152 Fun Facts About Valentine's Day

Legend says the imprisoned Saint Valentine signed a farewell note 'from your Valentine' to whom?

His jailer's daughter: the story, a later embellishment of the saint's legend, says he had befriended the girl and signed the note before his execution.

What Roman festival of February 15 is often (if doubtfully) cited as a forerunner of Valentine's Day?

Lupercalia, held on February 15, was a Roman purification and fertility rite; it had died out by about 500, and Valentine's Day did not become a day of romance until around the fourteenth century.

Who is credited with writing the first known Valentine's message while imprisoned in the Tower of London?

Charles, Duke of Orleans was taken prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and held in England for more than twenty years, writing much of his poetry, including the verse to his wife, in captivity.

Which poet first linked Valentine's Day with romantic love in his poem 'Parlement of Foules'?

Geoffrey Chaucer pictured birds meeting on 'Seynt Valentynes day' to choose their mates; no earlier record ties the saint's day to romance, so he may well have invented the tradition.

Valentine's Day is the second-biggest holiday for greeting cards in the US, behind which one?

Christmas is the only holiday that sells more cards, and the Valentine's tally does not even count the packs of cards that pupils swap in class.

Most Valentine's roses sold in the US arrive by refrigerated plane from Colombia and which other country?

Ecuador and Colombia, Andean neighbours, supply the large majority of US cut-rose imports; the flowers are flown in chilled, mostly through Miami, to survive the trip.

In Japan, the cheap 'obligation chocolate' women hand to co-workers on February 14 is called what?

Giri-choko, 'obligation chocolate', is the inexpensive kind women give male co-workers and bosses; honmei-choko, 'true feeling chocolate', is saved for a partner, and some firms have banned the office custom as harassment.

Which Valentine's candy traces back to an American machine of 1866 that stamped short sayings onto lozenges?

Sweethearts conversation hearts descend from NECCO founder Oliver Chase's 1847 lozenge cutter; his brother Daniel devised a way to print sayings on the candy in 1866, and the heart shape followed in the early 1900s.

Juliet's 'wherefore art thou Romeo?' is often misread as asking where he is; what does 'wherefore' mean?

Why: 'wherefore' is an old word for 'for what reason', so Juliet is lamenting that the boy she loves is a Montague, her family's enemy.

Which US state was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912?

Arizona became the 48th state on Valentine's Day 1912 after President Taft vetoed its first constitution for letting voters recall judges; Arizonans dropped the clause, won statehood, then voted it back in.

Which Italian city is the setting of Romeo and Juliet?

Verona has received letters addressed to Juliet since the 1930s, thousands a year, and a team of local volunteers known as the Juliet Club writes back to them.

Which country celebrates its lovers' day on June 12, the eve of Saint Anthony's day?

Brazil's Dia dos Namorados falls on June 12, the eve of Saint Anthony's day, when single women traditionally perform rituals called simpatias to find a husband.

What color roses symbolize friendship rather than romantic love?

Yellow roses stand for friendship in modern flower symbolism, a reversal of the Victorian language of flowers, in which a yellow rose signalled jealousy or infidelity.

Which 1990 film features the pottery wheel scene between Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze?

Ghost set its pottery-wheel scene to the Righteous Brothers' 1965 recording of 'Unchained Melody', which promptly returned to the charts a quarter-century after its release.

In Catalonia, lovers exchange roses and books on which saint's day, April 23?

Saint George, Sant Jordi, is Catalonia's patron saint; books joined the older custom of roses after Spain moved its Book Day to April 23, the date UNESCO later chose for World Book Day.

Early martyr lists pair Valentine of Rome with a namesake bishop of which Italian city?

Terni's bishop shares February 14 in those lists with a priest of Rome and a third Valentine martyred in Africa; the first two were buried beside the same road and may be one man remembered twice.

In which country is February 14 celebrated as 'Día del Amor y la Amistad'?

Mexico's name for February 14 means 'Day of Love and Friendship', so friends as well as couples and spouses swap roses, cards and teddy bears.

