1000 Random & Interesting Facts About Literally Everything

Luke Ward
1h 40 Minutes Read
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In 2018, The Fact Site celebrated its 10th birthday by publishing this list of 1,000 interesting facts.

    That’s right, you didn’t misread; here we have one thousand random and interesting facts about literally everything you could think of!

    Here at The Fact Site, we’re celebrating our 10th birthday, and we wanted to celebrate hugely!

    So we’ve spent months researching the biggest & best list of interesting, random facts, all for you – for free!

    One thousand may seem like a lot – that’s because it is! If you don’t have time to read them all now, bookmark us and visit whenever you like!

    Anyway, let’s get started with these 1000 random & interesting facts about literally everything!

    The scientific term for brain freeze is “sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.”

    Canadians say “sorry” so much that a law was passed in 2009 declaring that an apology can’t be used as evidence of admission to guilt.

    Back when dinosaurs existed, there used to be volcanoes that were erupting on the moon.

    The only letter that doesn’t appear on the periodic table is J.

    One habit of intelligent humans is being easily annoyed by people around them but saying nothing in order to avoid a meaningless argument.

    If a Polar Bear and a Grizzly Bear mate, their offspring is called a “Pizzy Bear.”

    In 2006, a Coca-Cola employee offered to sell Coca-Cola secrets to Pepsi. Pepsi responded by notifying Coca-Cola.

    The ten highest mountain summits in the United States are all located in Alaska.

    Nintendo trademarked the phrase “It’s on like Donkey Kong” in 2010.

    Daniel Radcliffe was allergic to his Harry Potter glasses.

    Harry Potter wearing his glasses

    He had an allergy to nickel, and they were quickly replaced with hypoallergenic specs.

    Also, did you know that his glasses had no lenses? This was to stop the reflection from anything happening behind the scenes. The glass lens was added in post-production.

    The famous line in Titanic from Leonardo DiCaprio, “I’m king of the world!” was improvised.

    A single strand of Spaghetti is called a “Spaghetto.”

    Hershey’s Kisses are named after the kissing sound the deposited chocolate makes as it falls from the machine on the conveyor belt.

    Princess Peach didn’t move until 1988 because it was too complicated for the designers to make her a movable character.

    To leave a party without telling anyone is called in English a “French Exit.” In French, it’s called a “partir à l’anglaise,” to leave like the English.

    If you cut down a saguaro cactus in Arizona, you can be charged with a class-4 felony and penalized with jail time. 

    The Buddha commonly depicted in statues and pictures is a different person entirely. The real Buddha was actually incredibly skinny because of self-deprivation.

    In Colorado, USA, there is still an active volcano. It last erupted about the same time as the pyramids were being built in Egypt.

    The first movie ever to put out a motion-picture soundtrack was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

    If you point your car keys to your head, it increases the remote’s signal range.

    If you point your car keys to your head, it increases the remote's signal range.

    All the fluids in your head act as a fantastic conductor, allowing you to extend the remote’s range by a few car lengths.

    Fruit stickers are edible, though the same as any fruit; washing prior to eating is recommended. The glue used for them is regulated by the FDA.

    The scientific name for Giant Anteater is Myrmecophaga Tridactyla. This means “ant eating with three fingers.”

    Astronaut is a compound word derived from the two Ancient Greek words “Astro,” meaning “star,” and “naut” meaning “sailor.” So astronaut literally means “star sailor.”

    The flashes of colored light you see when you rub your eyes are called “phosphenes.”

    At birth, a baby panda is smaller than a mouse.

    Iceland does not have a railway system.

    The largest known prime number has  24,862,048 digits. The new prime number is 2 multiplied by itself 82,589,933 times, minus 1.

    Forrest Fenn, an art dealer and author hid a treasure chest in the Rocky Mountains worth over 1 million dollars. It was found approximately a decade later, in 2020.

    The lead singer of The Offspring started attending school to achieve a doctorate in molecular biology while still in the band. He graduated in May 2017.

    The world’s largest grand piano was built by a 15-year-old in New Zealand.

    The world’s largest grand piano was built by a 15-year-old in New Zealand.

    The piano is a little over 18 feet long and has 85 keys – 3 short of the standard 88.

    The tongue is the only muscle in one’s body that is attached from one end.

    There is a company in Japan that has schools that teach you how to be funny. The first one opened in 1982. About 1,000 students take the course each year.

