The most interesting and unexpected facts can emerge from the daily news stories and the Magazine documents some of them in its weekly feature, 10 things we didn't know last week.

To kick off 2011, here's an almanac of the best from the past year.

1. The G-spot nearly came to be known as the Whipple Tickle.

More details

2. You can assault someone without touching them.

More details





3. Animal heaven is called Rainbow Bridge.

More details

4. It's OK to own military medals you haven't earned, but it's illegal to wear them and pretend they are yours.

More details

5. The first international cricket match was in the US.

More details

6. The two most common pronunciations of Van Gogh are wrong.

More details

7. The last remaining Royal Mail ship goes back and forth to St Helena.

More details

8. Men's waistbands are at their highest point when men reach the age of 57, just seven inches below their armpit.

More details

9. Swans divorce.

More details

10. Haggis has been banned in the US since 1989.

More details

11. Face blindness - difficulty in remembering faces - is called prosopagnosia.

More details

12. Glass attacks in bars and pubs cause 87,000 injuries a year in England and Wales.

More details

13. You can pay for university tuition with Tesco Clubcard points.

More details

14. The Frisbee was originally called the Pluto Platter.

More details

15. Parents in Japan swear by KitKats when their children are taking exams.

More details

16. Goldie Hawn runs schools.

More details

17. The Barbie doll has had 125 careers since 1959.

More details

18. Australia has never had a saint. Until now.

More details

19. There are people in the UK called Justin Case, Barb Dwyer and Stan Still.

More details

20. Elephants growl.

More details





21. The types of lasers that remove tattoos can also be used to clean up works of art.

More details

22. Some chickens are half-male and half-female.

More details

23. Fifty percent of a jumbo jet can be recycled.

More details

24. Soldiers in Afghanistan use concrete mixers to wash their clothes.

More details

25. The mafia use Facebook.

More details

26. Straightening irons outsell hairdryers.

More details

27. Fried tarantula tastes like liver.

More details

28. The name "scrumpy" comes from a word meaning small and shrivelled.

More details

29. In The Wizard of Oz, Toto was played by a dog called Terry.

More details

30. Marriage over the telephone is valid under Islamic law.

More details

31. Bebo stands for blog early, blog often.

More details

32. MPs' parliamentary gym memberships are cancelled during the election campaign.

More details

33. Insect museums are called insectariums.

More details

34. British servicemen and women have had their own brand of tea since 1921.

More details

35. Doctor Who regenerations were modelled on bad LSD trips.

More details

36. Sir Cliff Richard split up with his first serious girlfriend by letter.

More details

37. The Turin Shroud is woven in a herringbone pattern.

More details

38. In the US, 30% of teenagers send more than 100 texts a day.

More details

39. US President George Washington failed to return a library book. It's now racked up a $300,000 fine (£193,000)

More details

40. There are vending machines that sell hot chips.

More details

41. There are surgeons who specialise in restoring virginity.

More details





42. Storks can be blue.

More details

43. Downing Street's famous black front door was once green.

More details

44. China smokes one third of the world's cigarettes.

More details

45. Florence Nightingale used the pseudonym "Miss Smith" to evade the media.

More details

46. A million people a month are refused a drink in a pub.

More details

47. American and British sign language is different.

More details

48. The European Cup was stolen in 1982 when Aston Villa players took it to a pub in the West Midlands.

More details

49. Ken Dodd sang the third biggest-selling single of the 1960s.

More details

50. When one police diver is under water, another four remain on dry land.

More details

51. Wonder Woman was originally an Amazon.

More details

52. Withdrawn banknotes are shredded and sometimes used in compost.

More details

53. Hamburger-related injuries are on the rise in Taiwan.

More details

54. The common octopus is the most intelligent invertebrate.

More details

55. Gorillas play tag.

More details

56. Having a big head may protect against dementia.

More details

57. International athletes coming to London for the 1948 Olympics had to bring their own towels.

More details

58. One of the world's most ancient living creatures are a breed of shrimp which live in south-west Scotland.

More details

59. Dogs mimic their owners.

More details

60. Buttocks are hardest to tan.

More details

61. Pea plants can grow inside a human lung.

More details





62. Some hardened sauna users can stand temperatures of up to 160C.

More details

63. Honeybees are cleverer at certain times of the day.

More details

64. The average person spends around 15 hours 45 minutes every day awake.

More details

65. Children with squints are less likely to be invited to birthday parties.

More details

66. Urine could be a source of renewable energy.

More details

67. Milk used to be watered down, then coloured yellow with toxic lead chromate to make it look creamy.

More details

68. Traffic jams can last nine days.

More details

69. It's possible to watch 28,000 films in a lifetime.

More details

70. Apples originated in Kazakhstan.

More details

71. It is illegal to dry clothes in various parks in Whitstable, Kent.

More details

72. Geoff Capes was a champion budgerigar breeder.

More details

73. When people fall in love they lose on average two close friends.

More details

74. Subbuteo has a rugby version.

More details

75. The Pope's aircraft is known as "Shepherd One".

More details

76. Elgar wrote one of the first football songs.

More details

77. In French, the words for "inflation" and "fellatio" are very similar.

More details

78. Squirrels can be black.

More details

79. Chimpanzees can become addicted to smoking.

More details

80. Men sweat more efficiently than women.

More details





81. Noise affects taste.

More details

82. Getting drunk quickly is genetic.

More details

83. King penguins flirt with other penguins of the same gender but tend not to settle down with them.

More details

84. Sparrows eavesdrop on fighting birds.

More details

85. Crows go to school.

More details

86. Flamingos use make-up.

More details

87. John and Margaret were the most popular British baby names for 30 years.

More details

88. More than half of Americans dress up for Halloween

More details

89. Some 7.2 million British people get by without a wristwatch.

More details

90. Tea parties were invented in the 1830s.

More details

91. Which means that the 1773 Boston Tea Party wasn't known by that name until more than 60 years after the event. At the time it was referred to as "the destruction of the tea".

More details

92. Having fewer brothers and sisters can be good for your education.

More details

93. It's not just in comedy films that babies can fall from tall buildings, bounce on awnings and be caught by a passer-by.

More details

94. Nazis coined the verb coventrierung (literally, to coventrate) to describe total annihilation of a city - Coventry - through aerial bombardment.

More details

95. One in five people only clean their homes at weekends.

More details

96. Aerial massed acrobatics performed by starlings at this time of year are called "murmurations".

More details

97. David Cameron slept on the Mall the night before Prince Charles married Lady Diana.

More details

98. German shoes are wider than Italian.

More details

99. Badgers still occupy setts known since the Domesday Book.

More details

100. Donald Trump's hair is real.

More details