100 Fun Facts About Bar

Which city became Australia's capital as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne?

Canberra's site followed a constitutional deal: the capital had to be in New South Wales, but at least 100 miles from Sydney.

Which mountain is the highest on Earth above sea level?

Everest, called Qomolangma in Tibet, is the highest point above sea level. K2 is second.

Which is the smallest sovereign state in the world by both area and population?

Vatican City covers 44 hectares and had a population of about 882 in 2024, making it the smallest by both measures.

Which planet is the largest in the Solar System?

Jupiter is so massive that it and the Sun orbit a shared point just outside the Sun's surface.

The chemical symbol Au stands for which element?

Au comes from the Latin word aurum, meaning gold. Silver is Ag, aluminium is Al and argon is Ar.

Roughly how many bones does an adult human skeleton have?

Babies are born with around 270 bones, which fuse to about 206 by adulthood, not counting accessory bones.

Who painted the Mona Lisa?

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa owes part of its fame to a 1911 theft by a Louvre worker, and it was not recovered for over two years.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong commanded Apollo 11 and stepped onto the Moon first; Buzz Aldrin followed him about 20 minutes later.

William Shakespeare was born and raised in which English town?

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and is buried there, under a gravestone that curses anyone who moves his bones.

The Beatles were formed in which city?

Liverpool's Cavern Club hosted the Beatles nearly 300 times before fame; the band formed in the city in 1960.

What did the Titanic hit on its maiden voyage?

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 2 hours 40 minutes; her sister ship Britannic was later sunk by a German mine.

Which city's wall opened after an official mistakenly announced new travel rules took effect immediately?

Berlin's crowds reached the checkpoints within hours of Günter Schabowski's slip on 9 November 1989, and outnumbered guards opened the gates.

Which footballer was the first man to win three World Cups as a player?

Pelé won in 1958, 1962 and 1970, though an injury against Czechoslovakia in 1962 kept him out of the rest of that tournament.

Which swimmer has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete?

Michael Phelps won 23 golds among his 28 medals, including eight at Beijing 2008 alone.

Who designed the Sydney Opera House?

Jørn Utzon left the project in 1966 after a dispute with the New South Wales government and never returned to Australia to see it finished.

The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is in which country?

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel on a mountain ridge in southern Peru, about 2,430 metres up.

What is the largest hot desert in the world?

At about 9.2 million square kilometres, the Sahara is the largest hot desert.

Which ocean is the largest and deepest on Earth?

The Pacific covers more of Earth than all the land combined, and its Mariana Trench holds the deepest known point in the oceans.

Which planet is closest to the Sun?

Mercury is the first planet from the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System.

Which chemical element is the most abundant in the universe?

Hydrogen is the lightest element and makes up about 75% of all normal matter in the universe.

Rather than relativity, Albert Einstein's Nobel Prize honoured his work on which effect?

The photoelectric effect was cited in Albert Einstein's 1921 prize, while relativity went unmentioned because some physicists still doubted it.

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

Marie Curie shared the 1903 physics prize, though the first nomination named only Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel until Pierre objected.

Which antibiotic came from mould on a lab dish left out over a holiday?

Penicillin was so hard to purify that it drew little notice until Howard Florey and Ernst Chain's Oxford team showed in 1940 that it could treat infections.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in which city?

Mozart was born in Salzburg but stayed in Vienna after 1781, when, by his own account, the archbishop's steward dismissed him with a kick.

Which Harry Potter book became two films?

Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final novel, was split into two films, which is why eight movies adapt seven books.

Who wrote the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four?

George Orwell wrote it on the Scottish island of Jura while dying of tuberculosis; it was published in June 1949, seven months before his death.

Who directed The Godfather?

Francis Ford Coppola directed The Godfather and wrote its script with Mario Puzo, adapting Puzo's own novel.

Which 2003 film matched Titanic's 11 Academy Awards?

Return of the King won all 11 Oscars it was nominated for, a clean sweep, while Titanic needed 14 nominations to reach 11.

In the sitcom Friends, Rachel's first job is waitressing at which Manhattan coffee house?

Central Perk is where Rachel waits tables before moving on to Bloomingdale's and Ralph Lauren; Cafe Nervosa is the Frasier coffee shop.

The Simpsons is set in which fictional town?

The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield, in an unspecified US location. Quahog is Family Guy; South Park is its own show.

Elvis Presley was born in which Mississippi town?

Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and his family moved to Memphis when he was 13.

Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the lead single from which album?

A Night at the Opera's lead single took off after DJ Kenny Everett played Bohemian Rhapsody 14 times in two days, helping it reach No. 1.

Michael Jordan won six NBA championships with which team?

Jordan played 15 NBA seasons between 1984 and 2003 and won six championships with the Chicago Bulls.

