Find out why Churchill looks grumpy on the £5 note and which insect terrifies the Dalai Lama as the brains behind the panel share some jolly arcana

At QI, we work year-round to find facts for our eponymous BBC programme, our sister radio programme The Museum of Curiosity, weekly podcast No Such Thing As a Fish and spinoff BBC 2 programme No Such Thing As the News. We’ve collected our most interesting finds from the last year into our new book 1,342 QI Facts to Leave You Flabbergasted. Here are 20 of our favourites:

1. In the time it takes to listen to the Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), the International Space Station travels 500 miles, then 500 more.

2. In 1928, the US, the UK and Germany signed a treaty to end all war.

Membership Event: Christmas Quiz with the QI team

3. A beauty contest held in Singapore in 1998 awarded 60% of the marks for knowledge of the internet.

4. The Pieza genus of fly has species called Pieza kake, Pieza pie, Pieza rhea and Pieza deresistans.



5. Finland has the highest density of metal bands in the world.



6. The Dalai Lama is frightened of caterpillars.



7. Hans Christian Andersen wrecked his friendship with Charles Dickens by staying with him three weeks longer than planned.



8. In 1940s Britain, children’s TV was shown from 5 to 6 pm, then transmission stopped for an hour to encourage them to go to bed.



9. Until 1858, all British passports were written in French.



10. “Twitter” was a 19th-century word for an abscess on a horse’s foot.



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11. The video game Fallout 4 is set in a post-apocalyptic world where you get rewarded for returning library books.



12. In 1964, the US set off nuclear bombs under Mississippi.



13. Churchill looks grumpy on the £5 note because the photographer who took the picture had just removed his cigar.



14. Smartphone users touch their phone 2,617 times a day.



15. Shuttlecocks used in professional badminton are made of feathers from the left wing of a goose. Feathers from the right wing make them spin the wrong way.



16. Saint Philip Neri, “the Humorous Saint”, once shaved off half his beard and always wore a cushion on his head.



17. In 1567, the man with the world’s longest-ever beard broke his neck and died after tripping over it.



18. A person who was invisible wouldn’t be able to see anything.



19. Ice cream is solid, liquid and gas all at the same time.



20. Retired characters from the Beano include Little Dead-Eye Dick, Cocky Dick, Sticky Willie, Wandering Willie, and Polly Wolly Doodle and her Great Big Poodle.

