These 217 Random, Fun, Interesting Facts About Legit Everything Will Shock You

How will you ever be Jeopardy-ready if you don’t commit these random facts to memory? When you know the answer to something that no one else in the room does, it has a way of making you feel like a genius. So if you’re a sucker for trivia, looking to crush your next game night, or just love learning new things that aren’t common knowledge, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll never know when you’ll need to pull these facts out, which is part of the fun.

Is there such a thing as useless information? No way. All those little random, interesting, funny, scary tidbits or “did you know” facts stored in your brain are there for a reason and will surely come in handy someday… even if it’s just so you can beat your best dude at Trivial Pursuit or amaze your bored kiddo while on a family excursion.

Just in case you don’t have enough info cluttering your brain, here’s more fun fodder to keep handy.

Interesting & Fun History Facts

Henry VIII knighted all four of his “Grooms of the Stool” — the people in charge of wiping his butt for him.

Jeannette Rankin was elected to Congress four years before women could even vote.

Women couldn’t apply for credit at a bank until 1974.

Before the invention of modern false teeth, dentures were commonly made from the teeth of dead soldiers.

In ancient Egypt, servants were smeared with honey so flies would flock to them instead of the pharaoh.

It was once considered sacrilegious to use a fork.

Abraham Lincoln was a champion wrestler and a licensed bartender.

George Washington owned a whiskey distillery.

More than 2% of the American population was killed during the Civil War.

John Adams was the first president to live in the White House.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa never stood up straight.

Many Vikings would dye their hair blonde — even their beards — because they viewed it as the best color.

It’s believed that Alexander the Great may accidentally have been buried alive.

There were female gladiators in Ancient Rome called gladiatrices (singular gladiatrix).

Cleopatra was Greek with Macedonian ancestry, not Egyptian.

The ancient Romans used stale urine as mouthwash.

The longest year in human history, 46 BC, clocked in at 445 days long.

The shortest war in history, which was between Britain and Zanzibar, lasted 38 minutes.

In the 1740s, Roman Catholics formed a secret society dubbed the Order of the Pug. Members had to sport dog collars and scratch at the door!

Galloping crocodiles inhabited the Sahara Desert 100 million years ago.

The 1883 Krakatoa volcano eruption produced such a loud sound that it ruptured people’s eardrums 40 miles away.

During World War I, the French built a “fake Paris” to throw off German bombers.

Theodore Roosevelt’s kids had a pet bear, badger, and hyena, to name but a few animals — and they brought them all to the White House!

There are over 700 ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbols. That’s a lot compared to 26 letters of the alphabet!

While the Wright Brothers are famous as a pair, they actually only flew together once. They promised their father they’d always fly separately.

In WWII British soldiers had to make do with only three sheets of toilet paper per day.

Thomas Edison didn’t actually invent most of the things he patented.

Romantic poet Lord Byron kept a tame bear in his college dorm to protest a rule stating that dogs weren’t allowed on the Trinity College campus.

In the Victorian era, men with mustaches used cups with specially-made guards to prevent their facial hair from dipping into their drinks.

Ancient Spartans were so rich that no one had to work.

Interesting & Fun Travel Facts

The average person living in Sweden eats about 22 pounds of chocolate a year.

Montana has three times as many cows as it does people.

Parts of the Great Wall of China were made with sticky rice.

Ninety percent of the world’s population lives above the equator.

Finland has more saunas than cars.

Sixty percent of the world’s lakes (three million total) are located in Canada.

Virginia is the only state that has the same state flower and state tree, the dogwood.

Think before you season! In Egypt, it’s considered incredibly rude to salt food that has been served to you.

You’re never farther than 30 steps from a trash can at Disney World.

Ninety percent of Libya is desert.

There are reportedly no mosquitoes in Iceland.

The height of the Eiffel Tower can vary up to six inches, depending on the temperature.

Spend too much on drinks when you eat out? A small town in Italy actually has a fountain that serves free wine.

Pilots and their co-pilots are required to eat different meals before flights so that they don’t both end up with food poisoning.

Roughly 600 Parisians work at the Eiffel Tower each day.

Want to go to Rome? Which one? There’s a city named Rome on six out of seven continents. (You really dropped the ball, Antarctica.)

When visiting Key West, you’re actually closer to Havana than you are to Miami.

The Great Barrier Reef is so massive that it can be seen from outer space.

The ice in Antarctica is made up of almost 3% penguin urine.