What colour jersey does the overall leader of the Tour de France wear?

The rider with the lowest cumulative time leads the race and wears the yellow jersey.

Wimbledon is the only tennis major still played on which surface?

Wimbledon has been held since 1877 on outdoor grass courts and is the only major still played on grass.

The Super Bowl is the championship game of which league?

NFL champions lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl, named for the coach whose Green Bay Packers won the first two games.

Which country hosted and won the first FIFA World Cup?

Uruguay won again in 1950 by stunning hosts Brazil 2–1 at the Maracanã, one of football's biggest upsets.

The first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896 in which city?

Athens hosted the 1896 Games, and a Greek water carrier, Spyridon Louis, won the very first Olympic marathon.

Under appellation rules, Champagne's bubble-making secondary fermentation must happen where?

The AOC rules require secondary fermentation of the wine in the bottle to cause carbonation, along with strict grape sourcing and pressing methods.

Guinness stout originated in a brewery in which city?

Guinness originated in Arthur Guinness's brewery at St. James's Gate, Dublin, in the 18th century.

Tequila is distilled from which plant?

Tequila is made from the blue agave plant, mainly around the town of Tequila and the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico.

Bourbon whiskey is made primarily from which grain?

By US law, bourbon must be made from a grain mix of at least 51% corn and aged in new charred oak containers.

Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made by fermenting what?

Sake, often called Japanese rice wine, is made by fermenting polished rice.

Coca-Cola was invented in the late 19th century in which US city?

John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in Atlanta; it was first sold as a temperance drink and patent medicine.

Which French sculptor designed the Statue of Liberty?

Frédéric Bartholdi had earlier pitched a giant robed woman holding a light for Egypt's Suez Canal, but the khedive turned him down.

The 1889 World's Fair gave Paris which landmark?

The Eiffel Tower was built for the fair with a permit to stand just 20 years, and its use for radio saved it from demolition.

Strictly speaking, "Big Ben" is the nickname of what?

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and only by extension the tower.

Which river carries the largest volume of water in the world?

The Amazon carries about a fifth of all the river water that reaches the world's oceans; whether it or the Nile is longer is still disputed.

Which city is the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state?

Reykjavík sits at 64°08′ N on Faxaflói bay in southwest Iceland. Nuuk is further north but Greenland is not a sovereign state.

Which country has the only non-rectangular national flag?

Nepal's flag is the only non-rectangular national flag and the only one taller than it is wide. Switzerland's is square, but still four-sided.

Which city did Queen Victoria choose as Canada's capital?

Queen Victoria picked Ottawa in 1857 because it bordered both Upper and Lower Canada and sat safely distant from the US border.

Which Roman leader was stabbed to death on the Ides of March?

Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times by a group of senators, among them Brutus, on 15 March 44 BC.

Cleopatra was the last active pharaoh of which dynasty ruling Egypt?

Cleopatra was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC and the last active Hellenistic pharaoh.

Who sealed Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215?

Magna Carta is a royal charter of rights sealed by King John at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.

The US Declaration of Independence was adopted in which city?

Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House, where the Congress met, was later renamed Independence Hall.

Which US president was the first to be assassinated?

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, was shot at Ford's Theatre, and Andrew Johnson took the oath the same day Lincoln died.

Which South African president chose to serve only one term?

Nelson Mandela led South Africa from 1994 to 1999, declined a second term and handed over to his deputy, Thabo Mbeki.

What was Sputnik 1?

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.

Which two scientists first proposed the double-helix structure of DNA?

James Watson and Francis Crick shared the 1962 Nobel Prize with Maurice Wilkins; Rosalind Franklin, whose X-ray images were key, had died in 1958 and could not be nominated.

Which animal has three hearts and blue blood?

An octopus has two hearts pumping blood through its gills and a third for the body, and copper-based haemocyanin turns its blood blue.

How many squares are on a standard chessboard?

A chessboard's 64 squares are eight by eight, and a famous legend doubles grains on each square to over 18 quintillion in total.

Boardwalk, Park Place and the other original Monopoly properties are named after streets in and around which US resort town?

Atlantic City gave Monopoly its street names; Marvin Gardens is a misspelling of the real Marven Gardens that was never corrected.

The Rubik's Cube was invented in which country?

Hungary's Ernő Rubik invented the cube in 1974, and it took him about a month to solve his own puzzle.

Switzerland's constitution names no capital, so which city hosts its federal government?

Bern is officially only the "federal city", but Switzerland's government and parliament both sit there.

What is the highest mountain in Africa?

Kilimanjaro, at 5,895 m, is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world.

Which planet is the hottest in the Solar System?

Venus's surface averages about 464 °C, hot enough to melt lead, because its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat.

What is the largest animal known to have ever existed?

