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

[philll_77]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

The Land of Nod was where Caine ended up...

You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

[Greenman]

No, he wasn't ABEL enough
Incidentally Cain and Abel is cockney rhyming slang for table in snooker as was a Hereward the Wake-a Break.

[bloke57]

Originally Posted by Greenman

The mythical-sounding Land of Nod(where most children are told to go when they sleep) is actually mentioned in the Bible!

Yes. As a child I was confused by the scripture that said Cain went to the land of Nod "where he knew his wife"!

I remember thinking how could he not know his own wife? She was the one in the white dress at his wedding!

Besides, if there was just Adam, Eve and their three sons, where the feck did she come from? Aliens...!

[tygrkhat40]

Originally Posted by bloke57

Besides, if there was just Adam, Eve and their three sons, where the feck did she come from? Aliens...!

Yeah, that's one of those little details the fundamentalists tend to gloss over when you ask them to explain that.

[Greenman]

Re the Coriolis Effect. I went to Australia in 1993 and I tried that out, to see if the water went round the opposite way-I couldn't see any difference myself.

On the subject of snooker here are some trivial facts:

Ronnie O'Sullivan made the fastest 147 in 5m 20s during a World Championships.

Popular combo Chas & Dave wrote a snooker-related song that made the charts called Snooker Loopy which featured the exploits of Tony Meo, Terry Griffiths, Steve Davis, Willie Thorne and Dennis Taylor basically taking the mickey out of each one with them adding a one line retort. Also featured was Steve Davis' mentor and manager at the time Barry Hearn.

Speaking of Barry Hearn, he then went into Boxing management and then became chairman of Leyton Orient football club. His son Eddie manages fighters now.

Ray Reardon(6 times World Champion) once did a Tuborg Gold beer commercial and Jimmy White(perennial finalist but never a World Champ) did one for Trebor Softmints.

One of the longest and regarded as the greatest World Championship match ever was the 1985 final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor. Taylor was so far down it looked like Davis was a cinch to win but somehow Taylor clawed his way back. It all finished on a black ball game but it just refused to go in any pocket it was potted by Davis or Taylor and three times Davis had the chance to win it; the easiest was missed and left over the pocket for Taylor to sensationally win the title against the odds. It was nearly 1am in the morning and I stayed up to watch it.

Steve Davis was once the presenter of a sports quiz(the name of which escapes me) before the 1984 Olympic Games(Los Angeles) He has been this country's most popular snooker player, and was portrayed as a Spitting Image puppet with the name 'Interesting' - that nickname stuck and made him even more of a household name.

Joe Johnson was a complete outsider who went on to sensationally win his only World title against Steve Davis in another thriller.

Willie Thorne is a very good poker player although he did get himself into a bit of a problem in his younger days.

Jimmy White's walk-on music(I am not sure if this is still the case) used to be 'Jimmy, Jimmy' by the 80's band once fronted by Feargal Sharkey, The Undertones. After the death of Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins, Jimmy White became the new 'People's Champion.' but the World title seemed to elude him.

Most title wins: Stephen Hendry(7), then Steve Davis, Fred Davis(no relation) & Ray Reardon (6) and Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)

The most popular commentator was 'whispering' Ted Lowe because he always used to lower his voice so the players couldn't hear him. He was related to the actor Arthur Lowe.

And finally, in the olden days one-time World Champion and tv summariser John Virgo used to entertain the audience at the World Championships with his impressions of Dennis Taylor, Ray Reardon and Alex Higgins - for Taylor he would don huge glasses upside down. Higgins used to play without a bow-tie(the only player allowed to do so) and so Virgo would take off his tie and pretend to be Higgins smashing the balls into the pockets as Higgins used to with speed and amazing accuracy.

[rosestone]

Originally Posted by Greenman

The most popular commentator was 'whispering' Ted Lowe because he always used to lower his voice so the players couldn't hear him. He was related to the actor Arthur Lowe.

On a similar topic, Henry Blofeld, cricket commentator for many years on BBC test match special, is related to the Bond villain of the same name (kinda). His father was at school with Ian Fleming, writer of the Bond books, who decided to use the name for Bond's nemesis.

[WURZ]

The Australian snooker player Eddie Charlton would always travel to snooker competitions/exhibitions by train across the vastness of what is Australia. The train would stop at obscure shanty towns and sheep stations where Eddie would dis-embark, play the locals at pool and clean up. If he was knocked out of a snooker competition early at least he had his pool money to fall back on. He had what can best be described as a 'lived in' kinda face and was largely unrecognised by his countrymen when travelling through the outback..................................

[Greenman]

I've just checked and in fact Arthur and Ted weren't related at all it is just they looked the same. Canadian Bill Werbeniuk had a condition that he had to drink several pints of beer before his matches and Neil Foulds or Kirk Stevens(can't remember which one it was) had a heart condition and needed beta-blockers normally banned in competitive sport. One incident etched on the minds of snooker players and spectators happened during a match I think it was with Ronnie O'Sullivan when a naked woman suddenly appeared and ran past. Alex Higgins had a special hat which he always used to wear and then remove just before his matches.

The first televised snooker was on BBC2 called Pot Black. This consisted of a weekly ONE frame match of snooker between the top players of the time with the best two coming back at the end to win a trophy. They also had a Junior Pot Black for young up-and-coming players. It started off in black and white, a bit of a handicap when playing and describing coloured balls. The afore-mentioned Ted Lowe is famous for his gaffe when describing where a ball ended up "And for those of you watching in black and white it is just behind the blue!"

[seany65]

Did you know that the Schengen Agreement and Schengen Convention which opened the borders between the EU countries, was thought up by the French as they were sick of the German tourists?

What used to happen when the French customs officials asked:

"Occupation?"

The German tourists would say:

"No, just a Holiday...this time."

[old alal]

Originally Posted by tygrkhat40

Yeah, that's one of those little details the fundamentalists tend to gloss over when you ask them to explain that.

Are you not just "Ribbing"