89 Fun Facts About Red

Which background colour did American stop signs carry until 1954, before the switch that drivers know today?

Yellow was the standard because the red pigments of the day faded outdoors; once durable red finishes arrived, the 1954 rulebook made the red octagon the only standard.

The Moscow–Washington hotline is pictured as a red telephone, but which machines actually carried its first messages in 1963?

Teleprinters carried the first hotline message in August 1963, a test sent from Washington: 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's back 1234567890.' Fax machines and later computers replaced them.

Which colour did M&M's add in 1976 to replace red, pulled over a scare about a dye the sweets never used?

Orange stood in for red after the Red Dye No. 2 cancer scare and then never left: when red M&M's returned in 1987, orange kept its place in the bag.

Which seaside town did motorists drive to from London in 1896 to celebrate freedom from Britain's 'Red Flag Act' speed limits?

Brighton was the goal of the 1896 'Emancipation Run', held as a new law lifted the limit from 4 to 14 mph. The 1865 Act had put a man with a red flag 60 yards ahead of each road locomotive, though the flag itself went in 1878.

Why is a matador's muleta traditionally dyed a colour that bulls, being dichromatic, cannot actually make out?

To hide bloodstains is the practical reason the muleta stays red: bulls charge the cloth's movement, and go for the matador's other cape, the larger capote, just as readily.

'Redshirt', for a character introduced only to be killed, comes from doomed security crew on which 1960s TV series?

Star Trek's doomed crewmen inspired John Scalzi's satire Redshirts, in which expendable ensigns on another starship work out why they keep dying; it won the 2013 Hugo Award.

Which London building got the world's first traffic signal in 1868, a gas lamp showing red or green that soon exploded?

Parliament's signal was a railway engineer's idea and needed a policeman to work it; within a month a gas leak caused an explosion that badly burned his face, and the signal was gone within the year.

Which national football team has used Manchester United's nickname since 1906, thanks to the colour of its jerseys?

Belgium became the Red Devils in 1906, when a sports journalist coined the name after two 5–0 wins; Manchester United only borrowed theirs from Salford's rugby team in the 1960s.

Why does a lobster's shell turn red when it is cooked?

Its hidden colour is unmasked: heat breaks down the shell protein that masks astaxanthin, a red pigment. The same pigment makes salmon flesh pink.

Which pigment makes tomatoes red and also colours watermelon and pink grapefruit?

Lycopene is one nutrient that cooking helps: the body takes up far more of it from tomato paste than from fresh tomatoes.

Which muscle protein carries the pigments that colour red meat?

Myoglobin stores oxygen inside muscle, which is why whales and seals pack so much of it that they can hold their breath through long dives.

What coats the striking strip of a safety match box, deliberately kept apart from the match head?

Red phosphorus on the box, not the match, was Gustaf Pasch's 1844 safety idea: it let match heads drop white phosphorus, which poisoned factory workers with 'phossy jaw'.

The juice of which vegetable works as a homemade pH indicator that turns pink with vinegar?

Red cabbage juice changes colour with acidity, which is why cooks add vinegar or acidic fruit to the pot to keep the leaves red.

Which kind of star is the Milky Way's most common, yet not one is visible to the naked eye?

Red dwarfs burn their fuel so slowly that they should shine for trillions of years, far longer than the universe has existed, so none has yet died of old age.

Ruby is the traditional birthstone for which month?

July's ruby is the same mineral as sapphire: both are corundum, and it is only a trace of chromium that turns the stone red.

Before 'red state' meant Republican, whose states lit up red on NBC's 1976 map?

Jimmy Carter's states glowed red and Gerald Ford's blue, because NBC borrowed the colours of Britain's Labour and Conservative parties. Red and blue only became fixed party labels during the long 2000 Bush–Gore count.

At the 1991 Tony Awards, Jeremy Irons was among the first to wear a red ribbon for people living with what?