Colombia holds its 'Día del amor y la amistad' on the third Saturday of which month, not February?

September's third Saturday is Colombia's Día del Amor y la Amistad, so the country that flies roses to the United States for February 14 keeps its own day of love seven months later.

Which 1942 film ends with 'Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship'?

Casablanca got its closing line late: producer Hal Wallis wrote it after filming had finished, and Humphrey Bogart was called back about a month later to dub it.

Ancient Egyptian embalmers left the heart in the body but threw away which organ as unimportant?

The brain was drawn out through the nose and discarded, while the liver, lungs and stomach were kept in canopic jars and the heart stayed in place as the seat of the soul.

Which country marks November 11 as 'Singles' Day', a celebration of being unattached?

China's Singles' Day began among Nanjing University bachelors in 1993, the date 11/11 chosen for its four lone '1's, and became the world's largest shopping day after Alibaba adopted it in 2009.

Which 1989 Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan comedy asked whether men and women can really be just friends?

When Harry Met Sally (1989) grew out of Nora Ephron's conversations with director Rob Reiner about his single life, with Billy Crystal shaping Harry; its Katz's Delicatessen scene is marked by a sign above the table.

What does 'XOXO' stand for in the context of Valentine's messages?

Hugs and kisses: a 1763 letter ending in a row of X's was long cited as the earliest example, but the Oxford English Dictionary now reads those X's as blessings and dates the kisses to 1878.

Counting every card exchanged, which group receives the most valentines in the US?

Teachers come out on top because whole classes swap cards, so one teacher can collect a card from every pupil; adults buy far fewer for each other.

One theory traces the heart symbol to the seed of which plant, stamped on ancient coins of Cyrene?

Silphium was so prized as a medicine and seasoning that Cyrene, in modern Libya, put it on its coins; the plant then vanished in ancient times, and its fate and even its species remain a mystery.

Which 2003 British romantic film weaves ten interconnected pre-Christmas stories?

Love Actually was first planned with fourteen storylines; Richard Curtis cut four, two of them after they had been filmed, and set the rest in the five weeks before Christmas.

Which Greek god of love and desire is usually shown as a winged youth with a bow?

Eros starts out in Hesiod's Theogony as one of the first gods to exist, but later poets recast him as Aphrodite's mischievous son, the winged archer of love.

Which diarist recorded 1660s London valentine customs, such as drawing names by lot?

Samuel Pepys noted in 1667 that being his wife's valentine 'will cost me £5', since a valentine was owed a present; that morning young Will Mercer had brought her name in gold letters.

What chemical compound, sometimes called the 'love hormone,' is released during hugging and bonding?

Oxytocin does heavier work too: it drives the contractions of childbirth and the release of breast milk, and doctors give a synthetic version to induce labour.

The Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 took place in which American city?

Chicago's massacre left seven men tied to Bugs Moran's gang dead in a North Clark Street garage, shot by gunmen dressed as policemen; Al Capone was widely blamed, but the crime was never solved.

'The course of true love never did run smooth' is a line from which Shakespeare comedy?

A Midsummer Night's Dream gives the line to Lysander, comforting Hermia after her father demands she marry another man or face death or a nunnery; the pair decide to elope.

Which Pretty Woman director made the 2010 ensemble romantic comedy Valentine's Day?

Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day earned over $200 million worldwide, and he repeated the all-star holiday formula with New Year's Eve in 2011 and Mother's Day in 2016.

'Takotsubo', the Japanese name for so-called broken heart syndrome, translates as what?

Octopus trap: the stressed left ventricle balloons at its tip while the base still contracts, so on a scan it resembles the round-bottomed, narrow-necked pot Japanese fishermen use to catch octopuses.

Which Scottish poet wrote 'O my Luve is like a red, red rose' in 1794?

Robert Burns built 'A Red, Red Rose' from traditional Scots songs he was collecting, and Bob Dylan later named it the lyric that had the greatest impact on his life.

What is the traditional gift material for a first wedding anniversary?

