129 Fun Facts About Family

Which is the largest planet in our Solar System?

Jupiter is the largest planet, more than twice as massive as all the others combined; it is made of the same ingredients as a star but never grew massive enough to ignite.

What is the fastest land animal?

The cheetah is the fastest land animal, sprinting at over 60 mph (about 100 km/h) in short bursts; its long, flexible spine bends and stretches to lengthen every stride.

Which is the tallest animal alive today?

The giraffe is the tallest living animal, at up to about 19 feet (5.7 m); extra valves and special blood vessels in its neck stop blood rushing to its brain when it lowers its head.

Which is the largest and deepest ocean?

The Pacific is the largest and deepest ocean, big enough to hold every continent; Magellan named it 'peaceful' because its waters seemed so calm after his stormy passage round South America.

Eight-legged spiders belong to which group of animals?

Arachnids include spiders, scorpions and ticks, all with eight legs where insects have six; a spider cannot swallow solid food, so it floods its prey with digestive juices and drinks it.

Which purpose-built city replaced Melbourne as the seat of Australia's Parliament?

Canberra was laid out to a plan by American architect Walter Burley Griffin, who won a worldwide design competition; building began in 1913 but the First World War held it up.

Which planet is nicknamed the Red Planet?

Mars is the Red Planet; its surface dust is rich in iron oxide, the same rusty mineral that gives it a reddish-orange colour.

What is the hardest natural material?

Diamond is the hardest natural material, a 10 on the Mohs scale; its carbon atoms bond in a rigid tetrahedral lattice that resists scratching.

Which popular instrument normally has six strings?

The guitar normally has six strings; a twelve-string guitar pairs each one with a second string, which gives its sound a fuller, more ringing tone.

Which bird lays the largest eggs of any living land animal?

The ostrich lays the largest eggs of any living bird, each about 1.4 kg (3 lb); several hens lay in one shared nest, where the dominant hen keeps her own eggs in the centre.

What is the largest animal known to have ever lived?

The blue whale is the largest animal known to have lived, reaching about 100 feet (30 m); yet it feeds almost entirely on krill, tiny shrimp-like animals it strains from the sea.

What is the smallest country in the world?

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, an enclave inside Rome; it was created by a 1929 treaty in which the Pope recognised Italy and Italy recognised his rule over the tiny city.

How many bones does an adult human have?

An adult human has 206 bones; a newborn has dozens more, because many separate bones fuse together as the skeleton grows.

Bees make honey mainly from what?

Bees make honey mainly from flower nectar, which they carry in a honey sac and thicken in the hive by evaporating its water; the flowers they visit decide the honey's colour and flavour.

Who painted the Mona Lisa?

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa; in 1911 a former Louvre workman walked out with it and hid it in a trunk in his Paris lodgings until he tried to sell it in Florence.

Which 1995 film was the first feature made entirely with computer animation?

Toy Story was the first feature film made entirely with computer animation; its director, John Lasseter, had been fired by Disney in 1983 for pushing that very technology.

Which sport is played with a shuttlecock?

Badminton is played with a shuttlecock, traditionally cork crowned with 16 goose feathers; the game is named after Badminton, the Duke of Beaufort's country estate in England.

Which race was invented for the first modern Olympics in 1896?

The marathon was the idea of a Frenchman, Michel Bréal, who took it from the legend of an ancient messenger's run with news of a battle; it became the highlight of the 1896 Games.

In which city were the first modern Olympic Games held in 1896?

Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, in an ancient stadium restored in white marble for the occasion with money from a wealthy benefactor, Georgios Averoff.

What is the largest hot desert in the world?

The Sahara is the largest hot desert, spanning most of North Africa; yet until roughly 5,000 years ago much of it was grassland dotted with lakes.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from which country?

France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States; it was built in Paris, then taken apart, shipped across the Atlantic in crates and put back together on its pedestal.

Which planet is famous for its bright system of rings?

