THE MINI MASK MAN AND COOL STUFF!!!

Fact 205: Who is the Douglas fir named after? The Douglas fir tree is named after David Douglas. David Douglas was born in Scone, Scotland on the 25th of June 1799 and died while climbing Mauna Kea (which is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaiʻi) on the 12th of July 1834 David Douglas fell into a cattle pit trap up Mauna Kea and is thought to have been eaten by a bull that was in the pit trap. David Douglas was a Scottish botanist and explorer who brought the first Douglas fir tree seed from North America back to Britain in 1827. The scientific name Pseudotsuga menziesii pays homage to Archibald Menzies who was born in Weem in Scotland on 15 March 1754 and died in Kensington in London on the 15th of February 1842. Archibald Menzies, was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who discovered the Douglas fir tree in North America 1791.

Fact 204: Is the word twee a real word? The answer is yes twee is a real word British word(which I found by chance in a Collins dictionary). Despite what you might think it is not a funny way to say tree like a baby, instead the word twee comes from an early 20th century baby (English) mispronunciation for the word sweet and means that something is pretty or sentimental in a way that you think is excessive or silly, or nicely sweet or quaint, although now a days it is usually used as a negative way to describe something that is to sweet or sickly sweet (excessively sweet that it is bad).(yeah this word has more than one meaning Although the word is not normally used unless you are a professional wine taster or a fancy film critics in which case it is used negatively (according to an article I read about the word)

Fact 203: Are there any surviving play manuscripts that contain William Shakespeare's handwriting? The answer is surprisingly yes, there is only one (this in it self is surprising because Shakespeare used a scribes to make copies of his completed play manuscripts) this manuscript is in fact the only surviving literary, play manuscript that contains William Shakespeare's handwriting and only on three pages of the manuscript have been identified and professionally conformed to be Shakespeare's handwriting. The play manuscript is called The Book of Sir Thomas More, and it is owned by the British Library. The play was originally first written by Anthony Munday (the amount of times I had to change it back from Monday to Munday, is impressive to say the least). Anthony Munday wrote the play sometime between 1596 and 1601 although it was not allowed to be preformed because the Master of the Revels, (Edmund Tilney), refused to allow the play of Sir Thomas More to be performed.  it

Fact 202: Who wrote The Wind in the Willows? The Wind in the Willows was written by Kenneth Grahame the book was published in 1908. Kenneth Grahame was born on the 8th of March 1859 and died on the 6th of July 1932. The Wind in the Willows is thought (acouding to BBC country file) to be set on a stretch of the River Thames, located in Cookham Dean and also set on a bit of the River Thames that runs from Pangbourne to Marlow (the river Thames continues on to Cookham Dean, I check) The Wild Wood is based on Quarry Wood (which is a part of Bisham Woods there is in fact a root called the Wind in the Willows trail run by the National Trust and Woodland Trust in the Cookham Dean and Bisham Woods) There are alot of houses that clam to be the inspiration for Toad Hall, and their is a village in Cornwall called Lerryn that claims to be the setting for the book, the cornish holiday cottages website states "Kenneth Grahame never lived in Cornwall".  Kenneth did in fact grow up near the

Fact 201: What is Bear Grylls' real name? Bear Grylls' real name is Edward Michael Grylls, Bear Grylls' sister gave him the nickname Bear when Bear was a week. Bear Grylls was born on the 7th of June 1974.  At the age of 32, On the 16th of May 1998 reached the summit of Mount Everest (Pronounced eeverest) despite having broken three vertebrae in a parachuting accident 18 months previously. Bear is Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Bear Grylls has an OBE), Bear Grylls was given his OBE on Thursday the 10th of October 2019, Bear was presented with the OBE at Buckingham Palace by the late Queen Elizabeth II (Bear was only 45 years old). Bear Grylls was appointed Chief Scout in 2009, Bear Grylls was only 34 at the time (I was a scout and really enjoyed Scouts, in fact I got to see the 2012 Olympic torch when I was in ether clubs or scout).

