McDonald's founder Ray Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955. It is now the site of a McDonald's museum.

· There are more than 30,000 McDonald's restaurants in 121 countries.

· One in 200 people across the world visits a McDonald's daily.

· In 1974 McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the UK. Today more than 2.5 million people in this country eat at a McDonald's every day.

· McDonald's is the largest toy distributor in the world.

· In 1996 McDonald's overtook Coca-Cola as the best-known brand in the world.

· One in three of all cattle in the US bred for meat is used by McDonald's.

· One in eight Americans has worked for McDonald's.

· The average McDonald's Big Mac bun is covered by 198 sesame seeds.

· 96 per cent of US children can identify Ronald McDonald by name - second only to Santa Claus.

· On an average day, McDonald's restaurants in the US serve 2 million pounds of ground beef and 3 million pounds of potatoes.

· A typical Big Mac burger weighs in at 550 calories and 25 grams of fat.

· In Japan, where 'r' is rarely pronounced, Ronald McDonald is Donald McDonald.

· Every day, on average, 4.2 new branches of McDonald's will open across the globe.