Saturn is the planet famous for its bright rings, made mostly of chunks of water ice; they are enormously wide, yet the main rings are typically only about 10 metres thick.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon, in July 1969; minutes before landing he had taken over the controls to steer the lander clear of a crater strewn with boulders.

Leap days keep the calendar in step with what?

The seasons follow Earth's orbit of the Sun, which takes about 365 and a quarter days, so without an extra day every four years the calendar would slowly drift away from them.

What is the currency of Japan?

The yen is Japan's currency; its name means 'round', after the shape of the coins, and comes from the same Chinese word as the yuan.

In Frozen, what is the name of Elsa's younger sister?

Anna is Elsa's younger sister in Frozen; she sets off with Kristoff, Sven the reindeer and Olaf the snowman to bring Elsa back from the North Mountain.

Koalas eat almost nothing but the leaves of which tree?

Koalas eat almost nothing but eucalyptus leaves, which are so low in energy that koalas sleep for up to 20 hours a day.

Which green gemstone is the traditional birthstone for May?

Emerald is the green variety of the mineral beryl, coloured by traces of chromium; tinted blue instead, the same mineral is sold as aquamarine.

Which of these usually come through last, from the late teens on?

Wisdom teeth, the third molars, usually come through between 17 and 25, long after the rest, at an age when people are supposedly wiser; with all four, an adult has 32 teeth.

Which bird is the fastest animal on Earth when it dives?

The peregrine falcon dives on its prey at more than 200 mph (320 km/h), then strikes with clenched feet, knocking the bird out of the sky by the sheer force of the blow.

The Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage to which city?

New York was the Titanic's destination; its 700 or so survivors reached the city aboard the Carpathia, the liner that had raced through the ice to pick them up from the lifeboats.

What is the longest bone in the human body?

The femur, or thigh bone, is the longest bone in the body, and so sturdy that it usually takes a car crash or a similar heavy blow to break one.

Wild penguins live almost only in which half of the world?

Wild penguins live almost only in the Southern Hemisphere, from Antarctica to the Galápagos; the name was first given to the unrelated great auk of the North Atlantic.

Mount Everest sits on the border between China and which other country?

Nepal shares Everest with China's Tibet region; surveyors knew the mountain only as Peak XV until 1865, when it was renamed in honour of the British surveyor Sir George Everest.

Which country contains about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest?

Brazil holds about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest; the country takes its name from brazilwood, a tree prized by early traders for its red dye.

Guacamole is made mainly from which fruit?

The name comes from the Nahuatl word āhuacamōlli, meaning avocado sauce.

Big Ben is officially the nickname of what?

Big Ben is officially the nickname of the Great Bell inside the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster; the tower itself was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012.

Which chess piece can only move diagonally?

The bishop moves only diagonally; each player starts with two, one confined to the light squares and one to the dark.

Lego bricks come from a company based in which country?

Lego comes from Denmark: Ole Kirk Christiansen began making wooden toys in his Billund workshop in 1932, and named the company from 'leg godt', Danish for 'play well'.

SpongeBob SquarePants lives in which underwater city?

SpongeBob lives in Bikini Bottom, an underwater city beneath Bikini Atoll, in a pineapple house at 124 Conch Street next door to Squidward.

What type of Pokémon is Pikachu?

Pikachu is an Electric-type Pokémon; the red sacs on its cheeks store the electricity it discharges in attacks such as Thunderbolt.

Which scientist used a prism to show sunlight is a mix of colours?

Isaac Newton split sunlight into a band of colours with a prism in the 1660s, then used a lens and a second prism to blend them back into white light.

Which are the only mammals that can truly fly?

Bats are the only mammals that truly fly: a bat's wing is a modified hand, with skin stretched between hugely lengthened fingers, while flying squirrels and colugos can only glide.

Which planet is closest to the Sun?

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, yet water ice is thought to survive in deep craters at its poles that sunlight never reaches.

What is the chemical formula for water?

Water is H2O, two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen; unusually, it gets less dense as it freezes, which is why ice floats instead of sinking.

Which gas do plants take in from the air to make their food?