Fact 200: What is Oscar Wilde's full name? Oscar Wilde's full name is Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, Wilde was born on the 16th of October 1854 in Dublin and died on the 30th of November 1900 in Paris(the capital city of France). Oscar Wilde is a famous Novelist, poet, Journalist and Playwright. Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for being gay in Reading Prison from 1895 to 1897 because it was sadly illegal to be gay in those days. Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years, hard labour for being gay although the court called it gross indecency with another man. 2 years was the maximum sentence for gross indecency. Wilde was imprisoned in Reading prison .

Fact 199: What is C.S. Lewis' full name? C.S. Lewis' full name is Clive Staples Lewis. C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast (Northern Ireland) on the 29th of November 1898 and died on the 22nd of November 1963 in Oxford (England). C.S. Lewis is an author best known for writing The Chronicles of Narnia which is a series of seven novels the most famous of which is, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which is a great book and one I have actually read, I have also listened to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Magician's Nephew on a C.D (Compact Disc) and I have watched a lot of the Narnia films on a rainy holiday a few years ago. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was originally written as gift for C.S. Lewis' godchild, Lucy Barfield. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was first published In 1950 and was the first one of the Narnia books to be published.

Fact 198 How many plays and poems did Shakespeare write? According to the British Library Between about 1590 and 1613, Shakespeare wrote at least (or possibly more than) 37 plays Shakespeare only wrote 4 poems. Just a "little" context behind this fact, William Shakespeare died on the 23 April 1616 and was also thought to have been born on the 23rd of April in 1564 this is because we know Shakespeare was baptised Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere (which is Latin for William son of John Shakespeare) on the Wednesday 26th of April 1564 and in Tutor times three days would have been a normal\ typical gap between being born and being baptised, this is why the 23rd of April has also become the day to celebrate Shakespeare's birth and death.  Also happy St George's Day (even though St George isn't even English, St George was actually born in Cappadocia, Turkey and there is no evidence that he has ever been to England ever but he is still the patron Saint)!

Fact 197: Who was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson best known as? Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote a very famous and popular children's book in 1865, originally the story was going to be called Alice's Adventures Under Ground, in fact Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote a hand written book with the original tittle which he gave to Alice Liddell who was the inspiration for the book. Basically Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote the book and entitled the book Alice's Adventures Under Ground but the publishers (Pan Macmillan) charged the title to Alice in wonder land, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was of course best known as Lewis Carroll. Basically Lewis Carroll is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson pseudonym. Alice in wonder land was illustrated by Sir John Tenniel.

Fact 196: When was MI5 formed? MI5 was formed in 1909 by Vernon Kell, Vernon Kell was also the first director General of MI5, and Vernon Kell was director General from 1909 to 1940. There have been 17 Director Generals the current Director General is Ken McCallum, interestingly the first Director General to be (officially) publicly named was Dame Stella Rimington (Director General from 1992 to 1996) basically until 1993, the Prime Minister would appoint the MI5 Director General in secret and MI5 didn't disclose the Director Generals names to the general public.

Fact 195: When did Sherlock the BBC series first air? Sherlock first aired in the UK on the 25th of July 2010 the first episode was called A Study in Pink. The final episode (series 4 episode 3) The Final Problem aired on 15 January 2017.

Fact 194: Which James Bond movie was the song Writing on the Wall the opening song for? The answer is Spectre (2015). The song was sung by Sam Smith, Sam Smith co wrote the song "Writing on the Wall" with Jimmy Napes, and the song was produced by Sam Smith with Steve Fitzmaurice and Disclosure the song was released on the 25 September 2015, Spectre premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on the 26 October 2015. Spectre starred Daniel Craig as James Bond.

Fact 193: What was Daniel Craig's first James Bond movie? Daniel Craig's first James Bond (007) movie was Casino Royale (2006) which was an adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel also called Casino Royale. The opening song for Casino Royale You Know My Name which was performed by the American musician Chris Cornell who co wrote and produced the song with David Arnold.