    The Lego Group is the world’s most powerful brand. There are more Lego Minifigures than there are people on Earth.

    The Bagheera kiplingi spider was discovered in the 1800s and is the only species of spider that has been classified as vegetarian.

    There is a boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 that can be defeated by not playing the game for a week; or by changing the date.

    The Roman – Persian wars are the longest in history, lasting over 680 years. They began in 54 BC and ended in 628 AD.

    Elvis was originally blonde. He started coloring his hair black for an edgier look. Sometimes, he would touch it up himself using shoe polish.

    If you translate “Jesus” from Hebrew to English, the correct translation is “Joshua.” The name “Jesus” comes from translating the name from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English.

    Ed Sheeran bought a ticket to LA with no contacts. He was spotted by Jamie Foxx, who offered him the use of his recording studio and a bed in his Hollywood home for six weeks.

    German Chocolate Cake is named after an American baker by the name of Samuel German.

    German Chocolate Cake is named after an American baker by the name of Samuel German.

    It has no affiliation with the country of Germany.

    The first service animals were established in Germany during World War I. References to service animals date as far back as the mid-16th Century.

    An 11-year-old girl proposed the name for Pluto after the Roman god of the Underworld.

    The voice actor of SpongeBob and the voice actor of Karen, Plankton’s computer wife, have been married since 1995.

    An Italian banker, Gilberto Baschiera, is considered a modern-day Robin Hood. Over the course of 7 years, he secretly diverted 1 million euros to poorer clients from the wealthy ones so they could qualify for loans. He made no profit and avoided jail in 2018 due to a plea bargain.

    Octopuses and squids have beaks. The beak is made of keratin – the same material that a bird’s beak and our fingernails are made of.

    An estimated 50% of all gold ever mined on Earth came from a single plateau in South Africa: Witwatersrand.

    75% of the world’s diet is produced from just 12 plants and five different animal species.

    The original Star Wars premiered on just 32 screens across the U.S. in 1977. This was to produce buzz as the release widened to more theaters.

    The British government coined the slogan, “Keep Calm and Carry on,” during World War 2 in order to motivate citizens to stay strong. Posters with the slogan were printed but never officially issued, and were only unearthed in 2000.

    Apple paid a couple $1.7 million dollars for their plot of land, which was only worth $181,700.

    Apple paid a couple $1.7 million dollars for their plot of land, which was only worth $181,700.

    While Apple was building a huge data center in the middle of North Carolina, they wanted to occupy the area of a couple that had lived there for 34 years. When the couple refused to leave, Apple paid them $1.7 million dollars for their land.

    Tirana, the capital of Albania, has a lot of things in common with other European capitals – except one. It’s one of the few capitals without a Mcdonald’s, along with Vatican City and Reykjavik, Iceland, and Podgorica, Montenegro.

    Sour Patch Kids are from the same manufacturer as Swedish Fish. The red Sour Patch Kids are the same candy as Swedish Fish, but with sour sugar.

    The largest Japanese population outside of Japan stands at 1.6 million people who live in Brazil.

    IKEA is an acronym that stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd, which is the founder’s name, the farm where he grew up, and his hometown.

    In 2009, Stephen Hawking held a reception for time travelers but didn’t publicize it until after. This way, only those who could time travel would be able to attend. Nobody else attended.

    Violin bows are commonly made from horse hair.

    There are less than 30 ships in the Royal Canadian Navy which are less than most third-world countries.

    Larry the Cable Guy’s real name is Daniel Lawrence Whitney. His notable Southern accent is fake – he was born and raised in the midwest, not the South.

    The youngest Pope in history was Pope Benedict IX, who was 11 years old at the time of the election. He is also the only person to have been the Pope more than once.

    There were only 9 developers on the team for GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64.

    Goldeneye 007 - Nintendo 64

    Only one of the developers had ever worked on a video game before.

    The game received multiple year-end awards, including the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Games Award in 1998 and four awards from the inaugural AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards.

    Costa Coffee employs Gennaro Pelliccia as a coffee taster, who has had his tongue insured for £10 million since 2009.

    Johnny Cash took only three voice lessons before his teacher advised him to stop taking lessons and to never deviate from his natural voice.

    There is an island called “Just Enough Room,” where there’s just enough room for a tree and a house.

    People who post their fitness routine on Facebook are more likely to have psychological problems.

    Medieval chastity belts are a myth. A great majority of examples now existing were made in the 18th and 19th centuries as jokes.

