Commonplace Fun Facts

The Great Fire of London (1666): Strange Facts Behind the Famous Disaster

The Great Fire of London wasn’t just a disaster—it was full of odd decisions and strange moments. Here are the quirkiest facts from 1666.

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April 9, 2026April 9, 2026

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Spinning a Web of Ukraine Christmas Blessings

In Poland and Ukraine, spiders and spider webs are popular Christmas tree decorations, inspired by a legend that a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus. Additionally, Polish tradition views spiders as symbols of goodness and prosperity during the Christmas season.
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All of the Other Reindeer Used to Mock His Nasal Microcirculation

Scientists studying the origin of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’s most-distinctive feature believe they have figured out why his nose is so bright. The short story is that it is due to an over-abundance of red blood cells. More precisely, “detailed evaluation of adult reindeer’s nasal microcirculation revealed similarities with human nasal microvasculature, but also striking…
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No Obstacle Too Great

Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) was 4.5 pounds when she was prematurely born. She was the 20th of 22 children from two marriages. At age four she came down with polio and had to wear a brace on her left leg and foot until she was nine. She wore a special orthopedic shoe until age 11. By…
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Never Argue With a Judge — Even When He Calls Himself an Idiot

When Tristan Ellis, a notorious burglar, showed up in front of Australian Judge Dean Mildren on March 29, 2004, it was the third time that year he had been arrested. The judge was amazed that Ellis had been released on bail for the third time in a year, even after flagrantly ignoring a court-imposed curfew.…
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Keep Track of All Participants in Your Conversation

The distinguished British actor Sir John Gielgud sometimes lost track of the identity of the person with whom he was speaking. This occasionally generated some awkwardness. Once, while dining in a restaurant with a playwright, Gielgud spied someone he thought he recognized. “Did you see that man just coming in?” he asked his companion. “He’s…
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Open Mouth. Insert Foot.

The Plain English Campaign presents the Foot in Mouth Award each year to someone in the public spotlight who has said something utterly baffling. Recent winners include: “I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe and somebody said I was a snake, I’d think ‘No, actually…
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First Make People Laugh; Then Make Them Think

The “Ig Nobel Prizes” are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think”. They are presented by a group that includes genuine Nobel Laureates. Those who receive the award get the opportunity in a ceremony to explain their achievements. If…
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Turn Baby Mice Whines into Baby Mice Wine

If you like mice — particularly the baby kind — you might enjoy the traditional drink in China and Korea: baby mice wine. Manufacturers take baby mice from their mothers before they begin to grow hair or open their eyes and place them, alive, in bottles of rice wine. There the little critters are left…
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The Early Bird Gets the Worm … and the Cheese It Lives In

Casu marzu is a type of cheese found mainly in Sardinia, Italy. It is distinctive in that it contains live maggots. The maggots — larvae of the cheese fly (Piophila casei), are translucent white worms about 0.3 inches (8 mm) long. When disturbed they tend to jump as much as six inches (15 cm) into the…
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Escape From POW Camp? It Might Be In the Cards

Escape maps were printed on Bicycle playing cards and distributed to Allied prisoners of war during World War II. The deck of cards was created specifically to help Allied prisoners of war escape from German POW camps. This deck of cards became known as the “map deck.” It was made by hiding maps of top-secret…
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Hair Today; Gone Tomorrow

Priests in ancient Egypt plucked every hair from their bodies, including eyebrows and eyelashes. source
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Ring Around the Rosie: A Cheery Children’s Rhyme About a Ghastly Cataclysm?

“Ring Around the Rosie” first appeared in Mother Goose in 1881. However, the origin of the poem may actually rest with the original Black Death outbreak of the mid-fourteenth century. The Black Death struck Europe with a fury in 1347. The disease depopulated the world by at least 20% and killed between 30-60% of Europe’s…
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Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death

Drinking coffee in Turkey was against the law in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Those caught breaking the law were put to death. source
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Cleopatra and Ptolemy: Brotherly Love

Cleopatra married her brother, Ptolemy XIII. She was 18 years old and he was 10 years old at the time. They married in keeping with the Egyptian tradition and served as co-regents. Not only were they far from affectionate toward each other, they actually fought a civil war against each other, attempting to claim sole…
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The Ultimate All-Male Retreat

In the Greek monastery of Mount Athos, nothing female is allowed. Men can enter, but not women; roosters, but no hens; horses, but no mares, bulls, but no cows. The border is patrolled by armed guards to ensure that nothing feminine passes the gates. It has been this way ever since an official proclamation by…
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