In fact

The average person experiences a micromort (a one in a million chance of dying) by driving 230 miles in a car, riding six miles on a motorbike, travelling 6,000 miles in a train or by taking three flights. The Times, 10th February 2009

The Japanese earthquake moved the country towards the US by 13 feet. It also shifted the Earth’s axis by 6.5 inches and shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds. Yahoo News, 14th March 2011

Best Actress Oscar winners have much shorter marriages (a median duration of 4.3 years) than nominees who do not win (9.5 years). Best Actor winners do not. “The Oscar Curse: Status Dynamics and Gender Differences in Marital Survival”

97 per cent of British children over the age of 11 have a mobile phone. Childwise Monitor Survey 2010-11

Moldovans are the world’s biggest drinkers: each gets through the equivalent of 18.2 litres of pure alcohol a year. World Health Organisation

Only 3 per cent of the Cuban population have access to the internet—the lowest figure in the western hemisphere. BBC News website, 10th February 2011

Britons are legally required to take part in the census, but although 3m failed to do so in 2001, only 38 people were convicted. Daily Telegraph, 21st February 2011

The California Institute of Technology’s mens basketball team beat Occidental College by 1 point in February, breaking a 310-game losing streak that dated to 1985, before any of the current players were born. New York Times, 23rd February 2011