130 Fun Facts About Family

Which is the largest planet in our Solar System?

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System: about 1,300 Earths would fit inside it, and it outweighs all the other planets combined.

What is the fastest land animal?

The cheetah is the fastest land animal, sprinting at roughly 60 to 70 mph in short bursts thanks to a flexible spine and long legs.

Which is the tallest animal alive today?

The giraffe is the tallest living animal; adult males stand about 18 feet (5.5 m), and it is also the largest ruminant, chewing its cud like a cow.

Which is the largest and deepest ocean?

The Pacific is the largest and deepest ocean: it covers more area than all of Earth's land combined and holds the Mariana Trench, nearly 11 km down.

How many legs does a spider have?

A spider has 8 legs, each built from seven segments; insects have only six legs, which is the quickest way to tell the two apart.

What is the capital city of Australia?

Canberra is Australia's capital; it was purpose-built as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, and Parliament moved there in 1927.

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.

How many strings does a standard guitar have?

A twelve-string guitar doubles each of them up in pairs.

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

The ostrich lays the largest eggs of any living animal, each about 1.4 kg (3 lb); it is also the heaviest bird, at up to about 145 kg (320 lb).

What is the largest animal that has ever lived?

The blue whale is the largest animal known to have lived, reaching around 100 feet (30 m) and up to about 200 tonnes, heavier than any dinosaur.

What is the smallest country in the world?

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, covering about 109 acres (0.44 km2) with fewer than 900 residents, entirely surrounded by Rome.

How many bones does an adult human have?

An adult human has 206 bones; babies are born with about 270, and many of them fuse together as the skeleton grows.

Bees make honey mainly from what?

Bees make honey mainly from flower nectar, which they regurgitate and fan dry in the comb; a little honey also comes from honeydew, the sugary secretions of aphids.

Who painted the Mona Lisa?

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, probably beginning around 1503; the sitter is thought to be Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a Florentine merchant.

How many keys does a full-size piano have?

A full-size piano has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, spanning a little over seven octaves from A0 up to C8.

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

Toy Story (1995) was the first feature film made entirely with computer animation and Pixar's first feature; Tom Hanks and Tim Allen voiced Woody and Buzz.

Which sport is played with a shuttlecock?

Badminton is played with a shuttlecock; a smashed shuttle can leave the racquet at over 400 km/h, faster than any ball in racquet sport.

How many rings are on the Olympic flag?

The Olympic flag carries 5 interlocking rings, designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913 to stand for the inhabited continents, with the Americas counted as one.

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

Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, organised by the newly founded International Olympic Committee of Pierre de Coubertin.

What is the largest hot desert in the world?

The Sahara is the largest hot desert, covering about 9 million km2 of North Africa; only the polar deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic are bigger.

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 dedicated in 1886, and its iron framework was engineered by Gustave Eiffel, of tower fame.

Which planet is famous for its bright system of rings?

Saturn is the planet famous for its bright rings, which are made mostly of water ice and span more than 280,000 km across yet are mostly less than a kilometre thick.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon, on 20 July 1969; he and Buzz Aldrin spent about two and a half hours outside the Apollo 11 lunar module.

How many days are there in a leap year?

A leap year has 366 days; the extra day, 29 February, keeps the calendar lined up with Earth's roughly 365.24-day orbit and so with the seasons.

What is the currency of Japan?

The yen is Japan's currency, adopted in 1871; its symbol is ¥ and its ISO code is JPY.

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.

What colour is an emerald?

An emerald is green; the colour comes from tiny traces of chromium or vanadium in the mineral beryl, which is colourless when pure.

How many permanent (adult) teeth do humans usually have?

Humans usually have 32 permanent teeth, including four wisdom teeth; children first grow 20 baby teeth, all of which are replaced.

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

The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on Earth in a dive; its hunting stoop has been clocked at over 200 mph (320 km/h).

What did the Titanic hit before it sank in April 1912?

The Titanic struck an iceberg late on 14 April 1912 and sank in under three hours on its maiden voyage to New York; more than 1,500 people died.

What is the longest bone in the human body?

The femur, or thigh bone, is the longest bone in the body, about a quarter of a person's height, and also the largest and strongest.

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?

Everest straddles the border between Nepal and China's Tibet region; it is called Sagarmatha in Nepali and Qomolangma in Tibetan.

Which country contains about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest?

Brazil holds about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, by far the largest share among the nine countries and territories that contain it.

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 is made by the Lego Group, based in Billund, Denmark, where carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen founded the company in 1932.

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.

How many colours are in the traditional rainbow sequence?

Isaac Newton picked seven, ending the sequence with indigo and violet.