Alaska is the westernmost and easternmost state in the United States.

Interesting TV & Movie Facts

Oona Chaplin, who played Robb Stark’s wife in Game of Thrones, is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter.

The Silence of the Lambs is the only horror film that’s won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The original title for The Big Bang Theory was Lenny, Penny, and Kenny.

Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld, had a rule that the show would never have any hugging or learning moments between characters.

Will Ferrell improvised the iconic scene in Elf where Buddy adds syrup and candy to his spaghetti and eats it.

Doctor Who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running science fiction TV series. It’s been on since 1963.

The famous line in Casablanca, "Here's looking at you, kid" was improvised by Humphrey Bogart.

Despite its title, Troll 2 is unrelated Troll.

The T-rex roar in Jurassic Park was made from animal sounds, including recordings of a baby elephant, a tiger, and an alligator.

The Simpsons, which premiered in 1989 and has over 700 episodes, is the longest-running primetime scripted television series in the United States.

Interesting & Fun Music Facts

Mary, of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” fame, was a real person and the song is based on a true story.

“Happy Birthday” was the first song ever played on Mars. Mars Rover Curiosity played the song to itself on its first anniversary on the planet.

While listening to music, your heart can sync to the rhythm.

President Nixon was an accomplished musician. He played five instruments, including the accordion.

Got a song stuck in your head? That’s called an “earworm.”

None of The Beatles could actually read music.

However, George Harrison could reportedly play 26 instruments.

Barry Manilow did not, in fact, write “I Write The Songs.”

Metallica is the only band to perform on all seven continents.

Most department stores tend to play slower music, in order to slow down customers and keep them shopping longer. The opposite is true for restaurants.

Monaco’s orchestra is bigger than its army.

The song with the longest title has 29 words: Hoagy Carmichael’s “I’m a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with my Honolulu Mama Doin’ Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues.”

A concert promoter once sold a thousand tickets to a Spice Girls concert in Hawaii that was never actually booked. Maybe that’s where they got the idea for Fyre Fest.

Leo Fender, the inventor of the Stratocaster and the Telecaster, couldn’t play guitar.

In 2016, Mozart sold more albums than Beyoncé.

During a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, someone donated $35,000 so that VH1 Classic would have to play “99 Luftballons” on repeat for an entire hour.

“A Boy Named Sue” wasn’t written by Johnny Cash. Shel Silverstein wrote it.

In 2015, Belfast police used ice cream truck music to deter teenage rioters.

Prince played 27 instruments on his debut album.

Eminem’s song “Rap God” has the most words with 1560.

Interesting & Fun Sports Facts

Gatorade was named after the University of Florida Gators.

China didn’t win its first Olympic medal until 1984.

Tug of war used to be an Olympic sport.

The average golf ball has 336 dimples.

Tennis was originally played with bare hands.

The Cleveland Browns are the only team to neither play in or host a Super Bowl.

Wilt Chamberlain is in the Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Some golf balls are filled with honey.

Despite taking about three hours to play out, the average baseball game only has about 18 minutes of active playing time.

MLB umpires are required to wear black underwear in case they split their pants.

Bo Jackson refused the teams that originally tried to draft him in both baseball and football.

Both volleyball and basketball were invented in Massachusetts.

Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls once went eight seasons (starting in 1990) without a three-game losing streak.

NFL refs also get Super Bowl rings.

President Hubert Hoover invented a game called “Hooverball” which was a cross between tennis and volleyball and was played with a medicine ball.

Only one city has won three major championships in one year. In 1935, the Detroit Lions won the Super Bowl, the Tigers won the World Series, and the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup.

More than 100 baseballs are used during a typical professional baseball game.

Ancient Olympics contestants performed in the nude! They believed it helped them achieve closeness to the gods.

There are over 8000 sports played around the world

The silhouette you see on the official NBA logo is Los Angeles Lakers guard Jerry West.

Interesting & Fun Human Facts

You can’t hum while plugging your nose.

Tomatoes have more genes than humans.

We’re one to two centimeters taller in the morning than at night.

One-quarter of all our bones are in our feet.

The human body contains enough fat to make about seven bars of soap.

You can’t lick your elbow.

You can’t tickle yourself.

By the time we die, we’ll have spent roughly a year sitting on the toilet.

You are always looking at your nose; your brain just chooses to ignore it.

Astronauts can grow up to two inches taller while they’re in space.

Some blood vessels in a blue whale are actually big enough for humans to swim through.

