Living in a post-truth world means that the difference between truth and lie is getting MUCH harder to differentiate.
With the rise of using social networks to spread disinformation, we thought it would be much more fun to turn your attention away from those sometimes cess pits and pinpoint a bunch of facts that sound total bobbins when read out loud but are, in fact, completely true.
So, stick a hat on, because we’re about to blow your mind into tiny little pieces.
Behold the below list of the most “WTF”-ing facts that even we couldn’t quite believe when we first lay eyes on them.
Here are 10 facts that you’ll think we’ve made up, but, hand on heart, are totally true…
1. A Banana Is A Berry
Disgraceful, isn’t it. All this time, the humble banana’s been sitting there, in your fruit bowl, looking at you, lying to you, with its sordid double life. Yes, the bendy yellow monkey favourite is, in fact, a berry as it can be defined as ‘a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary [in a flower]’. Disgusting behaviour.
2. King Charles Is Related To Dracula
Get your teeth into this one. In 2012 the Romanian Tourist Office boasted that they’d found family ties between the heir to the throne of England and Vlad the Impaler, the 15th century nobleman who inspired Bram Stoker’s fangy legend. We thought it was baloney. We thought it was a publicity stunt. But, according to Sir Iain Moncreiffe, the author of the book Royal Highness who traced the royal’s roots, King Charles is a great grandson 16 times removed to Vlad. Bloody hell, indeed.
3. It’s Impossible To Burp In Space
This one’s all thanks to our old friend gravity. See, Earth’s gravity does a pretty good job of holding all our stomach’s waste in place while we belch forth. In space, there’s not enough gravity to help out, thus turning a burp into a messy vomit. Thankfully, the same science doesn’t apply to farting.
4. A Polar Bear Used To Live In The Tower Of London
Back in 1252, when King Haakon of Norway gifted Henry III a polar bear, well a white bear that historians reckon was of the polar variety. The then King of England decided to house his new pet within the walls of the Tower of London. What’s more, to give him a spot of exercise, he’d allow him to go fishing in the Thames while chained to dry land.
5. The Inventor Of The Pringles Can Had His Ashes Buried... In A Pringles Can
Fredric Baur, the man that came up with an ingenious way for Proctor & Gamble to stack their crisps, popped until he finally stopped in 2008, aged 89. So proud of his tubular achievement was the technician that he told his family he wanted to be buried in one. "My siblings and I briefly debated what flavor to use," Fredric’s son, Larry Baur, told TIME Magazine in 2008. "I said, 'Look, we need to use the original.'"
6. Celebrity Seafood Chef Rick Stein Is Uncle To World-Famous DJ Judge Jules
Only slightly more amazing than learning former Neighbours actress Holly Valance is first cousin twice removed to late legendary comic Benny Hill.
7. Heroin Was Once A Treatment For Coughs In Children
A bucket-load of thanks goes out to German chemist Heinrich Dreser, the man who invented aspirin and, subsequently, may be the reason you’re not reading this with a stinking headache/hangover behind the eyes. Slightly less praise, though, for birthing heroin, and introducing it in the 1890s as a cough medicine. Unsurprisingly, the slightly, er, moreish side effects forced the drugs company Bayer to pull it from shelves in 1913.
8. France’s Last Use Of The Guillotine Was In The Same Year That Star Wars: Episode IV Came Out
Yep, not just resigned to the bloody tales of the French Revolution in the 1700s, our channel-hugging European brothers were lopping off noggins up until the late seventies. The final head to role in France, and legally in the Western world, was that of a Tunisian immigrant found guilty of slaying his girlfriend. Still, at least you could’ve picked your spirits up later that day by trotting off to the cinema to watch Luke Skywalker in action, right?
9. Abraham Lincoln Is In The Wrestling Hall Of Fame
Obviously, we’re not talking about Abe finding fame after a WWE Royal Rumble with Triple H, but rather the incredible record in the slightly more real sport of wrestling in the US. Only losing once in 300 matches, his efforts earned him a spot in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Whatcha got, Joe Biden?
10. This Is Spinal Tap Is The Only Film On IMDB That’s Rated Out Of 11, Not 10
You just checked, didn’t you. No, we’re not angry, just disappointed that you didn’t take our word for it. No, don’t apologise. It’s done now. Moving on.
- Best movie Easter eggs: 20 facts that will blow your mind