    Nowadays, millionaires with just $1 million aren’t considered wealthy anymore by most Americans. Now, the typical American sees at least $2.4 million as wealthy.

    Hanna-Barbera pitched The Flintstones to networks for 8 weeks before it was finally picked up. It became the first-ever animated show to air during primetime.

    There is a company that sells mirrors that make people look 10 pounds thinner. Overall, the mirrors have contributed to 54% of total sales for retailers that use them.

    There’s no period in “Dr. Pepper.” It was removed because the old logo font made it look like “Di: Pepper.”

    There is an underwater version of rugby, unsurprisingly called “underwater rugby.”

    There is an underwater version of rugby, unsurprisingly called "underwater rugby".

    It is a contact sport between 2 teams of 6 competing underwater in a pool to score goals while freediving.

    Standing around burns calories. On average, a 150-pound person burns 114 calories per hour while standing and doing nothing.

    Although GPS is free for the world to use, it costs $2 million per day to operate. The money comes from American tax revenue.

    In World War II, Germany tried to collapse the British economy by dropping millions of counterfeit bills over London.

    The human eye is so sensitive that if the Earth were flat and it was a dark night, a candle’s flame could be seen from 30 miles away.

    When Space Invaders was created, Tomohiro Nishikado left in the lag caused by more invaders on the screen in order to create greater difficulty in the games.

    The color red doesn’t really make bulls angry; they are color-blind.

    65% of autistic kids are left-handed, and only 10% of people, in general, are left-handed.

    In 2007, Scotland spent £125,000 devising a new national slogan. The winning entry was: “Welcome to Scotland.”

    Until 2016, the “Happy Birthday” song was not for public use. Meaning that prior to 2016, the song was copyrighted, and you had to pay a license to use it.

    When mice live in the wild, they typically only live for about six months.

    When mice live in the wild, they typically only live for about six months.

    This is mostly due to the fact that they’re a good source of food for other animals. However, in a controlled environment, like being kept as a pet, they can live up to two years.

    There is a punctuation mark used to signify irony or sarcasm that looks like a backward question mark ⸮

    Lettuce is a member of the sunflower family.

    Researchers have found that flossing your teeth can help your memory. Flossing prevents gum disease, which prevents stiff blood vessels, which cause memory issues.

    A cluster of bananas is called a “hand.” Along that theme, a single banana is called a “finger.”

    The Hobbit has been published in two editions. In the first edition, Gollum willingly bet on his ring in the riddle game.

    For nearly 60 years, Texas didn’t have an official state flag between 1879 & 1933. During that time, the Lone Star flag was active, but the unofficial flag.

    A wildlife technician, Richard Thomas, took the famous tongue twister, “how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” and calculated a rough estimate of what the answer would actually be. It came out to be around 700 pounds.

    Red Solo cups are a common souvenir to bring back from the United States. The novelty comes from the cups being used in many party scenes in movies.

    Swedish meatballs originated from a recipe King Charles XII brought back from Turkey in the early 1800s.

    Saint Lucia is the only country in the world named after a woman.

    Saint Lucia is the only country in the world named after a woman.

    The country was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French.

    Those cute furry bits inside a cat’s ear are called “ear furnishings.” They ensure that dirt doesn’t go inside and also helps them to hear well.

    Scientists discovered sharks living in an active underwater volcano. Divers cannot investigate because they would get burns from the acidity and heat.

    There are times when Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune – one of these timelines was from 1979 to 1999.

    There is a town in Nebraska called Monowi with a population of one. The only resident is a woman who is the Mayor, Bartender, and Librarian.

    The Ethiopian calendar is 7.5 years behind the Gregorian calendar due to the fact that it has 13 months.

    In 1994, the company that had a patent on GIFs tried to charge a fee for using GIFS. The PNG was invented as an alternative, and the company backed down.

    China is spending $3 billion dollars to build panda-shaped solar farms in order to get more young people interested in renewable energy.

    Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system that do not have any moons.

    The average American child is given $3.70 per tooth that falls out.

    To properly write adjectives in order, you would list them by amount, value, size, temperature, age, shape, color, origin, and material.

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About The Author

Luke Ward
Luke Ward

Luke Ward is the owner of The Fact Site. He has over 14 years of experience in researching, informative writing, fact-checking, SEO & web design. In his spare time, he loves to explore the world, drink coffee & attend trivia nights.

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