HIV/AIDS awareness was the cause: New York artists borrowed the idea from the ribbons tied for Gulf War troops, and left the red ribbon uncopyrighted so that anyone could wear it.

The Moulin Rouge cabaret in Paris is best known as the birthplace of the modern form of which dance?

The can-can made stars of Moulin Rouge dancers such as La Goulue, whom Toulouse-Lautrec put on the cabaret's posters; its name means 'Red Mill', after the windmill on the roof.

Red Nose Day raises money for which British charity, founded by Richard Curtis and Lenny Henry in 1985?

Comic Relief was the comedy world's answer to the Ethiopian famine, and it launched live on BBC television on Christmas Day 1985 from a refugee camp in Sudan.

Which singer wrote 'The Lady in Red' with his wife Diane in mind?

Chris de Burgh's signature hit topped the UK chart, yet in a 2001 poll of over 50,000 Observer readers and Channel 4 viewers it was voted the fourth most hated single.

After the Wars of the Roses, which royal dynasty joined Lancaster's red rose and York's white in a single badge?

Tudor king Henry VII dusted off the red rose to stand for Lancaster and merged it with York's white when he married Elizabeth of York; nobody at the time called the conflict the Wars of the Roses.

Which London Underground line, printed in red on the Tube map, is the network's longest at 46 miles?

The Central line opened in 1900 charging two old pence for any journey, and the Daily Mail promptly nicknamed it the 'Twopenny Tube'.

In motor racing, what does a solid red flag tell the drivers?

The session is halted when a red flag flies, usually after a serious crash or in dangerous weather; in a Formula One race the cars must crawl back to the pit lane and queue at its exit.

Which skydiver rode a helium balloon 39 km above New Mexico in 2012 and then jumped in a pressure suit?

Felix Baumgartner broke the 1960 record of Joseph Kittinger, who at 84 was the voice guiding him by radio that day, then lost the height record two years later to Google executive Alan Eustace.

Stephen King wrote 'Red' as a white Irishman, but which actor won the role in The Shawshank Redemption?

Morgan Freeman was cast at a producer's suggestion despite the book's description, and the film winks at the change: asked why he is called Red, he says, 'Maybe it's because I'm Irish.'

Which author and illustrator created Clifford the Big Red Dog in 1963?

Norman Bridwell wanted to call his giant dog Tiny until his wife talked him out of it, and he named Clifford's owner, Emily Elizabeth, after their daughter.

Which Austrian entrepreneur turned the Thai tonic Krating Daeng into Red Bull after claiming it cured his jet lag?

Dietrich Mateschitz partnered with Krating Daeng's creator Chaleo Yoovidhya and reformulated the drink for Western tastes, carbonating it for the first time.

Which 1973 Triple Crown winner, who set the time record in all three races, was nicknamed 'Big Red'?

Secretariat had to wait 39 years for one of those records: a faulty track clock mistimed his Preakness, and only a 2012 review of the race film gave him the 1:53 mark.

Which coach lit a victory cigar on the Boston Celtics bench whenever he judged a game already won?

Red Auerbach's early victory cigars taunted opponents, but Boston indulged him: restaurant menus there read 'No cigar or pipe smoking, except for Red Auerbach.'

Which bird of prey, reintroduced to England's Chilterns from 1989, has taken to snatching sandwiches from people in local parks?

Red kites had been persecuted almost out of Britain, but the Chilterns releases worked so well that in 2023 a local council put up posters asking people not to feed them.

Which jet did the RAF's Red Arrows switch to in late 1979, when they gave up the Folland Gnat?

The BAE Hawk is a training jet, like the Gnat it replaced; the Red Arrows were formed as the RAF's one full-time team because its many display teams were taking up too much time.

Which architect, known for Battersea Power Station, won the 1924 competition to design Britain's classic red telephone kiosk?

Giles Gilbert Scott wanted his winning kiosk made of steel and painted silver; it was the Post Office that chose cast iron and the famous red.

