Ronald Reagan used to be a stand-up | And 24 more facts from QI's latest book

Ronald Reagan used to be a stand-up

And 24 more facts from QI's latest book

Ronald Reagan was a stand-up comedian for two weeks.

The Nazis didn’t call themselves Nazis because Nazi is German slang for ‘country bumpkin’.

The Oompa-Loompas were originally called Whipple-Scrumpets.

Netflix has created a pair of socks that pause the show you’re watching if you fall asleep.

Until 1858, all British passports were written in French.

When Monty Python toured the US and were asked to trash a hotel suite for publicity, Michael Palin obligingly went into the bathroom and broke a toothbrush.

The Queen owns a drive-thru McDonald’s in Slough.

MC Hammer doesn’t like hammers.

Proctologists in ancient Egypt were known as ‘shepherds of the anus’.

The Bank of England was founded by a Scotsman in 1694.

The Bank of Scotland was founded by an Englishman in 1695.

Restaurants in New Zealand that sell cooked locusts advertise them as ‘sky prawns’.

Alexander Graham Bell tried to breed sheep with extra nipples.

31 per cent of American teenagers think they’ll be famous one day.

In 1845, a bridge collapsed in Great Yarmouth, killing 79 people watching a clown in tub being pulled by geese.

The sun is white, with a hint of turquoise, not yellow.

Estádio Milton Correar, a football stadium in Brazil, has one goal in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere.

QI facts

In 2009, Jonathan Lee Riches served an injunction on Guinness World Records to stop them calling him the ‘world’s most litigious person’.

Donald Trump’s father and grandmother both had the middle name Christ.

People who drink black coffee are more likely to be psychopaths.

Former England rugby captain Phil Vickery is a qualified cattle inseminator.

Max Factor’s real name was Maksymilian Faxktorowicz

Hitchcock bought up all the copies of the novel Psycho so people wouldn’t find out the ending.

Lesbians earn more than straight women.

The Bank of England owns only two gold bars

• From QI’s 1,342 Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted. The book is out now, published by Faber and Faber and priced £9.99. Click here to buy for £4.99.

Published: 12 Dec 2016

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