THE MINI MASK MAN AND COOL STUFF!!!

Fact 328: When was Wall and Piece first published? Wall and Piece is a book about Banksy written by Banksy (and yes I have the book) it showcases Banksy's work in an easy to read and understand book from his most famous pieces to the less well-known pieces and it has pictures of animals Banksy spay painted (with animal friendly spray paint used by farmers). My favourite bit of the book is when Banksy tells us he spray-painted "Designated Grafiti Area" in and around London and people actually believed the sign and thought it was real, despite the sign being misspelt! The book Wall and Piece was originally first published In 2005 (the British Library have a copie).

Fact 327: How many people went to the CUT AND RUN Banksy exhibition? The CUT AND RUN Banksy exhibition started on the 18th Jun and firsted on the 28th Aug 2023. I went to the exhibition on the 22nd. Just over 180,000 visitors + visitors turned up to see the amazing exhibition during its 10-week run, it literally closed on Monday.  The CUT AND RUN Banksy exhibition showcased 25 years of Banksy's stencil (used to create impressive) Street art. The CUT AND RUN Banksy exhibition was hled in room one of the Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art because Banksy liked the Glasgow local tradition of sticking a cone on the Duke of Wellington statue outside the gallery, Banksy said something on the lines of the tradition has been going on for 40 odd years despite the police and council tying to stop it which is why I chose Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art as my location. I took both these photos!

Fact 326: Why is Leake Street Arches a legal graffiti area? Leake Street Arches is a legal graffiti in London near Waterloo Station which is also known as the Banksy tunnel or Banksy Arches it is a legal graffiti area because Banksy chose it as the location for Cans festival basically Banksy hosted an exhibition called The Cans Festival in Leake Street Arches, from 3rd to the 5th May in 2008 and ever since Leake Street Arches has been a legal graffiti area, all thanks to Banksy (the genius). Leake Street Arches address: SE1 7NN I took this photo 2 years ago!

Fact 325: What is Banksy's documentary called? Banksy's Documentary the 2010 movie was directed by the street artist Banksy which was nominated for an Oscar (but unfortunately didn't win) was called Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy was the director of the documentary which seams to originally to be a film about Banksy and other graffiti artists (like shepard fairy) but mainly Banksy interestingly turns in to a documentary about the camera man and then artist Mr Brainwash, Thierry Guetta.

Fact 324: Has Banksy hung his own art works in galleries amusement parks and museums with out permission? The answer is yes Banksy has snuck into places and hung his art up from 2003-2005 or 2006 if you count Disneyland! Banksy has hung put his art in Disneyland and has hung "his own works among masterpieces at major museums such as the Louvre, Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York." - Sothebys  My favourite are (in year order): THE TATE BRITAIN PRANK: OCTOBER 2003. THE LOUVRE: 2004 THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM: 2004 THE BRITISH MUSEUM: MAY 2005 DISNEYLAND FLORIDA: SEPTEMBER 2006 Click here to see more places where Banksy has pulled of this prank!

Fact 323: How many Bat species live in the UK? There are 18 bat species which live in the uk out of all of those species only 17 of those species actually breeds in the UK.

Fact 322: How many beetle species are there in the world? There are around about 400,000 species of beetle known to science in the world. Beetles are apart of the Coleoptera, which consists of the beetles and weevils, Beetles are coleopterans.

Fact 321: Has Banksy ever been nominated for an Oscar? Banksy was nominated for an Oscar for his directorial debut film documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Exit Through the Gift Shop it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2011 Academy Awards.

Fact 320: Does Banksy have any of his art in the British Museum? The answer is yes, otherwise this would be a very short fact indeed, since February 2019 The British Museum added its first piece by Banksy art work to its collection, which was one of Banksy's  Di-Faced Tenner, with Princess Diana's face on, the note is in The British Museum’s room with real and fake coins, medals and other currency stuff and I have actually seen the Banksy £10 note in the British Museum. I took this picture.

