Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts: And Bizarre Information (2 page)
Read Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts: And Bizarre Information Online
Authors: Bathroom Readers' Hysterical Society
O
nce again, it’s time for the fat lady to sing . . . and for us to write the introduction.
Over the years our fans have sent us countless letters in which there seemed to be a recurring theme—other than that they love our books. They really enjoyed reading the little factoids on the bottom of the pages. (We call them “running feet.”) We even had numerous requests for a collection of just the running feet—and we aim to please.
So about six months ago, in our blissful ignorance, we began the task of creating a unique book of running feet. In the beginning, the project seemed relatively simple. The very capable Jennifer Browning Payne was elected to be Uncle John’s copilot (and, as it turned out, intellectual sparring partner). We proceeded to make sense of thousands of unrelated but very interesting bits of information. There were differing points of view as to how to organize the information and how to make it interesting and entertaining at the same time. We consulted numerous Bathroom Reader experts and sought the advice of many editors and writers we trust.
What you hold in your hands is the product of our labors: 390 pages of solid-gold facts and trivia, mined from eight of Uncle John’s finest Bathroom Readers. It’s taken many hours of hard work. It was tough, but we like what we see. We hope you do, too.
Now, if you’re still reading this, it’s really time to move on to the many varied pages of our new book. Just remember: it’s a factoid-rich read. Take your time. And as always, go with the flow . . .
—Uncle John and the BRI Staff
Alexander Graham Bell refused to have a phone in his study—the ringing drove him nuts.
Al Capone’s older brother Vince was a policeman in Nebraska.
Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name: Moon.
Cyndi Lauper’s 1984 hit “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was written by a man.
Fish can get seasick.
Pierre Michelin, inventor of super-safe Michelin tires, died in a car accident.
French and African marigolds both come from North America.
Pigs can catch swine flu from humans.
Kodak founder George Eastman hated to have his picture taken.
There is no rice in rice paper.
According to a Gallup Poll, one in seven Americans can’t locate the United States on a map.
A check of 62 police cars in Atlanta, Georgia, found that 27 had expired tags.
John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.
P. J. Tierney, father of the modern diner, died of indigestion in 1917 after eating at a diner.
The day Judy Garland died, a tornado touched down in Kansas.
Fish cough.
Walrus burp.
Snails have teeth.
Whales stampede.
Termites are blind.
Rabbits can’t walk.
Jellyfish eat other jellyfish.
Snakes and armadillos can get malaria.
Camels are born without humps.
Rabbits and horses can’t vomit.
Frogs drink through their skin.
Shrimp only swim backward.
Armadillos can get leprosy.
Kangaroos can’t walk.
Ducks can get the flu.
If you live an average life span, you’ll spend about six months on the toilet.
Rumor has it that whenever actress Joan Crawford remarried (she had five husbands), she replaced all the toilet seats in her house.
Most toilets flush in E flat.
Seventy-six percent of bathroom readers prefer their toilet paper to hang over the top.
Toilet Rock, a natural rock formation shaped like a flush toilet, is in City of Rocks, New Mexico.
Favorite Barbie accessory: a pink toilet with real flushing action.
Americans use more than 4.8 billion gallons of water flushing toilets each day.
The average toilet will last about 50 years before it has to be replaced.
Alaska has more outhouses than any other state.
The first stall in a public restroom is usually the cleanest. Seeking privacy, most people skip it.
The first American to have plumbing installed in his home: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in 1840.
An estimated 976,000 U.S. homes have no flush toilets.
Farting contests were held in ancient Japan. Prizes were awarded for loudness and duration.
There are 34 bathrooms in the White House.
During World War II, the Oscar statue was made of plaster. Metal was an essential wartime material.
Alfred Hitchcock never won an Academy Award.
Tweety Pie won an Oscar in 1948.
Shortest film role to win an Oscar: Sylvia Miles, on-screen for six minutes in
Midnight Cowboy
.
Julie Andrews didn’t get to play Eliza in the film version of
My Fair Lady
because she wasn’t a “big enough star.” So she starred in
Mary Poppins
and won the Oscar for Best Actress the same year, 1964.
Composer Irving Berlin is the only Academy Award presenter to give an Oscar to himself.
“Oscar” is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as are “Oscars,” “Academy Awards,” “Oscar Night,” and “A.M.P.A.S.”
Shirley Temple won an honorary Oscar in 1934 at the age of five.
The Oscar statue weighs 8 pounds, 13 ounces.
Edith Head won eight Oscars out of 35 nominations, making her both the top Oscar winner among costume designers and women.
The award’s official title is “The Academy Award of Merit.”
Cost, in parts and labor, for an Academy Award Oscar statuette: about $300.
By the year 2050 the world’s elderly will outnumber the young for the first time.
In the next 60 seconds, 101 people will die and 261 babies will be born.
The world’s youngest-ever parents were eight and nine years old, and lived in China in 1910.
One in five people alive today is Chinese.
Country with the longest life expectancy: Japan (78.6 years for men, 85.6 years for women).
There is no leading cause of death for people who live past the age of 100.
It is estimated that in A.D. 1000, the world population was about 300 million.
Your odds of living to age 116: one in 2 billion.
Since 1850 world population has increased by 500 percent.
Of all the people who have ever lived, only 5 to 10 percent are alive today.