Fact 192: What Shape was Shakespeare's Globe Theatre? Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was 30 metres in diameter and had 20 sides which gave the illusion it was a circle. A 20 side "2d" shape is called an icosagon (icosagon polygon) which is also commonly called a 20-sided polygon. Shakespeare's Globe was 11 m tall.

Fact 191: How many glass panels were used to build The Shard? The shard is made out of 11000 glass panels and the total area of all of the glass is 56000 metres squared.

Fact 190: How tall is the shard? The shard which started being built in the 16th of March 2009 and finished being built in 30 March 2012 and inaugurated on 5 July 2012 and then opened to the public on the 1st February 2013. The shard was originally, formerly called the London Bridge Tower and is 310 m tall (1017.06 feet).

Fact 189: How tall is Big Ben? First of all, I am referring to the Bell, not the Elizabeth Tower. Big Ben (the bell) has a diameter of 2.7m and a height of 2.2m, and Big Ben weighs 13.7 tonnes. Big Ben's hammer weighs 200kg. The Elizabeth Tower has been the correct name for the clock tower since HM Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee in 2017. The Elizabeth Tower is, 320 feet (97.5 metres) tall.  The Elizabeth Tower first foundation stone was laid on 28 September 1843 acouding to the Parliament website it took sixteen years to be built because it fell 5 years behind schedule this means the building was completed in 1859. 

Fact 188: How many teeth do piranhas have? Piranhas have about 20 interlocking razor sharp teeth in their jaw (mouth). Piranhas are about 12 inches (30.48cm) in length. Piranhas can be found in tropical rivers and streams (fresh water) in South America. Acouding to Penn & Teller, piranhas won't (kill or bite or) attach humans so to prove this Teller casually put his feet in the piranha tank and guess what, one piranha actually bit his toe. Piranhas have a bite pressures that exceeds 20,000 PSI, for context the average human bite force is between 120-160 PSI and the Bull Sharks max bite force is about 1300 PSI.

Fact 187: What is the difference between a tapestry and an embroidery? The difference between a tapestry and an embroidery is that basically a tapestry is created by weaving threads together that are stretched out on a loom with horizontal colourful threads woven into the plain vertical hanging threads to create a pattern, and embroidery is where people have stitched (sewn) with (usually) woollen thread into a background fabric (like a linen cloth).

Fact 186: Is the Bayeux Tapestry a tapestry? Interestingly, despite its name, the Bayeux Tapestry is in fact an embroidery made with woollen thread on a linen cloth. The Bayeux Tapestry tells the story from the Norman's perspective of, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 between William (commonly known as William the conqueor) and Harold Godwinson.

Fact 185: What is the difference between a star and a sun and is there a difference? The answer is yes there is a difference between a star and a sun because every Sun is a star, but not every star is a Sun. Basically a star is only called a Sun if it is located at the centre of a planetary system so basically every sun is classified as a star but a star won't always be classified as a sun unless planets orbit the star and then it will be classified as a sun.

Fact 184: Is the Portuguese man-of-war a single organism and a jellyfish? Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis) The answer is no and no, the Portuguese man-of-war may look like a jellyfish and a single organism but in fact it isn't (if you are looking directly at a Portuguese man-of-war may I suggest you either run calmly away or start swimming away rather than reading information about them). The Portuguese man of war is a colony of individual organisms called polyps. The Man of War is basically a species of siphonophore (gosh that is a long word), which is a group of animals that are closely related to jellyfish. The Portuguese Man-of-War Is interestingly Four Organisms, or zooids, that can't function without each other. Each one provides a necessary function for the others to survive. The four organisms or zooids are, One the bubble of gas, two the tentacles, and three mouth tentacle tubes and four the reproductive tentacles which can't function without the other. 

Fact 183: How long can an octopus survive out of water? According to Ken Halanych a marine biologist and the BBC, octopuses can survive for around 20-30 minutes outside the water.

