Astonishing Facts....

[TwigtheWonderkid]

john2443 said:

Reindeer don't eat carrots, which is a surprise for everyone who leaves them for Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve and they've gone in the morning!

My daughter tried feeding one, it had a look and a sniff and wandered off to have something else.

All reindeer or just that one? A sample of one may not be representative.

[anonymous-user]

John Wayne was the star of countless World War II movies , but never actually served.

[generationx]

I'm sure at one point one of these "facts" will astonish me. Up till now it's just "oh".

[davhill]

In the film 'Zulu', Colour Sergeant Bourne was portrayed by Nigel Green, who was 40 years old and 6ft 1in tall.

The real Bourne was 5ft 6in tall and at the time of defence of the mission station in Natal (in 1879), he was 24.

A member of the 2nd battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, he was given the DCM (Distinguished Conduct Medal) and a £10 annuity.

He refused a commission but stayed in the army. He eventually became a Lieutenant Colonel and received the OBE.

In 1945, he died, in retirement, at the age of 91.

[Echo66]

Dr Jekyll said:

Harry Flashman said:

Halmyre said:

When they filmed 'The Longest Day', the part of 27 year old Colonel Vandervoort was played by 55 year old John Wayne. This means that, in 1962 when the film was made, 18 years after the event, Vandervoort was still 10 years younger than the actor playing him.

A paratrooper colonel at 27? Proper bloke - that is amazing.

I think he was a Lt Col, having been promoted about a week before.

In a similar vein, the actor who played Col Sgt Borne in Zulu (Nigel Green) was a made up to look a lot older. Which is a bit strange as the chap himself was the youngest SNCO in the army at the time being only 24 when he was at Rorkes Drift. His nickname was 'The Kid'. Plus he was a bit shorter than Nigel Green.
EDIT - what Davhill posted at the same time.
Private Hook is also incorrectly portrayed in the movie. He was an exemplary solider, a teetotaller & wasn't 'in' the sick bay rather he was part of a detail sent to defend the building.

[StevieBee]

At a cellular level, nobody is more than 9 years old.

If you are 9 years old or more, there is no part of your body that existed when you born.

[RizzoTheRat]

StevieBee said:

At a cellular level, nobody is more than 9 years old.

If you are 9 years old or more, there is no part of your body that existed when you born.

Anyone here got a tattoo that's more than 9 years old?

[gregs656]

StevieBee said:

At a cellular level, nobody is more than 9 years old.

If you are 9 years old or more, there is no part of your body that existed when you born.

That's incorrect. Some cells can last a life time.

[davhill]

Echo66 said:

In a similar vein, the actor who played Col Sgt Borne in Zulu (Nigel Green) was a made up to look a lot older. Which is a bit strange as the chap himself was the youngest SNCO in the army at the time being only 24 when he was at Rorkes Drift. His nickname was 'The Kid'. Plus he was a bit shorter than Nigel Green.
EDIT - what Davhill posted at the same time.
Private Hook is also incorrectly portrayed in the movie. He was an exemplary solider, a teetotaller & wasn't 'in' the sick bay rather he was part of a detail sent to defend the building.

Also, Michael Caine was slated to play 'Hooky' in Zulu but he was pipped by James Booth.

[boyse7en]

generationx said:

I'm sure at one point one of these "facts" will astonish me. Up till now it's just "oh".

tough crowd

[Jonboy_t]

It's entirely possible, even easy, to teach someone to yodel in under 7 seconds.

[The Dangerous Elk]

Jonboy_t said:

It's entirely possible, even easy, to teach someone to yodel in under 7 seconds.

or even to drive for them it seems

[mickk]

[mickk]

generationx said:

I'm sure at one point one of these "facts" will astonish me. Up till now it's just "oh".

Slugs have four noses.

[DRFC1879]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

john2443 said:

Reindeer don't eat carrots, which is a surprise for everyone who leaves them for Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve and they've gone in the morning!

My daughter tried feeding one, it had a look and a sniff and wandered off to have something else.

All reindeer or just that one? A sample of one may not be representative.

I'm calling BS on this. I met the real Father Christmas in Lapland last month and he said his reindeer eat a diet of lichen, rice porridge and many, many kilos of carrots. So there.

[anonymous-user]

StevieBee said:

In the film Aliens, when the crew enter the chamber of the fossilised alien, the crew in the space suits were Ridley Scott's then 8 year old son and his mates - because they were half the size of adults it doubled the scale of the already large set.

And in the opening of the chest-burst scene the crew were unaware John Hurt was about to be "unwell" in order to gain an authentic reaction.

[boyse7en]

Crossflow Kid said:

And in the opening of the chest-burst scene the crew were unaware John Hurt was about to be "unwell" in order to gain an authentic reaction.

And in the dating scene of The Jerk, Bernadette Peters was told that Steve Martin was going to kiss her so that she would make an authentically shocked/disgusted reaction when he did something else

[horza]

Remember the Russian sub Kursk?

It sank in water shallower than the boat was long.

[blade runner]

Another one on lakes...

Lake Baikal in southern Siberia contains almost a quarter (22 - 23%) of the world's fresh surface water. It is the world's deepest lake and contains more water than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

[Voldemort]

At any given moment there are approximately 1,000,000 people in the sky.