The Adventure of the Dad Facts

I should being this post by stating that I have great affection for my Father. He stayed at home to look after me whilst my Mum went to work in a time where that was still highly unusual. He's therefore perhaps the biggest influence on who I am today. 

He's also full of rubbish. I suspect he would agree with me. We spent quite a lot of time together during 2020 thanks to lockdown and I began to notice he was a constant source of irrelevant and often banal trivia. I began to make a note of the trivia he spouted on my phone under the title "Dad Facts". I use the word 'fact' quite loosely as I suspect many of these may not be entirely true and I have not looked into them any further. 

Here are twenty Dad Facts from the last year:

1. The town of Blandford in Dorset burnt down in 1731 and was rebuilt in brick and tile. This is why houses are not generally built of wood and thatch anymore. 

 It seems quite a stretch to me that one large fire could be considered responsible for modern building materials. I've been to Blandford and to be honest a large fire might improve it. 

2. It took four years to cast Scarlet O'Hara in 'Gone with the Wind'. There is a film about the casting process. 

3. The Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov spent some time in the UK but didn't like it because it wasn't cold enough. 

The lack of information here means this stretches the definition of the word 'fact'. 

4. Mr. Brightside by The Killers only spent one week in the UK Top 20. Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 spent seven weeks at number 2 with six different number ones. 

I think it's fair to say my Dad is something of a fan of the music charts and is full of useless statistics like this. 

5. In the Stone Age there was a disease which decimated the human population leaving only 5,000 people around. 

I'm highly dubious about the legitimacy of this one and I was not provided with the source of this fact. My Dad works in finance, not anthropology. 

6. The first domestic appliance sold by HP was a sewing machine. 

This one is probably true but it's not exactly exciting is it? 

7. In 26 US states it is illegal to teach the theory of evolution. 

Actually this one is quite good. The American education system is extremely messed up. 

8. In 1912, the year that Titanic sank, both boats in the Oxford/Cambridge boat race also sank. 

9. President Gerald Ford was adopted. 

This feels like a conversation killer. How do you respond to this information? 

10. Reggae artist Judge Dredd had more hit records in the 1970s than Bob Marley. He was invited to Jamaica and surprised everyone because he was white. He had 11 records banned by the BBC. 

Another obscure chart fact. This would surely be his Mastermind Specialist Subject. 

11. There has only been a 30th February once in history, in 1612 in Sweden. 

I suspect there may have been a lengthy explanation to this fact. I also suspect I zoned out during said explanation. 

12. A mouse heart beats six times a second. 

13. Different Corner by George Michael was the first song to reach number one to be written, produced and performed by one person. 

He LOVES a chart fact. 

14. There are 3 million shipwrecks at the bottom of the ocean. 

This feels like another dubious one- surely no-one can possible know for sure how many there are? 

15. Jeff Buckley died trying to swim in the Missouri fully-clothed. 

I'm fairly sure this one was followed by the line "no-one knows why" although thinking about it that line could be used to follow many of the facts listed here. 

16. Reading FC used to be nicknamed 'the biscuitmen'. 

I cannot even imagine the context for this coming up in conversation. 

17. There are two golf balls on the Moon. 

18. There are more tigers in New York City than the wild. 

Oh, this one is actually pretty good. 

19. Ricky Wilson's real name is Charles Richard Wilson. Ben Miller's full name is Bennett. 

Wikipedia was invented for people like my Dad. Real names of celebrities would perhaps me my Dad's backup Specialist subject on Mastermind. 

20. Emma Bunton appeared in EastEnders before she became a Spice Girl. 

This is mildly surprising but it makes me wonder where on Earth my Dad stumbled upon this fact. I mean, what was he Googling to find this? 

Well that was fun wasn't it and perhaps for the first time my Dad's facts have been used for a purpose. One day perhaps he'll publish them all in a book, though frankly I'm not sure who would buy it.