80 Fun Facts About Medium

Which English king put his seal to Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215?

John's barons forced the charter on him after years of heavy taxation and lost French lands; the Pope annulled it within weeks.

Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning sultan of which empire?

His 46-year reign from 1520 pushed the empire's borders to the gates of Vienna and made its navy the master of the Mediterranean.

Soldiers from which country's army found the Rosetta Stone in Egypt in 1799?

The British took it from the French two years later under the Capitulation of Alexandria, which is why it sits in the British Museum today.

Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?

She remains the only person to have won Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.

Despite its name, the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War actually lasted how many years?

It ran from 1337 to 1453, and five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought over the French throne.

Which US president completed the Louisiana Purchase in 1803?

Jefferson mainly wanted the port of New Orleans; Napoleon offered the whole territory instead, roughly doubling the size of the country.

The best-known brick-and-stone sections of the Great Wall of China were built under which dynasty?

Earlier walls were mostly rammed earth; the Ming rebuilt in brick and stone after a humiliating defeat by the Oirat Mongols in 1449.

The Taj Mahal was commissioned by which Mughal ruler as a tomb for his wife?

Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 giving birth to their fourteenth child; Shah Jahan was later buried beside her.

The Danube river empties into which sea?

On the way it passes through four national capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade.

The temple complex of Angkor Wat is in which country?

It is the largest religious structure in the world and appears on the national flag.

Which is the largest lake in Africa by surface area?

It is also the world's largest tropical lake and the source of the White Nile.

Which desert stretches across southern Mongolia and northern China?

It is a cold desert: winter temperatures in southern Mongolia have dropped below minus 30 °C.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, is in which country?

Its summit was renamed Uhuru Peak, Swahili for 'Freedom Peak', after independence in 1964.

Which river carries more water to the sea than any other on Earth?

Its average discharge is greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined.

'Sagarmatha' is the local name for which mountain in Nepal?

On the Tibetan side it is Qomolangma; a 2020 joint Nepal–China survey put its height at 8,848.86 m.

Which country has the longest coastline in the world?

Its coastline runs about 243,000 km across three oceans; the country also shares a 1,280-metre land border with Greenland.

Which chemical element has the symbol W?

The W comes from wolfram, the name still used in most Germanic and Slavic languages; it has the highest melting point of any metal.

Which planet rotates almost on its side, with an axial tilt near 98 degrees?

Its poles take turns pointing almost straight at the Sun, so each gets 42 years of daylight followed by 42 of darkness.

Roughly what percentage of dry air is nitrogen?

Oxygen makes up about 21%, argon nearly 1%, and carbon dioxide only around 0.04%.

Which blood type is often called the universal donor for red-cell transfusions?

AB positive is the mirror image: the universal recipient of red cells.

What is the speed of light in a vacuum, to the nearest thousand kilometres per second?

The figure is exact by definition: since 1983 the metre has been defined by how far light travels in a fraction of a second.

Which astronomer formulated the three laws of planetary motion?

He worked out the first two laws by analysing Tycho Brahe's painstaking observations of the orbit of Mars.

Which vitamin does the skin make when exposed to sunlight?

For most people skin synthesis provides more of it than food does, which is why it is only conditionally essential in the diet.

Which inventor is best known for his work on the alternating current (AC) electricity system?

His 1887 induction motor ran on AC, the format that won out because it transmits power over long distances far more efficiently.

How many players does each volleyball team have on court?

All six rotate through the positions, so every player takes a turn at the net as a hitter.

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

The United States won the most golds with 11, but host Greece won the most medals overall.

Which country won the men's FIFA World Cup five times between 1958 and 2002?

Brazil won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002, and is the only nation to have appeared at every World Cup tournament.

In golf, what is a score of three under par on a single hole called?

Americans usually call it a double eagle; a hole-in-one on a par four is one way to make one.

In which sport do teams slide granite stones toward a target called the 'house'?

Each team of four gets eight stones per end, and the sport was invented in medieval Scotland.

What is the official distance of a marathon?

The odd figure comes from the 1908 London Olympics course and was fixed as the standard by the IAAF in 1921.

Who directed the 1975 shark thriller Jaws?

The mechanical shark kept breaking down, forcing the director to imply the animal rather than show it, which many credit for the film's suspense.

Banker Andy Dufresne is the protagonist of which 1994 film?

It underperformed at the box office but became a fixture at the top of audience-voted best-film lists.

What is the name of the fictional African kingdom ruled by Black Panther?

Marvel's own maps have moved it around: some place it near Rwanda, others at the north end of Lake Turkana.

Which TV series is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana?

The show describes Hawkins as 'the town where nothing ever happens', right before a government lab opens a portal to the Upside Down.

Which 1927 film won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture?

It is a silent World War I flying picture starring Clara Bow, and it also won for Best Engineering Effects at the 1929 ceremony.

Who provided the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films?

David Prowse wore the suit; George Lucas considered Orson Welles for the voice but decided he would be too recognisable.

Which band released the 1977 album Rumours?

It was written while both couples in the band were breaking up, which is why so many of its songs are about troubled relationships.

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was born on which island?

Born Farrokh Bulsara to Parsi parents, he was schooled in India before his family fled a revolution to England in 1964.

What is the name of Elvis Presley's mansion in Memphis?

It sits on a 13.8-acre estate on a road that was later renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard.