Fact 319: When was the LEGO group formed? The LEGO Group (company) was founded in 1932 and officially named LEGO in 1934 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, Ole Kirk Kristiansen was born on 7th April 1891 died on the 11th March 1958.  The lego brick used today were launched in 1958.

Fact 318: Where does the name Lego come from? Acouding to lego (www.lego.com) themselves: The name 'LEGO' is an abbreviation of the two Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”. Quick Side note lego was invented in Denmark by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 (don't want to give to much away because tomorrows fact is when was the lego group formed.

Fact 317: Who wrote the star wars theme chune? The star wars theme tune, who's correct name is "Star Wars (Main Title)" was composed by John Williams and was recorded by the 1977 London Symphony Orchestra. John Towner Williams was born on the 8th, February 1932, in Queens, New York, (U.SA.) and is 91 years old (in 2023). John Williams started composing the music for star wars On January 10, 1977 aged roughly 45 years old. Acouding to Classic FM: "The film composer has won five Oscars, four Golden Globes, seven BAFTAs and 25 Grammys. With 52 Oscar nominations, he is second only to Walt Disney as most nominated person ever."

Fact 316: What is Beethoven's full name? Beethoveen was born in December 1770 in Bonn Germany we do know that he was baptised on the 17th December 1770, Beethoven could have been born the day before (acouding to classic fm) or possibly a week before his baptise, Beethoven died on the 26th March 1827, Vienna, Austria Beethoven's full name is, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Fact 315: What is Mozart's full name? Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, Salzburg and died died on December 5, 1791, in Vienna. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's, name in full is, Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart was baptized on 28th January 1756 as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. Interestingly Mozart commonly referred to himself as, Wolfgang Amadé or Wolfgang Gottlieb.

Fact 314: What was the highest price paid for a Magritte at Sotheby's? The highest price paid for a Magritte at Sothebys (the famous auction house) was Rene Magritte's L'Empire des Lumieres (The Empire of Light) painting, it sold for an impressive £59.4 million pounds. René Magritte was born on the 21st November 1898 and died on the 15 August 1967. René Magritte created about 372 painting. The most famous and most recognisable is The Son of Man painted by René Magritte in 1964, which is actually a self portrait of Magritte with an apple infront of his head. This is the The Empire of Light, with my fact logo on top!

Fact 313: Who painted Whistlejacket? Whistlejacketis an oil-on-canvas painted around 1762 by the British artist George Stubbs 25th August 1724 Liverpool, and died 10th July 1806 Marylebone (London). Whistlejacket depicts the Marquess of Rockingham's racehorse called (you guessed it) Whistlejacket, Whistlejacket was bought by the Marquess of Rockingham in the mid 1750s. The 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (Charles Watson-Wentworth) invented George Stubbs in 1762 to paint his racehorse. The painting Whistlejacket is hanging in the National Gallery.

Fact 312: Who painted A View of Tivoli Cascade? A View of Tivoli Cascade is located Room 42 of the National Gallery (the National Gallery acquired the painting after it was donated in 2018). The painted is 40.9 × 31.2 cm and was painted in 1788 by Jean Joseph Xavier Bidauld (1758 - 1846). A View of Tivoli Cascade is interestingly a oil on paper on canvas which is were the artist painted the oil painting on paper and then laid on canvas (as far as I can tell). The waterfall which is depicted in the painting could be the La grande Cascade.

Fact 311: Who painted Late Afternoon in our Meadow? The Late Afternoon in our Meadow is an Oil on canvas painted in 1887. Late Afternoon in our Meadow is 54 cm by 65 cm piece of art which hangs in the National Gallery. The painting was painted by Camille Pissarro in 1887, Camille Pissarro full name is, Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro. Camille Pissarro was a Danish-French impressionist and Neo-Impressionist who was born in 10 July 1830 in Charlotte Amalie (which is the Capital of the United States Virgin Islands) and he died in 13 November 1903 in Paris (France).  