Plants take in carbon dioxide through tiny pores in their leaves and, using sunlight and water, turn it into sugar by photosynthesis, releasing oxygen.

Where does water boil at well below 100°C?

On a high mountain the thin air presses down less, so water boils at a lower temperature, and food cooked in it takes longer to be done.

Which country overtook China in 2023 to become the world's most populous?

India overtook China in 2023 to become the most populous country, passing about 1.43 billion people just as China's population had begun to fall.

Pinocchio's nose grows whenever he does what?

Pinocchio's nose grows when he tells a lie; Carlo Collodi's original 1881 serial ended with the puppet hanged, until disappointed readers led his publishers to ask for more.

Which is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still largely standing?

The Great Pyramid of Giza, built for the pharaoh Khufu more than 4,500 years ago, is the oldest of the Seven Wonders and yet the only one still standing.

How many players does each soccer team have on the pitch?

Each soccer team fields 11 players, one of whom must be the goalkeeper; a match cannot start or carry on if either side is down to fewer than seven.

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the 1903 Physics prize; the nomination had named only Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel until Pierre, warned by a Swedish mathematician, asked that she be included.

The Beatles came from which English city?

The Beatles came from Liverpool, where John Lennon's schoolboy skiffle group, the Quarrymen, grew into the band and became regulars at the city's Cavern Club.

In The Wizard of Oz, what is the name of Dorothy's little dog?

Toto is Dorothy's dog, played in the 1939 film by a Cairn terrier named Terry; the breed is said to take its name from the rocky Scottish cairns where it was bred to hunt foxes and vermin.

Which former planet was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006?

Pluto was reclassified in 2006 after astronomers found similar icy worlds beyond it, among them Eris, which is even more massive, and had to settle what counts as a planet.

Which 1937 film was the first full-length animated feature made in the United States?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first feature-length animated film made in the United States; its honorary Oscar came as one full-size statuette and seven little ones, handed over by Shirley Temple.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set in which Italian city?

Verona is the play's setting, and letters addressed to Juliet still arrive there by the thousand every year, each one read and answered by local volunteers.

Graceland, Elvis Presley's mansion, is in which city?

Graceland is in Memphis, Tennessee, on a 13.8-acre estate along Elvis Presley Boulevard; Elvis bought it in 1957 for about $102,500.

Sherlock Holmes's fictional London home is number 221B on which road?

Holmes lives at 221B Baker Street; for years the Abbey National building society, whose offices covered that address, employed someone full-time just to answer his fan mail.

Which landmark was built as the gateway to an 1889 world's fair?

The Eiffel Tower was the entrance gateway to the 1889 Paris exposition marking 100 years since the revolution of 1789; it later earned its keep as a weather station and a military radio post.

Which is the hottest planet in the Solar System?

Venus is the hottest planet: its thick atmosphere traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, keeping the surface at about 465°C, hot enough to melt lead.

With which NBA team did Michael Jordan win all six of his championships?

Michael Jordan won all six of his titles with the Chicago Bulls, three in a row twice; in between, he walked away from basketball to spend a season playing minor-league baseball.

Which gymnast won the Olympic all-around title in both 2016 and 2024?

Simone Biles won the Olympic all-around title in 2016 and again in 2024; in between, at the Tokyo Games, she pulled out of several finals when the 'twisties' left her unable to judge her twists in mid-air.

How many squares are on a chessboard?

A chessboard has 64 squares; in a famous puzzle, one grain of wheat on the first square, doubled on every square after it, adds up to more than 18 quintillion grains.

The Golden Gate Bridge links which city to Marin County?

The Golden Gate Bridge links San Francisco to Marin County; architect Irving Morrow chose its orange so that it would suit the hills around it and still show up to ships in fog.

Which river flows north through Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea?

The Nile flows north through Egypt to the Mediterranean; its yearly floods once spread the rich silt that turned a strip of desert into ancient Egypt's farmland.

The Great Wall of China was built mainly to keep out whom?

