The Mega Book of Useless Information. Noel Botham

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СКАЧАТЬ War II, he was shot down in flames. Although Palance survived the crash, he received severe facial burns that required major plastic surgery.

      • Three per cent of adults use toilet paper to clean a child’s hands and/or face.

      • Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was a famous actor who belonged to one of the most distinguished theatrical families of the 19th century. He received 100 fan letters a week.

      • Orson Welles’ ghost is said to haunt Sweet Lady Jane’s restaurant in Los Angeles, where customers and employees have reported seeing Welles’ caped apparition sitting at his favourite table, often accompanied by the scent of his favourite brandy and cigars.

      • French chemist Louis Pasteur had an obsessive fear of dirt and infection. He would never shake hands, always carefully wipe his plate and glass before dining, and sneak a microscope into friends’ houses under his coat and then examine the food they served to make sure it was safe from germs.

      • Pope Innocent VIII drank the blood of three young donors thinking it would prevent ageing, and died shortly after.

      • Three per cent of adults use toilet paper to clean a child’s hands and/or face.

      • Tsar Nicholas II considered the construction of an electric fence around Russia and expressed interest in building a bridge across the Bering Straits.

      • Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest Americans ever, never carried cash. He was once sent off a London train because he did not have the fare.

      • Purple is by far the favourite ink colour in pens used by bingo players.

      • The average person spends 30 years being angry with a family member.

      • Thirty per cent of all marriages occur because of friendship.

      • Seventy per cent of women would rather have chocolate than sex.

      • Before going into the music business, Frank Zappa was a greetings-card designer.

      • University graduates live longer than people who did not complete school.

      • Richard Wagner was known to dress in historical costumes while composing his operas.

      • In 1981, near Pisa, 42-year-old Romolo Ribolla was so depressed about not being able to find a job, he sat in his kitchen with a gun in his hand threatening to kill himself. His wife pleaded for him not to do it, and after about an hour he burst into tears and threw the gun to the floor. It went off and killed his wife.

      • Humphrey Bogart’s ashes are in an urn that also contains a small gold whistle. Lauren Bacall had the whistle inscribed, ‘If you need anything, just whistle’ – the words she spoke to him in their first film together, To Have and Have Not (1944).

      • Of devout coffee drinkers, about 62 per cent of those who are 35 to 49 years of age say they become upset if they don’t have a cup of coffee at their regular time. Only 50 per cent of those under age 35 become upset.

      • Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to suggest using contact lenses for vision, in 1508.

      • Napoleon’s haemorrhoids contributed to his defeat at Waterloo, as they prevented him from surveying the battlefield on horseback.

      • The lightest human adult ever was Lucia Xarate, from Mexico. At the age of 17, in 1889, she weighed 4lb 11oz (2.13kg).

      • Isaac Newton’s only recorded utterance while he was a Member of Parliament was a request to open the window.

      • Sixty per cent of men spit in public.

      • Men who are exposed to a lot of toxic chemicals, high heat and unusual pressures, such as jet pilots and deep-sea divers, are more prone to father girls than boys.

      • Cleopatra tested the efficacy of her poisons by giving them to slaves.

      • Only about 30 per cent of teenage males consistently apply sun-protection lotion compared with 46 per cent of female teens.

      • American showman P T Barnum had his obituary published before his death.

      • Lawrence of Arabia’s ghost is said to be heard riding his motorbike near his house in Dorset, England, where he died in a motorbike accident.

      • With 382,650 babies being born and 144,902 people dying, the world population increases by about 237,748 people a day.

      • The spirit of silent-screen star Rudolph Valentino is said to haunt Paramount Studios in Hollywood, with the Sheik’s shimmering spectre seen floating among old garments in the costume department.

      • Gioacchino Antonio Rossini covered himself with blankets when he composed, and could only find inspiration by getting profoundly drunk.

      • Alcoholics are twice as likely to confess a drinking problem to a computer than to a doctor.

      • Henry Ford was obsessed with soy-beans. He once wore a suit and tie made from soy-based material, served a 16-course meal made entirely from soy-beans, and ordered many Ford auto parts to be made from soy-derived plastic.

      • Albert Einstein reportedly had a huge crush on film star Marilyn Monroe.

      • People who eat fresh fruit daily have 24 per cent fewer heart attacks and 32 per cent fewer strokes than those that don’t.

      • Marcel Proust worked in bed, and only in a soundproof room.

      • King Charles VIII of France was obsessed with the idea of being poisoned. As his phobia grew, the monarch ate so little that he died of malnutrition.

      • After the death of Alexander the Great, his remains were preserved in a huge crock of honey.

      • In 1979, David Booth had a series of recurring nightmares about a plane crashing, and on 25 May 1979 his premonitions came true. Departing from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, a DC-10 flew half a mile then turned on its side and slammed into the ground, exploding on impact. All 272 people on board died. Booth’s dreams began on 16 May, and continued for seven nights. Having seen the name of the airline in his dreams, Booth went and told the airport authorities. They took note of what he’d said, but claimed they couldn’t just ground a whole airline, so flights went on as usual – and Booth’s nightmares came true.

      • Albert Einstein was reluctant to sign autographs, and charged people a dollar before signing anything. He gave the dollars to charity.

      • It’s been estimated that an opera singer burns an average of more than two calories per minute during a performance.

      • Lady Diana Spencer was the first Englishwoman commoner in 300 years to marry an heir to the British throne.

      • Elderly women are more likely to live alone than elderly men; 17 per cent of men 65 years or older are living alone, compared with 42 per cent of women the same age.

      • As a boy, Charles Darwin was so enamoured with chemistry that his young friends nicknamed him ‘Gas’.

      • Paul Cézanne was 56 years old when СКАЧАТЬ