Fact 182: What is the name of the tallest statue of Jesus in Brazil? Without taking pedestals into account the answer is not, Christ the Redeemer (98 feet tall) located on the Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), it is in fact, the Christ the Protector, which is located in Encantado in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Christ the Protector is also the tallest statue of Jesus in the world at an impressive 123 feet (37.5 meters), the joint second tallest statues of Jesus in the world is Poland's Christ the King and Bolivia's Cristo de La Concordia are both 108 feet (33 meters)

Fact 181: Is there a plant flower that looks like Darth Vader's helmet? The answer is yes, the flowers on the Aristolochia Salvador (full name Aristolochia Salvadorensis) are commonly called (the) Darth Vader plant, the Darth Vader plant looks very similar to the Sith Lord's helmet, the flowers have an average height of two inches The Aristolochia salvadorensis is a planet that is native to Brazilian rain forests and also is found in parts of South America. Also scientifically called the Aristolochia Salvador platensis, Aristolochia Salvadorensis, Aristolochia Salvador and also commonly known as the"Darth Vader flower". 

Fact 180: Is there a plant scientifically named after Darth Vader? The answer is yes, there is a type of Begonia whose scientific name is Begonia darthvaderiana which is common name (unscientific name) is (the) Darth Vader Begonia the planet is named after Darth Vader (from star wars) because the leaves of the planet resembles the black colour of Darth vader's costume, (basically Darth Vader wares black and the planet is black).  The maximum height of the Begonia darthvaderiana is 70 cm. The name was chosen by two botanists called C.W. Lin and C.I Peng. C.W. Lin and C.I Peng discovered the Darth Vader Begonia in 2014 in Sarawak, on the island of Borneo (the island of Borneo is 743,330 km²). 

Fact 179: Is there an animal named after Darth Vader? The answer is yes, Glenn Hunt, who first discovered the Darthvaderum, the scientific name for the mite is Darthvaderum greensladeae Hunt,(1996) the mite is a tiny type of beetle mite.  Glenn Hunt decided to name the mite after Darth vader because the head of the mite under a powerful microscope looked like vaders helmet.  The microscope that Glenn Hunt used to see the Darthvaderum was a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that was highly magnified to produce an image of the mite's body and head. The Darthvaderum mite is found in eastern Australia.  Glenn Hunt's findings were first published In 1996 by the Australian Museum in Sydney who added to there collection the Darthvaderum genus which is a type of tree mite. 

Fact 178: On what date was the first ever Eurovision Song contest? The first ever Eurovision Song Contest was held in Lugano, Switzerland, at the Teatro Kursaal (it a theatre in Switzerland), on the 24th of May 1956. The rehearsals in the Teatro Kursaal (the venue) with the competing artists and the orchestra started on the 21 May 1956 The countries that took part were the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Italy. The first country and person to ever win was Switzerland's entry, Lys Assia who sang "Refrain".

Fact 177: Does Sir David Attenborough have a dinosaur genus named after him? Yes Sir David Attenborough has, in fact, got a dinosaur named after him, the scientific name is Attenborosaurus conybeari, the first word is Attenborosaurus after David Attenborough and this is the genus and the species is conybeari and this is named after William Conybeare who discovered the extinct marine dinosaur in Dorset, England (uk), in 1880 and named in 1881 as a species of Plesiosaurus, Plesiosaurus conybeari.  The original fossil of the Attenborosaurus specimen was destroyed in 1940, during the Second World War, when a bomb fell on Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, luckily the pasta copy survived and later the dinosaur was renamed and reclassified in 1993 by the palaeontologist Robert Bakker who noticed that the dinosaur fossil was different enough from all the other plesiosaurs to deserve its own genus and he chose to call the genus Attenborosaurus. One of the plaster copies is in the Natural His

Fact 176: Does Sir David Attenborough have a Dragonfly named species after him? The answer is yes In celebration of his 90th birthday on the May 8th 2016, Sir David Attenborough had a species of Dragonfly named after him, the Dragonfly is scientificly called Acisoma attenboroughi, the common (unscientific) name for the Dragonfly is, Attenborough's pintail. The Attenborough's pintail is only found in the wild on the island of Madagascar (officially the Republic of Madagascar).