Paper comes from a short nineteenth-century list that also set wood for the fifth year and tin for the tenth; American jewellers lengthened it in 1937 to a gift for every year up to the twentieth.

In Finland, Valentine's Day is called 'Ystävänpäivä,' which translates to what?

Friend's Day is the literal meaning of Ystävänpäivä: instead of courting a sweetheart, Finns mark February 14 by sending cards and greetings to their friends.

Which Celine Dion ballad is the theme of the 1997 film Titanic?

My Heart Will Go On nearly missed the film: James Cameron was set against ending it on a pop song, so composer James Horner carried Dion's demo around for weeks, waiting to catch him in a good mood.

In 1477 Margery Brews wrote the oldest surviving valentine in English while their families disputed what?

Her dowry was the sticking point: Margery told John Paston her father would raise it no further, promised to be his true lover if he could accept it, and married him within months.

In the National Retail Federation's 2026 Valentine's Day survey, which gift category drew the most planned spending?

Jewelry led with about $7 billion in planned spending, though only a quarter of shoppers meant to buy it; candy was the most common gift, on 56% of shopping lists.

In Wales, what wooden craft item is a traditional romantic gift on Saint Dwynwen's Day, January 25?

A carved spoon, the Welsh lovespoon, was whittled by a young man for the girl he hoped to court; carvers made the designs ever more intricate to impress, until the spoons were too ornate to eat with.

Which candy maker, known for Dum Dums, bought Necco's conversation-hearts brand in 2018?

Spangler bought the brand after Necco went out of business in 2018 but could not get production going in time, so the candy hearts were missing from shelves for Valentine's Day 2019.

Popular legend says Saint Valentine defied Emperor Claudius II by secretly doing what for young soldiers?

Performing their weddings is the popular story, in which Claudius II had barred soldiers from marrying; no record of such a ban survives, and historians treat the tale as a much later legend.

Which inventor filed for a patent on February 14, 1876, the same day as a rival?

Alexander Graham Bell's lawyer delivered his telephone application on the very day Elisha Gray's lawyer filed notice of a similar device, and who got there first has been argued over ever since.

Which romantic comedy has a bookshop owner and a famous actress falling in love in west London?

Notting Hill grew out of Richard Curtis lying awake wondering how life would change if a very normal person dated someone unbelievably famous; the house with the blue door was his own.

What happens to the heart in the stress condition known as broken heart syndrome?

Temporary muscle weakening is the whole story: symptoms mimic a heart attack, but the ballooning left ventricle usually recovers within days to weeks and the coronary arteries are not blocked.

Which Worcester, Massachusetts card maker is remembered as the 'Mother of the American Valentine'?

Esther Howland hoped for $200 of orders from her first samples; her brother came back with about $5,000 worth, so she set up an assembly line of women in Worcester to keep up.

Which Italian chocolate, created by Luisa Spagnoli in 1922, comes wrapped with a love note?

Baci Perugina were first named 'cazzotto', Italian for a punch, because the knobbly chocolate looked like a clenched fist; thinking that a poor name for a gift, Giovanni Buitoni renamed them 'kisses'.

What is Galentine's Day, celebrated on February 13?

A day for female friendship, Galentine's Day began as a fictional holiday on Parks and Recreation in 2010, billed by Leslie Knope as 'ladies celebrating ladies', and has since crossed into real life.

Besides lovers and beekeepers, Saint Valentine is a patron of people with which condition?

Epilepsy sufferers prayed to Saint Valentine so widely that in German-speaking lands the illness itself came to be known as Saint Valentine's disease.

In 2008, religious police in which country told shops to clear out everything red before Valentine's Day?

Saudi Arabia's religious police had red roses, gift wrap and anything else red pulled from shelves, treating the day as a Christian holiday, and the ban pushed up black-market prices for roses.

Which future US president lost both his wife and mother on February 14, 1884?

Theodore Roosevelt's mother Mittie died of typhoid and his wife Alice of kidney failure in the same house on February 14, 1884; his diary for the day holds a large X and 'The light has gone out of my life.'