We’re the only species known to blush.

You only breathe out of one nostril at a time.

Babies are born with more bones than adults. (Babies have 300 bones while adults only have 206.)

Most newborns lose all the hair they were born with by the time they’re six months old.

It’s impossible to burp in space.

Everyone has their own unique smell, except identical twins.

Thumbs have their own pulse.

Goosebumps developed to make our ancestors’ hair stand up, making them appear more threatening to predators.

A sneeze shoots through the air at 100 miles per hour, sending 10,000 germs flying.

Know how a bat or whale uses echolocation to communicate? Humans are also capable of echolocation.

Hair and nails typically grow faster during pregnancy.

Stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve metal.

The longest hiccuping spell lasted a whopping 68 years.

The average human body carries more bacteria cells than human cells.

The human hand has 54 bones. That’s more than a quarter of the bones in the whole body. Wow!

In their lifetime, the average person walks the equivalent of five times around the Earth.

Interesting & Fun Food Facts

Strawberries are not berries, but bananas actually are!

And so are avocados because they come from a single flower with one ovary and have a seed inside.

Despite their name, sweet potatoes are unrelated to regular potatoes.

In Russia, beer was considered a soft drink, not alcohol, until 2011.

A tomato is actually a fruit.

The Bloody Mary was originally called A Bucket of Blood.

The cashew nuts we eat are actually attached to a large cashew apple that is used to make soft drinks in Brazil. Ca-shew on that fact!

Did you know apples are part of the same plant family as roses? Plums, raspberries, and many other delicious fruits are also part of this plant family.

Turkey was probably not eaten at the first Thanksgiving. Instead, wildfowl, goose, and even possibly passenger pigeons and swans were consumed.

Humans wouldn’t be able to taste food without saliva.

While SPAM is most popular in Hawaii, it was actually invented in Minnesota. The state even serves as home to the SPAM museum!

The heaviest onion on record was grown by Pete Glazebrook of England. It weighed 17 pounds.

The longest noodle ever made is more than 10,000 feet long. That’s almost two miles! Wonder how long it would take us to slurp that?

Squeamish? Don’t go to any cheese shops in Sardinia, lest you find yourself face to face with Casu Marzu, a cheese that gets its taste from live maggots.

Lettuce is a member of the sunflower family. Is your mind blown?

Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as a cure for an upset stomach.

Captain Morgan was a real guy — and a real captain.

Citrus fruits — oranges, grapefruits, lemons — can naturally hybridize with each other.

Funny Fun Facts

Don’t bring your crystal ball to Maryland! Fortune telling is illegal in the state.

The technical term for a fear of long words is “”hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.” No way you can self-diagnose yourself with that one!

The White House has 35 bathrooms. So, every bathroom break can be different for POTUS!

Hiking naked is illegal in Switzerland. (TBH, it doesn’t seem like a good idea in general.)

A woodpecker’s tongue is bigger than its entire head. It keeps it wrapped up around its brain to protect it from the impact of all that pecking!

Saturn’s surface is less dense than water. That means it could float in your bathtub — if it were big enough.

The expression “heart of gold” was invented by Shakespeare.

Some lipsticks apparently contain fish scales. Eek!

An ostrich’s eye is actually bigger than its brain. Ostriches also have the largest eye of any land animal.

The United States apparently makes 25 percent of the world’s cheese. That’s a whole lot of cheese!

Want a license plate in the shape of a polar bear? All you have to do is move to Nunavut Province in Canada!

How do you tell if a cranberry is ripe? It’ll bounce like a rubber ball.

Most U.S. stamp adhesive contains about one-tenth of a calorie. British stamps could set you back 5.9 calories. Of course, one lick won’t transfer all of that to your belly.

Jin Songhao of China won the world record for longest skin contact with snow at 46 minutes and 7 seconds!

The title of tallest Mohawk goes to Kazuhito Watanabe, a Japanese fashion designer. His “hawk” measures three feet 8.6 inches.

Elmer Fudd’s original name was Egghead.

The actors who voiced Mickey and Minnie Mouse from the 1980s to the 2010s were married!

In some Harry Potter movie scenes where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are doing their Hogwarts schoolwork, the actors were actually doing their REAL schoolwork.

Forgetful? Move to Eastern Pennsylvania where the word “jawn” can be used to a person, place, or thing you just can’t remember.

The Supreme Court has its own basketball court, with a great nickname: “The highest court on the land!” Get it?!

