Noel Botham - The Best Book of Useless Information Ever

The state of Alaska has the most people per population that walk to work in the whole of the United States.

The busiest stretch of highway in the US is New Yorks George Washington Bridge.

Ropesville, Lariat and Loop are all towns in Texas.

Venetian blinds were invented in Japan.

In Venice, Venetian blinds are known as Persian blinds.

If you head directly south from Detroit, the first foreign country you will enter is Canada.

One in every three people in Israel uses a mobile phone.

Sixty per cent of the country of Liechtensteins GDP is generated from the sale of false teeth.

In the US, 166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year.

Oklahoma is the US state with the highest population of Native Americans. It has no Indian Reservations.

The Statue of Libertys fingernails weigh about 100lb apiece.

In Kenya, they dont drive on the right or left side of the street in particular, just on whichever side is smoother.

The state of Maryland has no natural lakes.

JELL-O [jelly] was declared the official state snack of Utah in January 2001.

Scandinavian folklore records that trolls only come out at night because sunlight would turn them to stone.

1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the Unites States.

Wyoming Valley is so difficult to find because it is in Pennsylvania.

After Canada and Mexico, Russia is the nearest neighbour to the United States. Siberias easternmost point is just 56 miles from Alaska. In fact, in the middle of the Bering Strait, Russias Big Diomede Island and the USs Little Diomede Island are only two miles apart.

The parents of the groom pay for the weddings in Thailand.

One US state no longer exists. In 1784, the US had a state called Franklin, named after Benjamin Franklin. But four years later, it was incorporated into Tennessee.

In Tibet, there is actually a practice called polyandry where many men, usually brothers, marry a single woman.

The coastline around Lake Sakawea in North Dakota is longer than the California coastline along the Pacific Ocean

Brooklyn is the Dutch name for broken valley.

Danishes are called Vienna cakes in Denmark, and Spanish rice is unknown in Spain.

Birkenhead Park was the inspiration for New Yorks Central Park as it was the worlds first urban park.

The city of Nottingham was the first city to have Braille signs in the UK.

Minnesota has 99 lakes named Mud Lake.

At the turn of the century, the New Brighton Tower (located atop the tower ballroom) was higher than the Blackpool Tower. The steel tower was taken down between 1919 and 1921.

Fort Worth Texas was never a fort.

Legend has it that, when Burmese women are making beer, they need to avoid having sex or the beer will be bitter.

Kitsap County, Washington, was originally called Slaughter County, and the first hotel there was called the Slaughter House.

Saunas outnumber cars in Finland.

Although Argentinas name means Land of Silver, there is actually very little silver there. It was misnamed by explorers who thought they saw veins of the metal there.

The state of California raises the most turkeys in the US.

Americas first stock exchange was the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, established in 1791.

Bagpipes, although identified with Scotland, are actually a very ancient instrument, introduced into the British Isles by the Romans.

Antarctica is visited by over 10,000 tourists a year.

The Pony Express, one of the most famous chapters in US history, only lasted one year, from 1860 to 1861.

There are four states where the first letter of the capital city is the same letter as the first letter of the state: Dover, Delaware; Honolulu, Hawaii; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Andorra, a tiny country on the border between France and Spain, has the longest average lifespan: 83.49 years.

Oregon has the most ghost towns of any state.

Construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg started in 1015, but it was not until 1439 that the spire was completed.

There are more Rolls-Royces in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world.

Japan has 130 times more people per square mile than the state of Montana.

The most expensive commercial real estate in the world is in Tokyo. The second most expensive is 57th Street in New York City.

Mt. Everest grows about 4mm a year: the two tectonic plates of Asia and India, which collided millions of years ago to form the Himalayas, continue to press against each other, causing the Himalayan peaks to grow slightly each year.

The Norman Baron Eudo Dapifer built Colchester Castle, 10751080, around the podium of the Roman temple of Claudius, creating the largest Norman keep in Britain.

Japanese rickshaws were invented by an American, Reverend Jonathan Scobie, who visited Okinawa in 1869.

In Tokyo, to buy a three-line classified ad in the newspaper costs 1,800 per day.

Antarctica has only one ATM machine.

Hawaiian lore teaches that the earth mother Papa mated with the sky father Wakea to give birth to the Hawaiian Islands.

There are many kremlins in the Soviet Union. Kremlin just means the centre of government, which can be applied to the government buildings in any town.

The per capita use of soap in Great Britain is 40 ounces per year. In France, it is only 22.6 ounces per year.

There is a monastery in Ethiopia that can be entered only by climbing up a rope dropped over the edge of a cliff.

In Turkey, when someone is in mourning, they wear purple clothing, not black.

The desert country of Saudi Arabia must import sand from other countries. This is because their desert sand is not suitable for building construction.

In Tibet, some women have special metal instruments used for picking their noses.

There is a chemical waste dump in the Soviet Union that is twice as big as the whole state of Vermont.

Nights in the tropics are warm because moist air retains heat well. Desert nights get cold rapidly because dry air does not hold heat to the same degree.

Deep in the jungles of South America, a tribe of primitive people was discovered. Everyone had forgotten how to make fire and therefore they carefully guarded piles of burning embers. If all their fires went out, they would have been doomed to existence without fire.

The largest Gothic cathedral is not in Rome or Paris, but on Amsterdam Avenue in New York City.

The smallest church in the world is in Kentucky. There is room inside for three people.

Only 8.5% of all Alaskans are Eskimos.

Reno, Nevada, is further west than Los Angeles, California.

Twenty-four per cent of Los Angeles, California, is road and parking lots for cars.

There is a house in Margate, New Jersey, that is made in the shape of an elephant. A home in Norman, Oklahoma is shaped like a chicken.

There is a house in Massachusetts which is made entirely from newspapers. The floors, walls and even the furniture is made from newspaper.

Another house, this one in Canada, is made of 18,000 discarded glass bottles.

The Greek word for brotherly love is Philadelphia.

The worst American city to live in, from the viewpoint of air pollution, is St Louis, Missouri.

Over half of all Americans travel more than a million miles in their lifetimes.