Which Central American country, home to the Maya ruins of Tikal, calls February 14 'Día del Cariño'?

Guatemala's name means 'Affection Day', a wider idea than the Lovers' Day or Day of Love and Friendship that most of Latin America uses for February 14.

Parliament of Fowls is thought to mark which English king's match with Anne of Bohemia?

Richard II, then fifteen, married Anne of Bohemia in 1382, and the poem is thought to mark their match by imagining birds gathering on Saint Valentine's Day to choose their mates.

Which video-sharing website was founded on February 14, 2005?

YouTube's domain was registered on February 14, 2005 by former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim; Google bought the site for $1.65 billion the following year.

Greeting-card giant Hallmark was founded in which US city in 1910?

Hallmark began in Kansas City, Missouri, where 18-year-old Joyce Hall started selling postcards from a YMCA room in 1910; the Hallmark brand name followed in the 1920s.

What common symbol of Valentine's Day is often depicted with an arrow piercing it?

The heart is the stock Valentine's symbol, usually shown pierced by the arrow of the winged god of desire, with doves as the day's other standard image.

Singles' Day falls on 11 November because the numeral 1 resembles what?

A bare stick is slang for a bachelor, so a date made of four 1s suited the unattached; the day is usually traced to university students in the 1990s, years before it became a shopping event.

Why did the Vatican cut Saint Valentine's feast from its worldwide calendar in 1969?

Too little known: the 1969 revision said nothing was certain about him beyond his name and his burial, so the ancient feast was left to local calendars, though the church still counts him a saint.

Which Viennese painter's gold-leaf The Kiss hangs in the Belvedere?

Gustav Klimt put The Kiss on show at Vienna's 1908 Kunstschau before it was finished, and the Austrian state bought it on the spot for the gallery now called the Belvedere; it crowns his 'golden phase'.

Which British explorer was killed at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, on February 14, 1779?

James Cook was killed on February 14, 1779 at Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii's Big Island, during a skirmish with Hawaiians over a stolen boat on his third Pacific voyage.

Which church keeps Saint Valentine's feast in July, not on February 14?

Eastern Orthodox calendars keep Valentine, the martyred bishop of Interamna, on July 30; his legend has him cure a Roman tutor's gravely ill son, after which the whole household converts.

Which mythological figure, often depicted with a bow and arrow, is a prominent symbol of Valentine's Day?

Cupid, the Roman god of desire, erotic love, and affection, is frequently depicted with a bow and arrows, which he uses to inspire love. He is a central figure in Valentine's Day imagery.

Which songwriting duo wrote 'My Funny Valentine' for their 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms?

Rodgers and Hart wrote it for a girl to sing to a boy called Val, short for Valentine, so the title is his name and not the holiday; the show closed after 289 performances, but the song became a jazz standard.

In South Korea, singles who got no Valentine's gifts gather on April 14 to eat what?

Black-bean noodles, jajangmyeon, are the dish of Black Day: people who received nothing in February or a month later gather, often dressed in black, to eat the dark-sauced bowls and commiserate.

'Vinegar valentines', sold for a penny, were cards sent to do what?

Insult the recipient: each cheap sheet paired a crude caricature with a mocking verse, and until the postal reforms of the 1840s the victim usually had to pay the postage to receive the abuse.

The Qixi Festival recalls a cowherd and a weaver girl allowed to meet once a year across what?

The Milky Way keeps the two lovers, the stars Altair and Vega, apart; on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month magpies are said to form a bridge so that they can cross.

Which British chocolate maker is credited with the first heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day?

Cadbury's Richard Cadbury sold the firm's new eating chocolates in decorated boxes and is widely credited with the first heart-shaped one, the gift that made chocolate a Valentine's Day staple.

Which abolitionist, born into slavery with no record of the day, chose February 14 as a birthday?

Frederick Douglass never knew his real birthday; he chose February 14 in memory of his mother, who by one account called him her 'little Valentine' and by another gave him a heart-shaped cake the last time he saw her.