Which manufacturer built the triplane that the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, made his signature aircraft?

Fokker, the firm of Dutchman Anthony Fokker, built it in Germany, yet the famous triplane brought Richthofen only 19 of his 80 victories.

The original 'thin red line' faced Russian cavalry at which battle, hours before the Charge of the Light Brigade?

Balaclava's Highlanders met the charge in a line only two deep rather than forming a square, and a Times reporter's phrase for them, a 'thin red streak', became the 'thin red line'.

Which vessels fly the Red Ensign, the flag nicknamed the 'Red Duster'?

British merchant and passenger ships fly it today, but until 1864 so did the Royal Navy's Red Squadron; that year the navy kept the White Ensign for itself and left the red to merchantmen.

'Paint the town red' is often traced to a marquess's 1837 spree in which English town?

Melton Mowbray, the pork-pie town, is where the 'Mad Marquis' of Waterford and his friends ran riot in 1837 and, the tale goes, painted buildings red; but the phrase is not found in print until 1883, in the United States.

Which part do human red blood cells push out as they mature, unlike almost every other cell in the body?

The nucleus is pushed out as each red blood cell matures, leaving more room for the hemoglobin that carries oxygen; the stripped-down cell then circulates for about four months.

A crimson carpet is rolled out for a returning king in Agamemnon, a tragedy of 458 BC by which Greek playwright?

Aeschylus makes the crimson path a trap: Agamemnon fears such luxury is for gods alone, is talked into walking it by his wife Clytemnestra, and is murdered by her inside the palace.

Which French novelist's 1830 book The Red and the Black follows the ambitious Julien Sorel?

Stendhal took the plot from a real 1827 court case: a young ex-seminarian turned tutor shot a former employer's wife in church during Mass and was executed for it.

Which singer-songwriter wrote and first recorded Red Red Wine, years before UB40's reggae hit?

Neil Diamond put the song on his 1967 album Just for You. UB40 knew only Tony Tribe's cover and had no idea who had written it.

Which insects, brushed off prickly pear cacti and dried, are the source of the red dye carmine?

Cochineal insects make carminic acid to deter predators, and it can be about a fifth of their dried weight.

Detroit Red Wings fans have thrown which dead sea creature onto the ice at home playoff games since 1952?

Octopus throwing began with two storeowner brothers: the eight arms stood for the eight wins then needed to lift the Stanley Cup.

Which Himalayan animal, sometimes called the firefox, gave Mozilla's web browser its name?

Red panda is the animal behind the name, yet the browser's logo shows a stylised fox.

Which compound in the fine dust blanketing Mars accounts for the famous Martian reddish tint?

Iron oxide is the compound in everyday rust; on Mars it lies deep across much of the surface as finely grained powder.

Whose sayings fill the Little Red Book that China's Red Guards carried in the Cultural Revolution?

Mao Zedong's quotations got the nickname abroad from the red cover of the commonest edition. A million copies went to Red Guards in Beijing on National Day 1966.

Hyperion, the world's tallest known living tree, belongs to which Californian species?

Coast redwood Hyperion stands about 116 metres tall. Its surroundings were closed off in 2022 after visitors devastated the habitat around it.

The 'Red' in Moscow's Red Square comes from a Russian word that originally carried which meaning?

Beautiful was the old sense of krasnaya, which is why the main squares of several other Russian cities carry the very same name.

Which country's mounted police wear the high-collared scarlet tunic known as the Red Serge?

Canada's Mounties were put in red so that nobody would mistake them for the blue-uniformed American military.

Which drinks company hired Haddon Sundblom in 1931 to paint a red-suited Santa for its adverts?

Coca-Cola's Santa was modelled at first on a friend of the painter, a retired salesman; later Sundblom painted himself, looking into a mirror.

The Suez Canal links the Red Sea to which other sea?

Mediterranean Sea shipping reaches the Red Sea through the canal, opened in 1869, sparing ships the long voyage around Africa.

