- One in five pupils who took the basic science GCSE this year believes the Sun orbits the Earth. And one in ten of those taking the same exam did not know that a rechargeable battery could be used more than once. (Daily Mail, 1st November 2008)
- One in every 12,500,000 spam emails gets a response. At this response rate, researchers estimate that hackers controlling a network of one million PCs will still make about £4,430 a day or £2.21m a year. (Techradar.com, 10th November 2008)
- The US government directly owns nearly 30 per cent of its total territory. It owns 84.5 per cent of Nevada, but only 0.4 per cent of Rhode Island and Connecticut. (US General Services Administration, quoted by the Strange Maps blog)
- Truckers are Britain's fattest male profession. In a survey of 5,000 men, more than 42 per cent of lorry drivers were found to have a waist band size above the average of 38 inches. Lawyers were the next fattest male job, followed by IT workers. (Daily Telegraph, 25th September 2008)
- In a study of 24 macaque monkeys, females were found to make 13 times as many friendly noises as males. (The Scotsman, 20th November 2008)
- When the New Hampshire state senate convenes in January, women will hold 13 of the 24 seats, forming the first female legislative majority in the US. (Women's ENews, 21st November 2008)
- Lyon have won their league title for the past seven seasons—making France the least competitive of UEFA's 53 nations, except for Moldova, where Sheriff Tiraspot have won eight straight titles dating back to 2001. (The Times, 19th November 2008)
- In 1970, the average temperature inside a British home was 12 degrees. By 2002 it was 18 degrees. (Prospect, January 2009)
- Edgar Allan Poe was expelled from the US military academy West Point; James McNeill Whistler and Timothy Leary dropped out. (wikipedia)
- Elephants cannot jump. (Daily Mail, 24th January 2008)
- 50 per cent of British Muslim women go to university, compared to a national average of 38 per cent. (Unpublished government figures quoted in the Young Foundation report "Valuing Family, Valuing Work" by Zamila Bunglawala)
- A Rubik's cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 permutations. (New York Times magazine, 28th November 2008)
- There are around 20 families with the name Obama in the US, compared with more than 11,000 Clintons and 60,000 Bushes. There is only one known Obama family in Britain; they live in Clapham. (Washington Post, 28th November 2008 & BBC News, 4th February 2008)
- Hounslow is the only borough to be home to two living holders of the Victoria Cross. (Hounslow and Brentford Times, 3rd December 2008)
- 98 per cent of the Aston Martins ever produced are still on the road. (Top Gear)
- Gordon Brown's latest book, Wartime Courage, sold just 193 copies in the fortnight after its release. In the same two weeks, Katie Price's latest autobiography, Pushed to the Limit, sold 4,446 copies, despite having already been on sale for ten months. (Daily Telegraph, 21st November 2008)