Which early electronic computer was publicly unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania on February 14, 1946?

ENIAC, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania on February 14, 1946; it filled a room with some 18,000 vacuum tubes and was built for Army artillery calculations.

Which African country marks February 14 as National Chocolate Day?

Ghana, one of the world's largest cocoa growers, declared February 14 National Chocolate Day in the 2000s to boost domestic consumption of chocolate made from its own beans.

A pioneering Massachusetts card maker stamped 1870s valentines 'N.E.V.Co.', which stood for what?

New England Valentine Company was the name of the Worcester business, whose earlier cards carried only a red initial on the back; a former employee turned rival, George Whitney, later bought the firm.

Which revived Jewish festival serves as Israel's equivalent of Valentine's Day?

Tu B'Av, the 15th of Av, is recalled in the Mishnah as a day when Jerusalem's unmarried women went out in borrowed white dresses to dance in the vineyards; modern Israel revived it for proposals, cards and flowers.

Which Roman goddess is usually named as the mother of Cupid?

Venus is nearly always Cupid's mother, but his father changes with the teller: Mars, the war god and her lover, in some accounts, and Mercury, the messenger, in others.

Which bird, sacred to Aphrodite, became a Valentine's emblem of love?

Doves were sacred to Aphrodite, who absorbed the association from Inanna-Ishtar of Mesopotamia and often appears with the birds on Greek pottery; the white dove became a Valentine's emblem of peace and love.

A Slovene proverb says Saint Valentine brings the keys of what, as field work begins?

Roots: Slovenes call him the first saint of spring, whose day began the year's work in the vineyards; one old day for lovers there was Saint Gregory's, in March, when the birds are said to marry.

Since 1970, February 14 in the General Roman Calendar honours which 'Apostles to the Slavs'?

Cyril and Methodius, Byzantine brothers who won the pope's approval for worship in Slavonic, were added to the whole church's calendar by Leo XIII in 1880 and moved to February 14 in the revision that took effect in 1970.

In which Shakespeare tragedy does the grieving Ophelia sing 'Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day'?

Hamlet's Ophelia, unhinged by her father's death, sings it to the king and queen: a bawdy ballad in which a maid goes to her valentine's window and is no longer a maid when she leaves.

Which large waterbird symbolises love and fidelity for its seemingly monogamous bonds?

Swans usually pair for life, often bonding before they are old enough to breed, which made them an emblem of fidelity; even so, pairs do sometimes 'divorce', mostly after a failed nesting.

On which South Korean holiday, March 14, do men give women candy?

White Day began in Japan as a confectioners' campaign for an 'answer day', when men repay the gifts they were given a month earlier; it then spread across East Asia, with white chocolate and marshmallows as typical presents.

In Norfolk, England, what does the unseen 'Jack Valentine' do each February?

Leaves treats: there is a knock at the door, and by the time a child opens it nobody is there, only sweets or a small present waiting on the step.

Which Oscar Wilde play opened in London on Valentine's Day 1895?

The Importance of Being Earnest was Wilde's greatest stage triumph and his last: within four months of that first night he had been tried and sent to prison for two years.

What popular phrase is often written on small, heart-shaped candies exchanged on Valentine's Day?

Conversation hearts, or candy hearts, are a traditional Valentine's Day candy printed with short, romantic, or affectionate phrases such as 'Be Mine', 'Kiss Me', or 'Love You'.

What is the birthstone for February, often given as a Valentine's gift?

Amethyst takes its name from the Greek for 'not drunk': the ancient Greeks believed the purple stone kept its wearer sober, and even carved drinking cups from it.

On Valentine's Day 2011, religious authorities in which country raided hotels to arrest unmarried Muslim couples?

Malaysia's Islamic authorities made the arrests after a nationwide campaign called 'Mind the Valentine's Day Trap'; a 2005 fatwa had told Muslims to shun the day because of its Christian elements.

In 2017, a high court in which country banned Valentine's Day celebrations in public places?

