Trivia

< Page 6 >

The peregrine falcon, a protected bird of prey in the United Kingdom, can fly at a speed of 132 km/h (82 mph)

A person uses 72 muscles when speaking.

To count up to one million at a steady rate of one number per second would take eleven days, thirteen hours, forty-six minutes and forty seconds.

The human body contains enough phosphorus to cap the ends of sixty boxes of matches.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei is thought to have the biggest private collection of Rolls-Royce cars, consisting of around 150 vehicles. Together with his brother, Prince Jefri, the Sultan is reported to own a further 1 998 luxury cars.

The largest flying paper aircraft in the world had a wing span of 13.97 metres (45 ft 10 in). It was constructed by students from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. It was flown on 16 May 1995 and flew for 34.8 metres (114 ft 2 in).

An American tabby cat named Dusty produced a record 420 kittens in her lifetime. She gave birth to her last kitten on 12 June 1952.

The 1951 American film Quo Vadis used a record 32 000 costumes. It starred Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr.

Gregory Arakelian of the USA set a computer typing speed record of 158 words per minute during the Key Tronic World Invitational Type-Off, which attracted around 10 000 entrants. He recorded this amazing speed during the semi-final on 24 September 1991 and made only two mistakes. His amazing speed equates to more than two words per second.

Up to 4 000 people were killed and thousands more were left with permanent disabilities after a toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate gas enveloped a settlement around the Union Carbide Corporation's pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, on 3 December 1984. Apparently the disaster was deliberately caused by a disgruntled employee. Union Carbide was made to pay £310 million or $470 million in compensation to the victims and their families.