Interesting & Fun Animal Facts

Polar bear fur is actually clear, and their skin is black.

Baby flamingos are born grey, not pink.

A woodpecker’s tongue wraps all the way around its brain, protecting it from damage when it’s hammering into a tree.

A shrimp’s heart is located in its head.

Elephants suck on their trunks for comfort.

Anteaters have no teeth.

Nine-banded armadillos always have quadruplets, and they’re always identical.

Wombat poop is cube-shaped.

A flock of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

Hippos and horses are actually distant relatives.

All clownfish are born male.

Turns out, a dog’s paw print is just as unique as a human’s. Good news for dog detectives!

In the UK, The Crown legally owns all unmarked swans.

To keep from drifting apart, sea otters hold hands while they sleep.

Goats from different regions have different “accents.”

Scientists have discovered evidence that dolphins call each other by “name.”

Gorillas can catch human colds — you’re probably still safe to go to the zoo with the sniffles, though.

The first Akita dog came to this country in 1937 as a present for Helen Keller.

Mice actually do not like cheese! They prefer sweets if given the choice — they like to eat fruit, seeds, and grains.

Forget bald eagles; the turkey was once almost named the national bird.

A group of owls is called a parliament.

There are 32 muscles in a cat’s ear.

Snails can regenerate their eyes.

Greyhounds can run up to 45 mph. So don’t challenge one to a race!

Want to know if your pet turtle is a boy or girl? Listen closely! Female turtles hiss and male turtles grunt.

Guide dogs do their “business” on command to make things easier for their owners. So considerate!

A starfish can turn its stomach inside out.

French Poodles are actually from Germany.

Seahorses mate for life and can often be seen holding each other’s tales.

A group of porcupines is called a prickle.

The Galapagos giant tortoise can weigh 550 pounds — as much as a brown bear!

Sloths can hold their breaths for up to 40 minutes.

A garden snail can have up to 14,000 teeth.

A camel can drink up to 40 gallons of water in one go.

Hippopotamus milk is pink.

Don’t let the chicken cross the road in Georgia (the country.) No, seriously. It’s illegal!

Ferrets used to be used to protect grain stores from rodents.

Cardinals cover themselves in ants to get rid of lice and other harmful parasites that might be in their feathers.

Bats have belly buttons.

A flock of ravens is called a conspiracy. Dark stuff!

Mice have pretty funny names: A female mouse is a doe and a male mouse is a buck. Baby mice are sometimes called pinkies because of their color and sometimes called pups.

Did you know that gorillas, monkeys, bonobos, and other primates make a new nest to sleep in every night?

Chickens don’t just eat seeds; they like to eat insects and also mice and lizards.

Giraffes don’t just have long necks: They have long tongues! Their tongues are between 18 and 20 inches long.

In Arizona, you can’t feed garbage to pigs without getting a permit.

Sea otters like to hold each other’s paws when they sleep, so they don’t drift apart while dreaming. How sweet is that?!

Did you know that jellyfish have been around even before dinosaurs?

All clownfish are born male. They can also all change their sex to female, but they can’t turn it back to male after doing so.

Whale songs can be used by scientists to sonically map out the ocean floor.

Caterpillars have 12, count ‘em, 12 eyes!

The oldest domestic cat on record lived for 38 years. She was Creme Puff of Austin, Texas.

Apparently, the world’s fastest ant runs faster than Usain Bolt!

Little brown bats make for the longest nappers — in captivity, they nap up to 19.9 hours a day.

Otto the bulldog broke the record for a dog to skate through the longest human tunnel when he skated through the legs of 30 people without any assistance. Otto, you’re our hero.

A flock of peacocks is called a party. Party hard, peacocks!

Miscellaneous Interesting Facts

Time stops at the speed of light.

If Betelgeuse exploded right now, the star’s last light show would brighten our sky for around two months.

The founder of sportswear companies Puma and Adidas were brothers! Rudolf “Rudi” Dassler is the brain behind Puma, while his big bro Adolf “Adi” Dassler gave the world Adidas.

The only letter of the alphabet that doesn’t appear in any American state is q.

George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., designed and constructed the original Ferris Wheel in Chicago, Illinois.

Glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets hold nearly 69 percent of the world’s freshwater.

The first person charged with speeding in a vehicle was going eight miles per hour.

New York’s Central Park is bigger than Monaco. That’s right, one park is bigger than an entire country!

Here’s a fact to sit on: There are over 9,000 benches in Central Park.