Fact 310: Who painted A Landscape at Sunset? A Landscape at Sunset is part of a series of two landscapes: A Sunset and a Storm. A Landscape at Sunset was painted by Claude-Joseph Vernet in 1773. The full name of, A Landscape at Sunset is, A Landscape at Sunset with Fishermen returning with their Catch. Claude-Joseph Vernet was born in Avignon France in 1714 and died in his lodgings in the Louvre (Paris France) on 3 December 1789 (aged 75).

Fact 309: When did Monet paint all of the Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies. Monet painted Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies Monet works which are part of a series called Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies from 1899 to 1905 (6 years) creating a combined amount of 37 paintings depicting the bridge over Pond of Water Lilies.

Fact 308: What is Monet's full name?  Monet was born on the 14th November 1840 in Paris, the son of a grocer and Monet grew up in Le Havre. Monet died in Giverny, France on the 5th December 1926. Monet's full name is Oscar-Claude Monet, although Monet is also known as Claude Monet. Before he became a well-known painter, Monet was a caricature-ist and signed his caricatures “O. Monet” which he sold for 20-50 Francs. Monet did not sign all of his art works however as a famous painter and pasteler as far as I can tell he signed most of his artworks "Claude Monet". I took this photo yesterday!

Fact 307: How did Vincent van Gogh sign his paintings? Vincent van Gogh signed his paintings with his first name, Vincent due to the fact that French people struggled to pronounce his surname Van Gogh.

Fact 306: Who painted Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers? The Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers is a oil Painting by the well-known Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Vincent van Gogh painted the Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers in August 1888 and the painting was acquired by the National Gallery in 1924.

Fact 305: How long is The Mall? The Mall is a ceremonial route and road situated in Central London which goes from the Victoria Memorial all the way to Admiralty Arch and is precisely 926 metres (0.93 km). Interestingly underneath The Mall is a series of tunnels connecting Buckingham Palace all the way to No 10 Downing Street.

Fact 304: How big is a Crocodile egg? Crocodile eggs are about 64.96 and 66.44 millimetres tall, and the eggs (individually) weigh around 110g, to put this into some sort of perspective the average chicken egg is about 62mm tall and weighs roughly between 50 and 70g.

Fact 303: How big is a Python egg? Python eggs are about 105 millimetres tall, and the eggs (individually) weigh around 234.82g, to put this into some sort of perspective the average chicken egg is about 62mm tall and weighs roughly between 50 and 70g.

Fact 302: How big is a Duck egg? Duck eggs are about 65mm to 70mm, and the eggs (individually) weigh around 70 grams, for a 65mm duck egg, to put this into some sort of perspective the average chicken egg is about 62mm tall and weighs roughly between 50 and 70g. Duck eggs are usually larger than chicken eggs.

Fact 301: How big is a Emperor Penguin egg? Penguin eggs are about 4.4 to 5 inches (5 inches =127 millimetres), and the eggs (individually) weigh around 345 to 515 g, to put this into some sort of perspective the average chicken egg is about 62mm tall and weighs roughly between 50 and 70g.

Fact 300: How big is a Pigeon egg? Pigeon eggs are about 38.4mm, and the eggs (individually) weigh around 15 to 28 g, to put this into some sort of perspective the average chicken egg is about 62mm tall and weighs roughly between 50 and 70g.

Fact 299: How big is an Emu egg? Emu's eggs are about 5 inches (127 millimetres) , and the eggs (individually) weigh around 400 to 700 grams, to put this into some sort of perspective the average chicken egg is about 62mm tall and weighs roughly between 50 and 70 g. one Emu egg is equivalent to 12 chicken eggs. Two Emu eggs is equivalent to having one ostrich egg.

Fact 298: How big is an Ostrich egg? Ostrich's eggs are about 5-6 inches (6 inches equals 152.4 millimetres), and the eggs (individually) weigh around 1.361 kilograms (1361 grams), to put this into some sort of perspective the average chicken egg is about 62mm tall and weighs roughly between 50 and 70 g. One ostrich egg is equivalent to about 24 chicken eggs.