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If you stand at the bottom of Big Ben with a portable radio you hear the chimes on Radio 4 before you hear them ‘for real’
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The Eiffel Tower grows by 7 inches in summer
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A greyhound can accelerate from 0 to 45 mph in 1 second
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A Rubik’s cube has more combinations than light travels inches in a century
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A London double decker bus can lean further from the vertical without falling over than a human can
The Importance of Being Trivial
The name of this site (taken from the title of one of my books) sums up the idea that ‘trivia’ – so-called ‘useless information’ – isn’t useless at all. The very best trivia teaches us about the most profound things in life.
Indeed it’s the best way of learning about those things. ‘Trivia’ is just another word for ‘facts so interesting you never forget them’. And why should we be ashamed of things being interesting? This is the philosophy behind everything I do – my books, my walks, my quizzes. A great example is the ‘hearing Big Ben on the radio’ fact ...
As a matter of fact...
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