The "Did you know" thread.....

[Greenman]

In the video for the Bluebells catchy song 'Young At Heart' it features two veteran actors. Stratford Johns(as a chef) who was a Superintendant Charlie Barlow in the popular police series 'ZCars' and it's sequel 'Softly, Softly, Task Force' and actress Molly Weir, best known for her appearance as McWitch in children's comedy series ' Rentaghost' as a maid. At one point she does the splits and a back flip-steady Molly! Oh yes and the lovely Claire (Altered Images singer, star of Gregory's Girl & Red Dwarf) Grogan of course.

[tygrkhat40]

In the movie World War Z, Peter Capaldi played a researcher from the World Health Organization. His credit for the movie reads "W.H.O. Doctor."

[T2000]

160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the world's widest road.

[GailFan]

During the Battle of the North Cape, the British battleship Duke of York sunk the German battleship Scharnhorst in December 1943.

Did you know that the Scharnhorst was named after a Prussian general who served under the then-Duke of York in the late 18th century?

[Greenman]

Amazing film facts:
Did you know...
Christopher Plummer turned down the role of Harry Palmer in 'The Ipcress File' to appear as Captain Georg von Trapp in 'The Sound of Music'

He also disliked the film, calling it "the sound of mucus" and called the song "Edelweiss", which he sings(or rather is dubbed singing although he did record the tunes) as schmaltzy.

Julie Andrews, in between takes of 'The Sound of Music' entertained the children by singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" yet the film it came from 'Mary Poppins' hadn't been released yet-they thought she had just made it up

At the end of the film the children along with Maria and Captain von Trapp are seen escaping over the mountains. In reality they left by train to Italy. Austria's borders were closed the day after the Von Trapp family left.

Mary Martin(Larry Hagman's mother) who played Maria on the stage earned something in the region of over $8m whereas for the film Julie Andrews earned a paltry $250,000. She probably got more for being 'Mary Poppins'


Two of the film von Trapp children would go onto bigger things. Angela Cartwright(Brigitta) was one of the Robinson family in US tv series 'Lost in Space' and Nicholas Hammond(Friedrich) would be the first person to play, on television, Spiderman in the late 70s.

SPOLIER ALERT-DO NOT READ FURTHER if you've not seen the film 'Saving Mr Banks.' - - -

In Saving Mr Banks Disney in shown going to London to personally appeal to PL Travers to allow him to film her book Mary Poppins. In reality he made no such trip. Also when at the screening Travers(played by Emma Thompson) is seen crying over some scenes including the father Mr Banks(played by David Tomlinson in the original film, portrayed by Colin Farrell in the real life story). In reality she cried with frustration and anger over the portrayal of her characters. She loathed 'silly cartoons' and was vehmently against them in the film.

In the animated film 'UP' Carl ties hundreds of balloons to his house so he can float away and fullfil a life-long ambition and promise to his wife. In reality you would need almost a million or so balloons to lift a house yet in the film you never actually see him blow the balloons up, or see where he got that amount of helium to blow them up.

[old alal]

Did you know that while VEF was in difficulty, apart from the wonderful retro erotica, and searching for the many films I do not yet have digitally, seeking out those rare clips and films by my favourite porn stars, (which because of this great site is a growing list), the Football and Cricket Threads. Those I contribute to most often, meeting and sharing sexual encounters with like minded members, this is the thread I missed most, and especially the contributions of Greenman!

Give me lots of "did you knows" PLEASE.

[Greenman]

Hmm a bouquet and brickbat in one sentence-clever that! It is true that I never really took much notice of football and grew up in an athletics-obsessed family(that is watching it, not taking part in it) thanks to my Dad. However, it is not always easy to find DID YOU KNOWs that are already known or can be found via Google-which I never use for this thread.

Did you know:
The word SALARY comes from 'salarium' - the money Roman soldiers received each month to buy salt.

In Italy some banks have held wheels of Parmesan cheese as collateral for loans!

A clover-shaped coin was minted in England in 1060. The leaves could be broken off to be used as separate currency.

And the £5 note is the longest running Bank of England note: it was first issued in 1795. Source: Money Section Daily Mail.

[rustler]

Originally Posted by Greenman

A clover-shaped coin was minted in England in 1060. The leaves could be broken off to be used as separate currency.

It was also quite usual to simply clip coins in half, or quarters for change.

If I can find them out later, I have in my collection a small silver coin from the reign of King Eward III (1327 - 1377), plus another half silver coin and a quarter piece, also from the same reign.

I often hold them in my hand and wonder who bought what with them 630 to 680 odd years ago!

The quarter piece even still has the burr, where the trader roughly cut the coin as change!

[Mal Hombre]

Originally Posted by rustler

It was also quite usual to simply clip coins in half, or quarters for change.

Hence "Pieces of Eight" (Arrr) the Spanish Eight Real coin often cut up into er...pieces..

[Lurk_D]

Not to mention the American dollar coin in the 19th century, cut up into eighths that were called 'bits'. The old barbershop rhyme 'Shave and a haircut, two bits' refers to those grooming items costing about a quarter at the time, usually payed for with the cut up dollar coin pieces.