Pakistan's Islamabad High Court acted on a private petition that called the day contrary to Islamic teaching: on the eve of February 14 it barred festivities in public spaces and told the media not to cover them.

What does the idiom 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' mean?

Displaying emotions openly was first a liar's image: the stage villain Iago says that if he wore his heart upon his sleeve the daws would peck at it, then adds, 'I am not what I am.'

What plant with distinctive heart-shaped leaves is often given as a potted gift on Valentine's Day?

Hoya kerrii, nicknamed the sweetheart plant or 'lucky-heart', has thick heart-shaped leaves and is sold in Europe as a single potted leaf for the day.

Which French sculptor's marble 'The Kiss' depicts Paolo and Francesca, the lovers from Dante's Inferno?

Auguste Rodin first modelled the lovers for his Gates of Hell, then took them out because their happiness jarred with the damned around them; the marble the French state ordered in 1888 took him ten years to deliver.

A flower-crowned skull labelled Saint Valentine's shares a church with which carving made famous by Roman Holiday?

The Mouth of Truth, a marble mask said to bite off a liar's hand, stands in the porch of Santa Maria in Cosmedin; inside, a side altar holds the skull, crowned with flowers.

Which poetic form, born in 13th-century Sicily, was at first used mainly for love poetry?

The sonnet, from an Italian word for a 'little song', is credited to Giacomo da Lentini, a poet at Frederick II's court in Palermo; Petrarch's love poems later carried the form across Europe.

Named for its cleansing rites, February originally held which place in the Roman calendar year?

The last month: the early Roman year began in March, so February and its februa, rites of purification, closed the year out, a time to wipe the slate clean.

Relics of Saint Valentine draw pilgrims hoping for romance to Whitefriar Street Church in which city?

Dublin's Whitefriar Street Church was sent the relics with Pope Gregory XVI's blessing as a token of esteem for the Carmelite preacher John Spratt, whose sermon in Rome had impressed his hosts.

Cheap post and factory-printed cards made valentines a mass craze in Britain under which monarch?

Victoria's reign brought the penny post of 1840, which carried a letter anywhere in the country for a penny paid by the sender; posted valentines multiplied, and printed ones pushed out handwritten notes.

The first mass-produced American valentines, sold shortly after 1847, were made of embossed what?

Paper lace and floral cut-outs were imported from England by the cards' maker, who was inspired by the ornate European valentines that came through the family's stationery business; friends helped assemble the first orders.

A 'Court of Love' charter of about 1400, fixing a meeting for February 14, names which country's king as patron?

France's Charles VI is named as patron: the charter presents the court as a way to pass a season of plague more pleasantly, with contests of love poetry and song in honour of ladies.

In which Southeast Asian country is Valentine's Day known as 'Araw ng mga Puso', the Day of Hearts?

Philippines: Araw ng mga Puso is also a favourite day to marry there, with some towns laying on free mass weddings, and the price of red roses climbs steeply as it approaches.

Which day, rather than February 14, is Japan's big romantic 'date night'?

Christmas Eve is the couples' night there: Christmas is no public holiday in Japan and few people are Christian, so it took hold as a secular celebration, and pairs mark it with a restaurant dinner.

In 2023, India's Animal Welfare Board urged citizens to mark February 14 as what instead?

Cow Hug Day was the board's appeal, made in the name of 'emotional richness' and Vedic tradition; the appeal was withdrawn again before February 14 arrived.

Sepandarmazgan, an ancient festival honouring women and the earth, is promoted as a rival to Valentine's Day in which country?

Iran's Sepandarmazgan honours Spenta Armaiti, Zoroastrian guardian of the earth, and was once a day for men to give women presents; revivalists promote it against a holiday whose gifts the authorities restricted in 2011.

Which spacecraft took the 'Pale Blue Dot' photograph of Earth on February 14, 1990?

Voyager 1 took the Pale Blue Dot image on February 14, 1990 from about 6 billion kilometres away, at Carl Sagan's urging, showing Earth as a speck less than a pixel wide.