Which are the only mammals that can truly fly?

The others only glide; bats flap and stay up.

Which planet is closest to the Sun?

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, orbiting about 58 million km out on average; it is also the smallest planet, only about 40 percent wider than Earth's Moon.

What is the chemical formula for water?

Water is H2O: each molecule is two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom, which is exactly what the formula spells out.

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.

At what temperature does water boil at sea level, in Celsius?

Water boils at 100°C at sea level; up a mountain the lower air pressure lets it boil at a lower temperature, which is why tea tastes odd at altitude.

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 whenever he tells a lie, a punishment in Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel; his name may come from a Tuscan word for pine nut.

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

The Great Pyramid of Giza, built around 2560 BC for the pharaoh Khufu, is the oldest of the Seven Wonders and the only one that survives largely intact.

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

Each soccer team fields 11 players, including the goalkeeper, the only one allowed to handle the ball in open play.

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, sharing the 1903 Physics prize; she later won the 1911 Chemistry prize for discovering radium and polonium.

The Beatles came from which English city?

The Beatles came from Liverpool, where John Lennon's Quarrymen took the Beatles name in 1960 and went on to play the Cavern Club nearly 300 times.

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

Dorothy's dog is Toto; the books never give his breed, but the illustrations made him a Cairn terrier in most minds, and the 1939 film cast a Cairn named Terry.

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

Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union; it orbits in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune and carries minor-planet number 134340.

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

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was the first full-length animated feature made in the United States; Hollywood dubbed it 'Disney's Folly' before it became a smash.

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

Its Prince Escalus threatens death to anyone who breaks the peace again.

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.

The Eiffel Tower was built as the centrepiece of a World's Fair in which year?

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, which marked 100 years since the French Revolution; it stayed the world's tallest structure until 1930.

Which is the hottest planet in the Solar System?

Venus is the hottest planet: its thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere traps heat, pushing the surface to about 464°C, hotter than Mercury despite being farther from the Sun.

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

Michael Jordan won all six of his NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, in two three-peats (1991-93 and 1996-98), and was named Finals MVP every time.

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

Simone Biles won the Olympic all-around gold at Rio 2016 and again at Paris 2024, eight years apart; her 11 Olympic medals include seven golds.

How many squares are on a chessboard?

A chessboard has 64 squares, arranged in an 8-by-8 grid of alternating light and dark squares.

The Golden Gate Bridge links which city to Marin County?

The Golden Gate Bridge links San Francisco to Marin County across the Golden Gate strait, which is only about a mile wide; the bridge opened in 1937.

Which river flows north through Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea?

The Nile flows north through Egypt to the Mediterranean; at roughly 6,650 km (4,130 miles) it is usually ranked the longest river, though some measurements put the Amazon ahead.

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 (299,792 km/s in a vacuum), roughly a billion kilometres an hour, or seven trips round the Earth in a second.

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

The Titanic left Southampton on 10 April 1912, called at Cherbourg and Queenstown, and was bound for New York; it never arrived.

Which is the largest moon of Saturn?

Titan is Saturn's largest moon, bigger than the planet Mercury and the only moon known to have a thick atmosphere; the Huygens probe landed on it in 2005.

Which country holds the second-largest share of the Amazon rainforest, about 13 percent?

Peru holds the second-largest share of the Amazon rainforest, about 13 percent, mostly in its eastern lowlands; Colombia is third with roughly 10 percent.

How many hearts does an octopus have?

An octopus has three hearts: one main heart pumps blood around the body while two smaller branchial hearts push it through the gills.

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, stretching more than 2,300 km along Queensland and made up of over 2,900 individual reefs.

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

Asia is the largest continent, covering about 30 percent of Earth's land and holding roughly 4.7 billion people, around 60 percent of humanity.

The unicorn is the heraldic symbol of which country?

The unicorn is Scotland's national animal and heraldic symbol; it appears chained on the royal arms and was paired with England's lion when the crowns were united in 1603.

How many degrees are in a right angle?

A right angle measures 90 degrees, a quarter turn; the square corner of a sheet of paper is the everyday example, and two right angles make a straight line.

Modern pizza evolved from flatbreads in which Italian city?

Modern pizza evolved in Naples, where flatbreads were topped with garlic, salt, lard and cheese before the 18th century; the word 'pizza' was first recorded in AD 997 at Gaeta.

In which fictional town do The Simpsons live?

The Simpsons live in Springfield, where Homer works as a safety inspector at the town's nuclear power plant, which suits his careless personality about as badly as you'd expect.

At what age do children start at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

Rowling's boarding school takes pupils from eleven to eighteen, and any magical child in Britain gets an invitation.

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.