Well that's Quite Interesting

maudgonner

So many serious threads in AH these days, how about we entertain each other with obscure facts?

There's a staggering breadth and depth of knowledge in AH, much of it useless, which is of course the best kind

To kick things off:

Raymond O'Brien* was the shortest Irish man in recorded history. He was 1ft 11inches tall.

Charles Byrne was the tallest, he was 7ft 7inches tall. When he died a British doctor bought his body and boiled the flesh off with acid to reveal the skeleton. You can still view it in the (very cool, but very creepy) Hunterian Museum in London.


(*not Raymond D'Arcy. But I think we know what the first question would have been if they had been around to be guests on his chatshow, eh!)

whatismyname

Female kangaroos have three vaginas.

EndaHonesty

If you do a search on "facts" in After Hours you get 132,402 results!

interesting.

whatismyname

EndaHonesty wrote: »

If you do a search on "facts" in After Hours you get 132,402 results!

interesting.

This is no longer a fact :P

Big Bertha, a cow on a farm in South Kerry, held 2 Guinness world records in the early 90s, the oldest cow (dying at 48) and the most calves (39)

130Kph

I served the actress who played Maggie Channing on Falcon Crest in a hotel at the height of the show’s popularity here in the 80’s in two channel land. She’s in Castle at the moment I believe. (photo: standing, front right)

Obscure fact:- She was the only global superstar I served booze to!! :cool:

stimpson

Dogs can't look up.

maudgonner

Deleted User wrote: »

Big Bertha, a cow on a farm in South Kerry, held 2 Guinness world records in the early 90s, the oldest cow (dying at 48) and the most calves (39)

Now that's what I'm talking about. That's quality useless local knowledge Conor!


RIP Bertha.

whatismyname

maudgonner wrote: »

Now that's what I'm talking about. That's quality useless local knowledge Conor!

Ooops... yes you're right... so useful to know that a female kanagroo has three vaginas

Who knows...?

Funkfield

Typewriter is the longest word you can type on one line of a qwerty keyboard

The flying mouse

Harold’s Cross in Dublin got it’s name because a tribe called the ‘Harolds’ lived in the Wicklow Mountains and the Archbishop of Dublin would not let them come any nearer to the city than that point.

Alf Stewart.

whatismyname wrote: »

Female kangaroos have three vaginas.

The males must ride em left right n centre?

maudgonner

maudgonner wrote: »

Now that's what I'm talking about. That's quality useless local knowledge Conor!


RIP Bertha.

Nothing local about that, quite the national superstar at the time!

When she died she was stuffed and afair put on wheels with an electronic device that made a "moo" sound.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bertha_(cow)

Alf Stewart.

stimpson wrote: »

Dogs can't look up.

Pretty sure its pigs mate.

maudgonner

whatismyname wrote: »

Ooops... yes you're right... so useful to know that a female kanagroo has three vaginas

Who knows...?

Oh, I'm not dissing your knowledge whatismyname, it's more the fact that I can't imagine Bertha is on wikipedia that I was impressed by.

(Checks wikipedia....jeez I take it back, she is on there!)


ETA: I should have just waited for Conor to give me the link

Zaph

130Kph wrote: »

I served the actress who played Maggie Channing on Falcon Crest in a hotel at the height of the show’s popularity here in the 80’s in two channel land. She’s in Castle at the moment I believe. (photo: standing, front right)

Obscure fact:- She was the only global superstar I served booze to!! :cool:

Not so obscure fact - 130Kph plays fast and loose with the definition of "global superstar".

Slightly more obscure fact - since 1940, 85% of those who have attempted to break the world water speed record have died in the attempt.

maudgonner

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

The males must ride em left right n centre?

By males you mean male kangaroos? Or do you have a confession to make, Alf Stewart?

whatismyname

maudgonner wrote: »

Oh, I'm not dissing your knowledge whatismyname, it's more the fact that I can't imagine Bertha is on wikipedia that I was impressed by.

Ah I wasn't thinking you were dissing the uselessness of my knowledge. I was trying to be funny, but always figure I've failed at that whenever I then have to explain that I was trying to be funny :P

lazygal

The flying mouse wrote: »

Harold’s Cross in Dublin got it’s name because a tribe called the ‘Harolds’ lived in the Wicklow Mountains and the Archbishop of Dublin would not let them come any nearer to the city than that point.

And they were understandably quite cross about this.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Antoine Louis invented the 'Guillotine.'

Joseph Guillotine as a member of the French Assembly recommended it's usage.

Caoimhgh1n

In Ireland, cow's milk has 400 million puss cells per litre, multiply that by 10 for the amount in cheese. Yum yum.

maudgonner

Deleted User wrote: »

Nothing local about that, quite the national superstar at the time!