In Bulgaria, February 14 is also Trifon Zarezan, a folk feast for the makers of which drink?

Wine: Trifon Zarezan is the vine-growers' day, marked by pruning the first vines of the year; the church moved the saint to February 1, but the folk feast kept its old-calendar date.

In Portugal, what embroidered item is the 'lenço de namorados', a traditional lovers' gift?

A handkerchief: in Portugal's Minho a woman stitched it with verses and love motifs for the man she liked; if he wore it in public the courtship was on, and if he sent it back, it was off.

Which country star wrote 'I Will Always Love You' as a farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner?

Dolly Parton took it to the top of the country chart twice, in 1974 and again in 1982. Whitney Houston's cover for The Bodyguard then spent 14 weeks at number one on the Hot 100.

In Sleepless in Seattle, Sam and Annie finally meet on Valentine's Day atop which New York skyscraper?

The Empire State Building is Annie's idea, borrowed from the weepie An Affair to Remember. The real observation deck was not available, so the crew built a copy of it on a former naval base.

Which mob boss is widely suspected of ordering the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre of seven rivals?

Al Capone was never charged over the killings, and nobody was ever convicted of them. Two of the gunmen wore police uniforms and marched the others out as if they were under arrest.

In which Disney film do two dogs accidentally kiss over a strand of spaghetti at Tony's Italian restaurant?

Lady and the Tramp nearly lost its best-known moment. The scene had been thrown out until animator Frank Thomas came across the old story reel and animated it himself.

Which white marble mausoleum in Agra did Shah Jahan build for a favourite wife who died in childbirth?

The Taj Mahal was commissioned in 1631, the year Mumtaz Mahal died. Shah Jahan was later buried inside it too, beside her.

In which sport would an umpire call out the scores 'fifteen-love' and 'thirty-love'?

Tennis calls zero 'love', probably from the phrase 'playing for love', meaning for nothing. A rival theory traces it to the French 'l'oeuf', the egg, because an egg looks like a zero.

Which singer made her film acting debut as Felicia in the 2010 ensemble comedy Valentine's Day?

Taylor Swift also wrote 'Today Was a Fairytale' for the soundtrack. During the shoot she dated her co-star Taylor Lautner.

Male gentoo penguins can win over a female by presenting her with which object, prized for nest building?

A stone, and the choicer the better. Gentoos pile them into nests and guard them so jealously that arguments over ownership turn into noisy fights.

Which Beatles single was first performed live on Our World, the first global satellite television link-up?

All You Need Is Love opens with a burst of 'La Marseillaise', the French national anthem. More than 400 million people in 25 countries saw the band play it from a London studio.

In The Empire Strikes Back, which character answers Princess Leia's 'I love you' with the words 'I know'?

Han Solo was scripted to reply 'Just remember that, 'cause I'll be back'. Harrison Ford suggested the shorter line, and it became one of the most quoted moments in the series.

Which British king gave up the throne in 1936 so that he could marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson?

Edward VIII reigned for only 326 days. The couple married in France the following June, and he spent the rest of his life as the Duke of Windsor.

Which US city did William Penn name with Greek words meaning 'brotherly love'?

Philadelphia joins the Greek 'philos', beloved, and 'adelphos', brother. Penn, a Quaker who had been persecuted for his faith, wanted a place where anyone could worship freely.

In The Princess Bride, which phrase does farmhand Westley say to Buttercup when he really means 'I love you'?

'As you wish' is his reply to every order she gives, until she works out what he is telling her. Cary Elwes, who played Westley, later used the line as the title of his memoir about the film.

Which Eastern European country is home to the Tunnel of Love, a leafy stretch of working railway near Klevan?

Ukraine's tunnel is a section of industrial railway, not a park attraction. Trees have closed into a green arch over the track, which runs on to a fibreboard factory.

In The Simpsons, which classmate takes Lisa's 'I Choo-Choo-Choose You' valentine as a sign of true love?

