
1
The number of museums dedicated to penises (it’s in Iceland).
1
The number of inanimate symbols in the zodiac (Libra, the Scales).
2
The number of times a Punch and Judy performer has to have swallowed his swazzle before he can consider himself a professor.
2
The number of people in the US Baseball Hall of Fame who had nothing to do with baseball – i.e they didn’t play, coach, own a team etc. (Abbott and Costello).
3
The number of years in jail to which Juan Bernaus was sentenced in Argentina for switching the ‘Ladies’ and ‘Gents’ signs round on public toilets.
3
The number of times the Pepsi-Cola Company was declared bankrupt in its infancy.
3
The number of teeth Stalin had left when he died.
4
The number of sandwiches Charles Lindbergh took with him on his famous transatlantic flight.
4
Alice Johnson, a 23-year-old American waitress, won a car in Santa Fe after kissing it for 32 hours and twenty minutes in a 1994 competition. She loosened four teeth in the process.
4
In 1997, Robert Brett, a Californian who wasn’t allowed to smoke at home, left his entire fortune to his wife provided that she smoked four cigars a day for the rest of her life.
5
Disneyworld is bigger than the world’s five smallest countries.
5
The number of magic beans in Jack and the Beanstalk.
5
The number of children Ralph and Carolyn Cummins had between 1952 and 1966 – all of whom were born on 20 February.
5
The number of years it took Marva Drew of Iowa, US, to type all the numbers from one to one million.
6
The number of men shaved in one minute by champion barber Robert Hardie in 1909.
6
The number of months an outbreak of contagious laughter in Tanganyika lasted for in 1962 (it caused schools to be closed).
6
The number of people who were taken to hospital after a rocket fired from a bonfire organized by the Orpington Liberal Club landed on people attending the Orpington Conservative Club’s bonfire.
Ten-gallon hats only hold about six pints of water.
6
The percentage of Beatles autographs in circulation that are reckoned to be genuine.
7
The number of people who have gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survived.
8
In 1992, Frank Perkins of Los Angeles made an attempt on the world flagpole-sitting record. Suffering from flu he came down eight hours short of the 400-day record. Just to make things even worse, he then discovered that his sponsor had gone bust, his girlfriend had left him and his phone and electricity had been cut off.
9
The number of hexagonal pencils that can be made with the same wood it takes to make eight round pencils.
9.17
The greatest distance in metres anyone has spat a dead cricket from their mouth.
10
The percentage of all European babies estimated to have been conceived on Ikea beds.
The number of hours Albert Einstein slept every night.
11
In the 1994 World Cup, Bulgaria fielded a team in which all 11 players’ last names ended with the letters ‘ov’.
11
The number of points on Kermit the Frog’s neck collar.
11
The lowest whole number not mentioned in a single Beatles song.
12
In the 1820s, people believed that travelling by trains at a speed of more than 12 mph would cause mental problems.
12
The number of centimetres the giant water lily grows every day.
14.5
In 1994, Mars took out full page ads in newspapers announcing their ‘New Biggest Ever Mars’. The ‘Emperor’-sized Mars bar was 14.5 kg of ‘thick chocolate, glucose and milk’ but it was only ‘on sale’ for one day: 1 April.
18
The number of bicycles eaten by the Frenchman Michel Lotito (he also ate 15 supermarket trolleys, six chandeliers, two beds and a pair of skis).
The percentage of Nobel Prize-winners who are/were Jewish or of Jewish ethnicity.
22
The number of children fathered by Siamese Twins Chang and Eng Bunker.
23
The percentage of photocopier faults caused by people photocopying their buttocks.
30
The length in metres of the world’s longest limousine (it has a built-in swimming pool and costs more than $5,000 a day to rent).
36
The toll paid in cents, in 1928, when Richard Halliburton swam the Panama Canal.
37
Surgeons who spent at least three hours a week playing computer games made 37% fewer mistakes in surgery than surgeons who didn’t.
44
The number of ways – according to Swiss scientists – to build an Ikea wardrobe without the instructions (though only eight of these ways will result in a correct and safe construction).
50
The percentage of all lingerie purchases returned to the store.
The percentage of the world’s population that has seen at least one James Bond movie.
53
The number of hours Marge Simpson was in labour with Bart.
54
The length in miles of Fifteenmile Creek.
62
The percentage of all email that is spam.
65
The percentage of Elvis impersonators who are of Asian descent.
78
The record number of kisses Adrian Chiles received in one minute (air kisses didn’t count).
80
The estimated percentage of time capsules that will be lost before they get the chance to be opened.
85
While in Alcatraz, Al Capone was inmate #85.
97
The percentage of Canadians who said that they would not borrow a toothbrush if they forgot to pack their own.
97
The weight in pounds (equivalent to 44 kg) of the weakling in the Charles Atlas ads who got sand kicked in his face.
The number of seconds it took a team of three people to open 300 beer bottles.
112
The length of a metal coat hanger, in centimetres, when straightened.
150
The number of calories used per hour by banging your head against a wall.
174
The number of cats eaten in a year by Charles Domery.
178
The number of legs in the song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ (1 partridge, 2 doves, 3 hens, 4 colly birds, 6 geese, 7 swans, 8 maids with a cow each, 9 ladies, 10 lords, 11 pipers and 12 drummers).
225
The number of different ways the Dutch town of Leeuwarden can be spelled.
254
The number of expired American Express cards that went into the making of the American Express Gold-card dress worn at the 67th Academy Awards by costume designer Lizzy Gardiner.
600
The number of different ways to make love according to the Marquis de Sade.
603
The number of years before the creation of Diet Coke that a girl born in West Riding, Yorkshire, was named Diot Coke. Coke was a corruption of ‘Cook’, and ‘Diot’ was a diminutive of Dionisia.
950
The number of times a sixty-eight-year-old South Korean woman took her written driver’s test before passing it in November 2009.
1,313
Donald Duck lives at 1313 Webfoot Walk, Duckburg, Calisota.
2,354
Two of the Basque Separatist ETA members convicted of the 1987 Zaragoza Barracks bombing were each sentenced to 2,354 years in prison.
5,000
The number of crocodile skins Australia exports annually from its crocodile farms.
7431
Homer Simpson’s PIN number.
11,967
The record for the largest number of people involved in a line dance – held in Singapore.
25,000
Juan Potomachi, an Argentinian, left the equivalent of £25,000 to his local theatre on condition that they used his skull when performing Hamlet.
The number of ping-pong balls the singer Harry Richman insisted on carrying on a plane for fear that it would crash into the sea.
60,000
In 2007, during a month-long performance-art piece in Chicago, the Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal had more than 60,000 paintballs fired at him (remotely by people pressing a button on their computers).
100,000
Professional gambler Brian Zembic had size-38C breast implants inserted into his chest to win a $100,000 bet.
137596
Sam Spade’s licence number.
181,000
Philip Grundy, a dentist, left his dental nurse £181,000 on condition that she didn’t wear any make-up or jewellery or go out with men for five years.
250,000
The estimated number of cigars smoked by Sir Winston Churchill in his lifetime.
The number of fan letters Mickey Mouse got in the year 1933.
1,500,000
The number of people who logged on to the website of the cheddar cheese Wedginald to watch it mature.
3,085,209,600,000
The number of rolls of wallpaper it would take to cover the Sahara desert.