The blue whale, up to about 30 metres long and 190-200 tonnes, is the largest animal known to have ever existed.

What is the fastest land animal?

The cheetah is a pursuit predator capable of 93-104 km/h (58-65 mph).

Which is the largest living bird?

The common ostrich is the largest living bird, which also makes it the largest living dinosaur.

Which are the only mammals capable of true, sustained flight?

Bats, order Chiroptera, are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight; gliders only glide.

The Great Barrier Reef lies off the coast of which Australian state?

The reef is in the Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland, separated from the shore by a channel up to 160 km wide.

Which continent is on average the coldest, driest and windiest?

Antarctica is technically the world's largest desert, so dry that its interior gets almost no precipitation; it also has the highest average elevation of any continent.

Which naturally occurring substance is the hardest known?

Diamond has the greatest number of atoms per unit volume of any known substance, which is why it is the hardest and least compressible.

Which wireless technology is named after a 10th-century Viking king?

Bluetooth is named after King Harald Bluetooth, famed for uniting his realm, as the tech aimed to unite PCs and phones; its logo merges his runic initials.

Scrabble was invented by an American who worked in which profession?

Architect Alfred Mosher Butts set how many tiles each letter got by counting letters in newspapers, including The New York Times.

The Kentucky Derby is run at which racetrack?

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race at Churchill Downs in Louisville; the winner is draped in roses.

The Ryder Cup is a biennial competition in which sport?

Golf's Ryder Cup is named after Samuel Ryder, an English seed merchant who donated the trophy in the 1920s.

Sherlock Holmes shares quarters with Dr Watson at which London address?

221B Baker Street was fictional when the stories came out, because Baker Street's house numbers did not yet reach 221.

Who wrote the 1925 novel The Great Gatsby?

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby sold poorly in his lifetime and only became a classic after his death in 1940.

Who wrote and directed the 1994 film Pulp Fiction?

Pulp Fiction was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.

The band Nirvana formed in 1987 in which US state?

Nirvana formed in Aberdeen, Washington, and went through several drummers, including Chad Channing, before Dave Grohl joined.

Which British writer created James Bond?

Ian Fleming lifted the name James Bond from an American ornithologist's field guide, Birds of the West Indies, wanting a plain-sounding hero.

Which bridge is painted a colour called International Orange?

The Golden Gate Bridge wears International Orange, chosen to blend with the hills, though the US Navy had wanted it striped for visibility to ships.

The Lego Group is based in which country?

Lego is made by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark.

Which video game company started out making playing cards?

Nintendo's first product, in 1889, was hanafuda, Japanese flower cards, and it still makes them for the Japanese market.

The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from which country?

Russia sold Alaska for $7.2 million, about two cents an acre; some opponents called it "Seward's Folly", though most newspapers supported it or stayed neutral.

Which state became the 50th to join the United States, in 1959?

Hawaii joined the union on August 21, 1959, months after Alaska.

The Ashes is a series between England and Australia in which sport?

Cricket's Ashes take their name from an 1882 mock obituary declaring English cricket dead, its body to be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

Kangaroos belong to which group of mammals?

Kangaroos are marsupials from the subfamily Macropodinae, meaning large foot.

The painter of The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh, was from which country?

The Netherlands was Van Gogh's homeland, but he painted The Starry Night in France, at an asylum in Saint-Rémy, in 1889.

Which city replaced Auckland as New Zealand's capital for being more central?

Wellington became capital in 1865 after neutral commissioners from Australia chose it for its central location and good harbour.

Which chemical element has the symbol K?

Potassium was named after potash, ash soaked in pots, while its symbol K comes from its other name, kalium.

In which sport do teams of six rotate positions each time they win back the serve?

Volleyball teams rotate clockwise after winning back the serve, and the player moving into the back-right spot serves next.

Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

Michelangelo saw himself as a sculptor, not a painter, and resisted the commission before spending four years on the ceiling.

What is the longest river in Europe?

The Volga is Europe's longest river, and it empties into the landlocked Caspian Sea rather than an ocean.

The First World War began after an assassination in which city?

Sarajevo is where Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, after the archduke's driver took a wrong turn and stopped nearby.

Which instrument does Sherlock Holmes play?

Sherlock Holmes plays the violin, and in The Cardboard Box he boasts of buying his Stradivarius, worth at least 500 guineas, for 55 shillings.

Which writer created the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot?

Agatha Christie grew to dislike her detective, and by 1960 she called Poirot a "detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep".

Which skyscraper took the world's-tallest-building title from Taipei 101?

Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened on 4 January 2010 at 828 metres, about 320 metres taller than Taipei 101.

Which mythical beast is the heraldic symbol of Scotland, shown on its royal arms?

The Unicorn shares the royal arms with England's lion because Scotland's James VI inherited the English throne in 1603.