When she died she was stuffed and afair put on wheels with an electronic device that made a "moo" sound.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bertha_(cow)

Please tell me this still exists. If so, I think we should arrange an After Hours road trip to see her.

whatismyname

Harold’s Cross gets its name, according to F.E. Ball in his History of County Dublin, from a cross erected to mark the extent of the lands of the Archbishop of Dublin and to warn the Harold family of Rathfarnham not to encroach.

lazygal

The youngest girl to give birth was only five years old.

whatismyname

lazygal wrote: »

The youngest girl to give birth was only five years old.

I remember once reading up on that.

Scary.

The flying mouse

Maewyn Succat,







Thats St patricks real name :-)

Alf Stewart.

The Australian Gum leaf skeletoniser caterpillar sheds its casings up to thirteen times in its lifetime.

Each time it sheds a skin it puts aside its old skeletal head casing (its skull) and stacks them on top of each other, which it wears on its head like a hat.

Truth.

Coopaloop

Billy goats urinate on their own heads to smell more attractive to females.

The flying mouse

of tea.:eek::pac::pac::pac:

Eugene Norman

Ireland is a third world country.

Caoimhgh1n

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Ireland is a third world country.

No it is not.

ceekay74

Cockroaches can live for nine days without their heads, at which point they die of starvation.

maudgonner

Under Brehon law there was no-fault divorce in Ireland.

On the first of February each year a husband or wife could decide to walk away from an unsatisfactory marriage. They retained individual rights to any assets brought into the marriage.

maudgonner

maudgonner wrote: »

Please tell me this still exists. If so, I think we should arrange an After Hours road trip to see her.

Must ask around. Here she is having a pint...

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/big-bertha-the-celebrity-kerry-cow-that-captured-the-nation-166250

ceekay74

In 1845, President Andrew Jackson's pet parrot was removed from his funeral for swearing.

DEFTLEFTHAND

The State of California has the 8th largest economy in the world.

maudgonner

Caoimhgh1n wrote: »

No it is not.

Haha, Eugene is referring to an earlier post of mine which was the inspiration for this thread. Technically Ireland is a third world country.

http://www.dailyedge.ie/ireland-third-world-566408-Aug2012/

ceekay74

Australia is the only continent without an active volcano.

Caoimhgh1n

maudgonner wrote: »

Haha, Eugene is referring to an earlier post of mine which was the inspiration for this thread. Technically Ireland is a third world country.

http://www.dailyedge.ie/ireland-third-world-566408-Aug2012/

Different definition of third world, though.

The flying mouse

Muckanaghederdauhaulia

It was formerly regarded as the longest place name (in English) in Ireland (22 letters )its in Galway.

ceekay74

The Romans used to clean and whiten their teeth with urine

The flying mouse

The Irish Academy of Engineers has recommended that a tunnel be built under the sea linking Ireland and Wales. The IAE has offered a futuristic vision of trains running at speeds of 150 mph between Rosslare and Fishguard, Wales. Currently, there is no financial backer for such a project.

The flying mouse

Couples in Ireland could marry legally on St. Brigid's Day (February 1st) in Teltown, County Meath, as recently as the 1920’s by simply walking towards each other. If the marriage failed, they could "divorce'" by walking away from each other at the same spot, on St. Brigid’s day the following year. The custom was a holdover from old Irish Brehon laws, which allowed temporary marriage contracts.

Eugene Norman

maudgonner wrote: »

Haha, Eugene is referring to an earlier post of mine which was the inspiration for this thread. Technically Ireland is a third world country.

http://www.dailyedge.ie/ireland-third-world-566408-Aug2012/

I knewed it before your post, innit.

Although I did pick it up here on boards.

stimpson

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

Pretty sure its pigs mate.

It's definitely dogs. Big Al says so.

maudgonner

Caoimhgh1n wrote: »

Different definition of third world, though.

The original definition.

Eugene Norman

Caoimhgh1n wrote: »

Different definition of third world, though.

The only real definition. As it happens this fact was on QI.

Quite interesting.

ceekay74

Most compliments men receive after growing a beard for the first time will be from other males.

Eugene Norman

The biggest exporter of bananas in Europe is Ireland.

buried

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built with such precision that modern day technology cannot replicate it. The mortar used for the 2,300,000 stone blocks is of an unknown origin. It has been analyzed and its chemical composition is known but it can't be reproduced, the mortar is stronger than the stone and is still holding up today. The Pyramid is aligned true north and is the most accurately aligned structure in existence and faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. The position of the North Pole moves over time and the pyramid was exactly aligned at one time.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Funkfield wrote: »

Typewriter is the longest word you can type on one line of a qwerty keyboard

One of the longest.

rupturewort has 11 letters and the following are as long as Typewriter; pepperwort, perpetuity, proprietor, repertoire.