The Great Wall was built mainly against nomads from the northern steppe, such as the Xiongnu and later the Mongols; it is really a series of walls raised by different Chinese states over many centuries.

Roughly how fast does light travel?

Light travels at about 300,000 km per second, roughly a billion kilometres an hour; even so, space is so vast that looking at distant stars means looking back in time.

From which English port did the Titanic set out on its maiden voyage?

The Titanic left Southampton on 10 April 1912 and nearly crashed at once: its suction pulled a moored liner loose and swung it into the giant ship's path.

Which is the largest moon of Saturn?

Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the only moon with a thick atmosphere; it has clouds, rain, rivers and seas like Earth's, but of liquid methane and ethane rather than water.

Which country holds the second-largest share of the Amazon rainforest?

Peru holds the second-largest share of the Amazon rainforest; the great jungle river itself starts there not in forest but as streams high in the Andes.

Which sea animal has three hearts and blue blood?

The octopus has three hearts: two push blood through its gills and one sends it round the body, and the blood is blue because it carries oxygen with copper instead of iron.

The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system, lies off the coast of which country?

The Great Barrier Reef lies off Australia's north-east coast; in 1770 Captain James Cook ran his ship, the Endeavour, aground on it while charting that coast.

Which is the largest continent by both land area and population?

Asia is the largest continent and home to nearly 60 percent of humanity, so more people live there than on all the other continents put together.

The unicorn is the heraldic symbol of which country?

The unicorn is Scotland's national animal; two unicorns once held up the Scottish royal arms, and when the crowns of Scotland and England were joined one gave way to England's lion.

How many degrees are in a right angle?

A right angle measures 90 degrees, a quarter of a full turn; any triangle with sides of 3, 4 and 5 units contains one, a quick way to mark out a square corner.

Modern pizza evolved from flatbreads in which Italian city?

Naples is where modern pizza took shape; legend has it that the Margherita was created there for a visit by Queen Margherita, its tomato, mozzarella and basil matching the Italian flag.

In which fictional town do The Simpsons live?

The Simpsons live in Springfield; Matt Groening liked that it is one of the most common town names in America, so that viewers everywhere would think it was their Springfield.

Who tells Harry Potter he is a wizard on his eleventh birthday?

Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, turns up on Harry's eleventh birthday to tell him he is a wizard, then takes him to Diagon Alley to buy a wand and an owl for school.

Which candy does young Elliott lay in a trail to lure the alien home in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?

Reese's Pieces were a fairly new candy when the film came out, and sales soared after the makers of M&M's turned down the chance to appear instead.

Which breed of dog is Scooby-Doo, the cowardly cartoon sleuth who solves mysteries with Shaggy?

Great Dane was the brief, but designer Iwao Takamoto gave Scooby a sloping chin, bow legs and a sloped back, the opposite of a prize-winning show dog.

Which is the largest organ of the human body, making up roughly 16 percent of a person's weight?

Skin covers as much as two square metres on an average adult, while the liver is the largest organ found inside the body.

Which instrument does Lisa Simpson play, having befriended jazzman Bleeding Gums Murphy?

Saxophone, and a baritone one at that: creator Matt Groening chose it because he found the thought of a small girl playing such a big instrument amusing.

Which leather-jacketed biker rents the room over the Cunninghams' garage in Happy Days?

Fonzie, played by Henry Winkler, mostly wore a windbreaker in the first season because the network thought a leather jacket made him look like a criminal.

Which city on the river border between Ontario and Quebec is the capital of Canada?

Ottawa was chosen by Queen Victoria on her governor general's advice, and her letter naming it the capital took effect on the last day of 1857, a decade before Confederation.

Which bird can rotate its wings almost 180 degrees, letting it hover and even fly backwards?

Hummingbird wings beat as fast as 99 times a second in small species, which produces the humming sound that gives the birds their name.

Which sports car does Doc Brown turn into a plutonium-powered time machine in Back to the Future?

DeLorean production was short-lived, but the stainless-steel car with gull-wing doors became known around the world once the film made it a time machine.