Which Baroque composer wrote the violin concertos known as The Four Seasons?

He wrote them around 1718–1723 while serving as court chapel master in Mantua.

Beyoncé first rose to fame as the lead singer of which group?

The group disbanded in 2005, the year before her second solo album B'Day.

ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest representing which country?

The winning song was 'Waterloo', and the group remains the best-selling act ever to come out of continental Europe.

Who wrote the 1967 novel One Hundred Years of Solitude?

The novel follows seven generations of the Buendía family in the invented town of Macondo.

In Moby-Dick, what is the name of Captain Ahab's whaling ship?

The ship sets sail on Christmas Day; the Essex was the real whaler whose sinking by a sperm whale inspired Melville.

Which author created the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot?

She grew tired of him and wrote his final case decades early, locking the manuscript away until 1975.

What is the first name of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice?

It was his mother's maiden name; Charles is his friend Bingley.

The magician Prospero is the central character of which Shakespeare play?

It was probably Shakespeare's last solo play, and Prospero's farewell to magic is often read as the playwright's own.

Marzipan is made mainly from sugar and which ground nut?

Cheaper versions substitute apricot or peach kernels, and in Syria it goes by the name lozina.

Which cheese gives tiramisu its creamy layer?

The rest is coffee-soaked ladyfingers, egg yolks, sugar and cocoa; the cheese is the most recent addition to the recipe.

Chablis wine must be made entirely from which grape?

Cistercian monks are believed to have planted the first vines there in the 12th century, and its cool climate keeps the wine crisp.

Which spirit is the base of a mojito?

The other four classic ingredients are sugar, lime juice, soda water and mint.

Sauerkraut is made by fermenting which vegetable?

Lactic acid bacteria do the work, and Roman writers Cato and Columella already described preserving it with salt.

In which year did Apple release the first iPhone?

Steve Jobs unveiled it at Macworld in January and it went on sale in the US that June.

What does the 'HTTP' at the start of a web address stand for?

The 's' in HTTPS means the connection is encrypted with TLS.

Who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web?

He also devised HTML, URLs and HTTP, then founded the W3C to keep the web's standards open.

Which 1945 machine is regarded as the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer?

The name stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer; it was built at the University of Pennsylvania.

Which is the tallest and heaviest species of penguin?

It lives only in Antarctica and breeds through the polar winter, with males incubating eggs on their feet.

Which land mammal has the longest pregnancy, at up to two years?

After a birth, a female usually waits at least four years before having another calf.

What is the collective noun for a group of crows?

A parliament is owls, an unkindness is ravens, and a conspiracy is lemurs.

What is the largest fish species alive today?

It is a slow filter-feeder; the largest reliably measured individual was 18.8 metres long.

What is the largest living species of lizard?

Males reach 3 metres and 150 kg, and most of them live inside Komodo National Park in eastern Indonesia.

How many squares are there on a standard chessboard?

Eight rows by eight columns; a Go board, by contrast, has 19 by 19 lines.

What colour is an aircraft's so-called 'black box' flight recorder actually painted?

The bright colour is required by regulation to make the recorders easier to find in wreckage.

Which zodiac sign is represented by a set of scales?

It is the only sign symbolised by an object rather than an animal or mythological figure.

How many bones does a typical adult human skeleton have?

We start with around 270 bones at birth; dozens fuse together during childhood.

The Swiss franc is the currency of Switzerland and which neighbouring principality?

It is also legal tender in Campione d'Italia, an Italian exclave surrounded by Swiss territory.

Which painter created The Starry Night, with its swirling night sky?

He painted it in 1889 from the window of an asylum in Saint-Rémy, and later wrote that its abstraction had gone too far.

Which city is the capital of Australia?

It is the country's largest inland city, with roughly 485,000 people in 2025.

Which is the largest hot desert in the world?

At 9.2 million square kilometres it ranks third among all deserts, behind the cold deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic.

Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512?

The fresco cycle is regarded as a cornerstone of High Renaissance art.

Besides mercury, which element is a liquid at room temperature?

The red-brown liquid evaporates readily into a vapour of the same colour and sits between chlorine and iodine in its properties.

Which city hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics?

The city had originally been awarded the cancelled 1940 Games as well.

On what date in 1989 did East Germany announce its citizens could freely visit West Berlin?

Weeks of civil unrest and revolutions in Poland and Hungary had already cracked the Iron Curtain.

How long after Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon did Buzz Aldrin follow him?

Armstrong's first step came about six hours after the lunar module touched down.

In which ocean is the Mariana Trench, the deepest oceanic trench on Earth?

The crescent-shaped trench runs about 2,550 km long and lies some 200 km east of the Mariana Islands.

Which river is the longest in Europe?

It flows through Russia into the Caspian Sea and is the world's longest river that never reaches an ocean.

Which French sculptor designed the Statue of Liberty?

Gustave Eiffel built its metal framework, and the copper-clad statue was a gift from the people of France.

Which Dutch Golden Age painter created Girl with a Pearl Earring around 1665?

The painting has hung in the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902 and only gained its current title late in the 20th century.

Holden Caulfield is the narrator of which 1951 novel?

J. D. Salinger's book was originally intended for adults but became a touchstone for teenage rebellion.

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

Covering 44 hectares with about 882 residents, it is the only country with fewer than 1,000 people.