Odd (and I mean odd!) Facts

There are as many molecules in a teaspoon of water as here are teaspoons of water in the Atlantic Ocean. Like Wow!

The first Artichoke Queen of Castroville, California, was crowned in 1947. She was Marilyn Monroe!

Paris was the first city to adopt house numbers. it did so in 1463.

One of those daft laws often quoted is that it is illegal to chain an alligator to a fire hydrant in Michigan. In fact, alligators don't get a mention. The law simply makes it illegal to chain anything to a fire hydrant.

When British athlete Rebecca Romero followed up her Olympic silver in rowing from 2004 with a gold in cycling in 2008 there was, quite rightly, much acclaim for her abilities. But a hundred years earlier Lottie Dodd took silver in Olympic archery after winning the English Ladies Golf Championship in 1904 and Wimbledon when she was only 15.

In 1966 the Free Tramps Federation met in Argentina and among its proposals was a bank holiday on May 2nd to follow Labour Day on May 1st. The title of the proposed holiday - The International Day of Idleness. I could live with that!

In 2004 a so-called tenth planet called Sedna was discovered. Sedna - named after the Inuit goddess of the ocean - is about 13 bilion km away. Astronomers now say they have evidence that Sedna has its own moon and is also very red in colour. There has been plenty of debate about whether it qualifies as a true planet, but some scientists have said it re-defines our Solar System.