Which animal, having swallowed a ticking clock, relentlessly pursues Captain Hook in Peter Pan?

A crocodile got its taste for the pirate after Peter Pan cut off his hand and fed it to the beast, and the ticking warns Hook whenever it is near.

In The Sound of Music, the von Trapp family escapes from which country by hiking over the Alps?

Austria is a much longer walk from safety than the film suggests: Salzburg is over two hundred miles from Switzerland, and the real family left by train.

In which Stone Age town do Fred and Wilma Flintstone live next door to Barney and Betty Rubble?

Bedrock, population 2,500, is the setting of the first animated series ever given a prime-time slot on television when it launched in 1960.

Which gas makes up about 78 percent of the air that people and animals breathe?

Nitrogen far outweighs the oxygen that lungs actually use, which makes up only about 21 percent of dry air.

In Nintendo's Super Mario games, what is the name of Mario's taller, more timid twin brother?

Luigi takes the lead in Luigi's Mansion, where he rescues Mario by sucking up ghosts with a vacuum cleaner.

Which US president, pictured on the penny since 1909, delivered the Gettysburg Address?

Abraham Lincoln spoke for less than two minutes at Gettysburg, using only 271 words, after the main speaker of the day had talked for two hours.

In the cartoon Bluey, what is the name of Bluey's younger sister, who joins in all her games?

Bingo takes after her mum Chilli as a Red Heeler, a breed of cattle dog, while Bluey's coat matches that of their dad Bandit.

Which is the largest country in the world, sharing land borders with fourteen other countries?

Russia is about half covered in trees, which gives it the largest area of forest of any country on Earth.

Which composer was almost completely deaf when his Ninth Symphony, with its Ode to Joy, premiered?

Ludwig van Beethoven fell several bars behind and was still conducting when a singer gently turned him around to see the audience cheering.

In golf, what is the name for a score of one stroke under par on a single hole?

Birdie is said to have been coined at Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey, a resort whose many visiting golfers then spread the term.

In the Harry Potter books, which red-haired wizarding family lives at a home called the Burrow?

The Weasleys' home doubles as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix in the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Which fruit, a close relative of the cherry and the apricot, is dried to make prunes?

Plums for drying come from varieties with firm flesh and enough sugar to dry without fermenting, so not every kind can become a prune.

What is the first name of the live-in housekeeper in the blended family sitcom The Brady Bunch?

Alice Nelson was already Mike Brady's housekeeper before the wedding, so she joined the new household along with his sons and their dog, Tiger.

Which plant-eating dinosaur had upright kite-shaped plates along its back and spikes on its tail?

Stegosaurus could grow to 6.9 tonnes, yet its braincase was no larger than that of a dog.

Which country did ABBA represent when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo?

Sweden won with a song that was later voted the best in the contest's history, at its 50th anniversary show in 2005.

Which boy pharaoh's tomb was discovered by excavators led by Howard Carter in 1922?

Tutankhamun reigned for only about nine years, yet his is the only royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings found in near-intact condition.

In Pixar's The Incredibles, what is the name of the Parr family's baby, the youngest child?

Jack-Jack first shows his powers to an unlucky babysitter, Kari, whose terrible evening is the entire plot of the short film Jack-Jack Attack.

What name is given to molten rock once it has erupted from a volcano onto the surface?

Lava is simply magma that has reached the open air, and it usually erupts at between 800 and 1,200 degrees Celsius.

Which board game originally named its squares after the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey?

Monopoly spells one of them wrong: Marvin Gardens is really Marven Gardens, a slip the makers only admitted in 1995, with an apology to residents.

Which heavyweight boxer, born Cassius Clay in Louisville, was widely known as 'the Greatest'?

Muhammad Ali won Olympic gold at 18 in Rome in 1960, then gave up his birth name after joining the Nation of Islam.

Which egg-laying mammal looked so odd that British scientists first suspected a specimen was a hoax?