Which 1984 film about teenagers resisting a Soviet invasion was America's first PG-13 release?

Red Dawn opened in cinemas that August, only weeks after the new rating came into force.

Which planet's Great Red Spot is the largest storm of its kind in the Solar System?

Jupiter's spot has been watched continuously since 1878, and it has been shrinking for about a century.

The Red Cross took its emblem by reversing the colours of which country's flag?

Switzerland's white cross on red was reversed for the emblem. A crescent version followed in the 1870s, after the Ottoman Empire feared that a cross would alienate its Muslim soldiers.

Which singer re-recorded her album Red in 2021 after a dispute over her back catalogue?

Taylor Swift went on to buy the master recording of the original Red, her fourth studio album, in 2025.

Which bassist co-founded Red Hot Chili Peppers in Los Angeles with classmates from Fairfax High School?

Flea, born Michael Balzary in Melbourne, started the band in 1982 with schoolmates, at first under a far longer name.

Which slugger's 1920 sale by the Red Sox to the Yankees was blamed for an 86-year title drought?

Babe Ruth's sale gave the drought its nickname, the Curse of the Bambino, which was finally laid to rest by the 2004 World Series win.

Which former insurance agent began his writing career with the thriller The Hunt for Red October?

Tom Clancy sold the book for a modest $5,000 to the Naval Institute Press, whose magazine had earlier run an article of his.

Which French author of Cinderella and Puss in Boots wrote the first published Little Red Riding Hood?

Charles Perrault meant the tale as a warning about strangers preying on young girls. The rescue by a hunter comes from the later Brothers Grimm version.

Which Victorian novelist, as a Post Office surveyor, brought the pillar box to the British Isles?

Anthony Trollope tried the idea out in Jersey, where the first four boxes opened in November 1852. Red only became the standard colour in 1874.

Which baseball team, led by Pete Rose and Johnny Bench, won the 1975 and 1976 World Series?

Cincinnati Reds sides of that era were called the Big Red Machine. Their eight regular starters lost only 19 of the 88 games they played together.

Which American department store created Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for a 1939 giveaway booklet?

Montgomery Ward gave the job to its employee Robert L. May, then handed out 2.4 million copies of his story in the first year.

Which racehorse won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and came second in between?

Red Rum's first win was a famous comeback: he made up 30 lengths to snatch the 1973 race.

Which Grand Theft Auto publisher bought Red Dead Revolver from Capcom and built the Red Dead series?

Rockstar took over the unfinished Revolver in 2003 and released it within nine months, then set out to make its own Western from scratch.

Which fictional serial killer first appeared, in a small role, in Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon?

Hannibal Lecter was first played on screen by Brian Cox in Manhunter, the 1986 adaptation, which spelled the surname Lecktor.

Which American author wrote The Masque of the Red Death, in which Prince Prospero flees a plague?

Edgar Allan Poe first published the story in 1842 under the spelling Mask, with the subtitle A Fantasy.

Traces of which metal turn rubies red, in a mineral whose other gem varieties are called sapphires?

Chromium atoms take the place of a few aluminium atoms in corundum; swap about one in a hundred and the crystal comes out red.

Which American astronomer showed in 1929 that a galaxy's redshift grows with its distance from us?

Edwin Hubble's finding implies that the universe is expanding, and a famous space telescope was later named in his honour.

Which astronomer, the discoverer of Uranus, detected infrared radiation in 1800 using a thermometer?

William Herschel had found invisible rays lower in energy than red light. Slightly more than half of the Sun's energy reaching Earth turned out to arrive that way.

Which effect, named after a British lord, explains both the blue sky and the red setting Sun?

Rayleigh scattering hits short wavelengths hardest, so blue light is thrown across the sky and the low Sun, stripped of it, looks red.

Which Bolshevik built the Red Army as war commissar and led it to victory in Russia's civil war?

Leon Trotsky scrapped the election of officers in favour of a traditional hierarchy, and recruited en masse from the old Imperial officer corps.