Platypus males add to the oddness with a spur on each hind foot that delivers an extremely painful venom, a rare weapon among mammals.

Which Renaissance artist painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in fresco between 1508 and 1512?

Michelangelo thought of himself as a sculptor, not a painter, and was so reluctant that he suggested his young rival Raphael take the job instead.

What is the name of the Jetson family's talking pet dog in the space-age cartoon The Jetsons?

Astro starts every word with an R, as if he were growling, a way of talking that Hanna-Barbera later reused for Scooby-Doo.

Disney's Encanto follows the magical Madrigal family, who live in the mountains of which country?

Colombia became the setting after two early consultants who came from there kept drawing on their own memories of its culture.

Which Soviet cosmonaut became the first human to travel into space, orbiting Earth in April 1961?

Yuri Gagarin circled the planet once in under two hours, and his call sign for the flight was Kedr, meaning Siberian pine or cedar.

Chocolate is made from the dried, fermented seeds of which small tree native to South America?

Cacao gives more than chocolate: the sweet pulp around its seeds is made into juice, jelly and smoothies in some countries.

Which aviator became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, in 1932?

Amelia Earhart won the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight, then disappeared in 1937 while trying to become the first woman to fly around the world.

In Charlotte's Web, what is the name of the pig saved from slaughter by words woven into a web?

Wilbur is the runt of his litter, and Charlotte reasons that the farmer would never kill a pig once her messages had made it famous.

Which US state is the largest by area, more than twice the size of second-placed Texas?

Alaska outsizes Texas, California and Montana put together, and it contains the four largest cities in the United States by area.

Which member of the Beatles played the drums and sang lead on Yellow Submarine?

Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey, and Yellow Submarine was the band's only British number-one single with him as lead singer.

Which nearly silent Minecraft monster walks up to players, hisses and then explodes?

Creeper began as a coding mistake: its body is a pig model with the length and height accidentally swapped, which the game's creator decided to keep.

Which stray dog from the streets of Moscow became the first animal to orbit Earth, aboard Sputnik 2?

Laika was a stray because Soviet scientists assumed that dogs from the streets had already learned to endure extreme cold and hunger.

Which sitcom family, whose father is Frankenstein's monster, lives at 1313 Mockingbird Lane?

The Munsters also include Herman's vampire wife Lily, a Grandpa who is Count Dracula himself, and a werewolf-like son named Eddie.

What is the name of the hammer wielded by the thunder god Thor in Norse mythology?

Mjölnir was more than a weapon: Vikings wore the hammer as a pendant, and in the myths it also serves as a divine instrument for giving blessings.

Which family of four evacuee siblings steps through a wardrobe into the land of Narnia?

The Pevensies, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, are sent away from London to escape the Blitz and end the first book crowned as kings and queens.

Which ship carried the English families known as the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620?

Mayflower passengers paid dearly for the crossing: only half of the original Pilgrims survived their first winter at Plymouth after disease broke out.

Which ancient Roman city was buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD?

Pompeii's victims decayed inside the hardened ash, leaving hollows that archaeologists used to make moulds of people in their final moments.

Which baseball slugger, nicknamed the Sultan of Swat, began his career as a pitcher in Boston?

Babe Ruth found his greatest fame after switching to the outfield for the New York Yankees, and he retired with 714 home runs.

Which family's four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, are the heroines of the novel Little Women?

The Marches live in genteel poverty in Massachusetts with their mother, whom the girls call Marmee, and they return in two sequels.

In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which city was Will born and raised before moving west?

Philadelphia's west side is home for the street-smart teenager, a fictionalised version of the show's own star, Will Smith.

Which costly spice is made from the hand-picked crimson threads of an autumn-blooming crocus?

Saffron owes its price to the labour involved: every thread is picked by hand, and it takes about 150,000 blooms to make a single kilogram.

Which American toy company introduced the Barbie fashion doll to the world in 1959?

Mattel's co-founder named the doll after her daughter Barbara, having watched the girl give grown-up roles to her paper dolls.