Which country did the Khmer Rouge, whose French name means 'Red Khmers', rule from 1975 to 1979?

Cambodia's Norodom Sihanouk coined the label in the 1960s for communist-led dissidents, then allied with them after he was overthrown in 1970.

Which Italian patriot led the red-shirted volunteers of the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860?

Giuseppe Garibaldi's men are said to have first worn red in Uruguay, in shirts from a stock made for slaughterhouse workers in Buenos Aires.

Which Wisconsin senator's name became a byword for America's post-war Red Scare?

Joseph McCarthy was censured by the Senate in 1954 by 67 votes to 22, one of the few senators ever disciplined that way.

In The Matrix, which rebel leader offers Neo the choice between a red pill and a blue pill?

Morpheus is played by Laurence Fishburne. The traitor Cypher took the red pill too, and came to regret it.

Which lord hosts the Red Wedding at his castle, the Twins, in Game of Thrones?

Walder Frey's guests are cut down at the marriage of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey, moments after the band strikes up a Lannister song.

Which Netflix thriller opens its deadly contest with a robot doll overseeing Red Light, Green Light?

Squid Game's doll was based on Young-hee, a character from the covers of South Korean school textbooks of the 1970s and 1980s.

Which actor won the Best Director Oscar for Reds, his 1981 epic about the journalist John Reed?

Warren Beatty was also nominated for acting in and co-writing the film, which lost Best Picture to Chariots of Fire.

Which Holy Roman Emperor, drowned on the Third Crusade, had an Italian nickname meaning 'Red Beard'?

Frederick I was only called Barbarossa from 1298, a century after his death, when Florentines wanted to tell him apart from his grandson.

Knuckles, the red rival turned friend of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, is which kind of animal?

Echidna is in his full name, Knuckles the Echidna, and the character went on to lead a live-action television miniseries of his own.

Which Mughal emperor, builder of the Taj Mahal, commissioned Delhi's Red Fort as his residence?

Shah Jahan's fort is where India's prime minister raises the national flag each Independence Day, as Jawaharlal Nehru first did in 1947.

Which US state shares its name with a river the Spanish named for its reddish, silty water?

Colorado comes from the Spanish for 'coloured reddish', a nod to the heavy load of silt the river carries across the Southwest into Mexico.

Which South African herbal tea from a broom-like shrub has an Afrikaans name meaning 'red bush'?

Rooibos is so tied to its home that South Africa issued rules in 2013 keeping the name for products of that one plant.

Which 1915 war poem by Canadian doctor John McCrae made the red poppy a symbol of remembrance?

In Flanders Fields moved the American volunteer Moina Michael to vow always to wear a red poppy, and she went on to champion the emblem.

A Red Notice, the nearest thing to an international arrest warrant, is issued by which body?

Interpol posts every notice on its secure website, but the public sees extracts only when the country that asked for the alert agrees.

Which Lewis Carroll book introduced the Red Queen, often confused with the Queen of Hearts?

Through the Looking-Glass swaps the playing cards of the first Alice book for chess. Disney's 1951 film blurred the two queens together.

Which Swiss psychiatrist's Red Book, named for its leather binding, went unpublished until 2009?

Carl Jung embossed a different title on the spine: Liber Novus, Latin for New Book.

Which English referee devised football's red card after stopping at a traffic light in Kensington?

Ken Aston saw that traffic-light signals would get past any language barrier, and his cards made their debut at the 1970 World Cup.

Which Caribbean island is home to Desnoes & Geddes, the brewer of Red Stripe lager?

Jamaica's best-known brewer began in 1918 as two merged shops selling soft drinks and imported alcohol, and only later opened a brewery in Kingston.

Which detective first appeared in A Study in Scarlet, printed in a Christmas annual in 1887?

Sherlock Holmes drew little public interest at first, and only eleven complete copies of that 1887 annual are known to exist.