Ralph Wiggum got the card because nobody else had given him one. The train pun was real: showrunner Al Jean had been handed that very valentine by a girl in third grade.

Which US town's Valentine Re-Mailing Program, begun by its postmaster in 1947, hand-stamps cards with a verse?

Loveland, Colorado, began the service after its postmaster received about 30 valentines from people who wanted the town's postmark. It now re-mails cards sent in from more than 110 countries.

Which Jane Austen novel follows Elizabeth Bennet as she slowly warms to the haughty, wealthy Mr Darcy?

Pride and Prejudice was originally called First Impressions. By the time Austen revised the manuscript, two other works had been published under that name.

Which Roman general carried on a love affair with Cleopatra and lost the Battle of Actium to Octavian?

Mark Antony fled with her to Egypt after the defeat. He stabbed himself there in the mistaken belief that she had already killed herself.

Which zodiac sign, whose dates run from about January 21 to February 19, covers a Valentine's Day birthday?

Aquarius is the water-bearer, the eleventh sign of the zodiac. Babylonian star catalogues saw the same figure as the god Ea, shown holding an overflowing vase.

Which gemstone traditionally marks a 40th wedding anniversary, ten years before the golden one?

Ruby also names the Ruby Jubilee of 1992, the 40th anniversary of Elizabeth II's accession. The palace itself never officially used the term.

Which Knight of the Round Table is the secret lover of King Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere?

Lancelot's affair, once it is discovered, sets off the civil war that ends Arthur's kingdom. He first takes the leading role in a French poem by Chrétien de Troyes.

Torvill and Dean won Olympic ice-dance gold to Ravel's Boléro on Valentine's Day 1984 in which city?

Sarajevo saw the British pair given a perfect 6.0 for artistic impression by every judge. More than 24 million people watched the free dance on television.

Which company's ad agency coined the slogan 'A Diamond Is Forever' for its gemstones in 1947?

De Beers got the line from Frances Gerety, a copywriter at N. W. Ayer & Son. Advertising Age later named it the best advertising slogan of the 20th century.

Which Marilyn Monroe comedy sees two musicians flee in drag after a shooting based on the Valentine's Day Massacre?

Some Like It Hot has the pair join an all-female band heading to Miami by train. It ends on one of cinema's best-known closing lines: 'Well, nobody's perfect!'

In Roman myth, the love god's golden arrows kindle desire, but arrows tipped with which metal drive it away?

Lead tipped the blunt arrow that struck the nymph Daphne, so she fled from a lovestruck Apollo. Her father, a river god, turned her into a laurel tree to save her.

Which 1990 romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere takes its title from a Roy Orbison hit?

Pretty Woman was first written under the title 3000, the fee in dollars that Vivian agrees for the week. Disney executives changed it because they thought it sounded like science fiction.

Which French general wrote his new wife Joséphine passionate letters from Italy, begging her to join him in Milan?

Napoleon Bonaparte later had the marriage annulled because she had not given him an heir. Many of the love letters he sent her still exist.

Which Venetian adventurer's memoir, Story of My Life, made his surname a byword for a seducer?

Giacomo Casanova wrote the memoir in French, and it was published only after his death. He spent his final years as a count's librarian in a castle in Bohemia.

Which musician of Greek myth lost his wife Eurydice for good by looking back as they left the underworld?

Orpheus had softened Hades and Persephone with his music. Their one condition was that he walk in front and not look back until both of them had reached the upper world.

Which Elvis Presley ballad from the film Blue Hawaii borrows its melody from the French song 'Plaisir d'amour'?

Can't Help Falling in Love takes its tune from a song composed in 1784. Presley used it as the finale of his 1970s shows, and it was the last song he ever performed live.

Which playwright's comedy The Importance of Being Earnest opened in London on Valentine's Day 1895?

Oscar Wilde arrived at the premiere with a green carnation in his lapel. The Marquess of Queensberry planned to throw rotten vegetables at him, so police were told to bar him at the door.

Which Scottish border village became famous for runaway weddings once England tightened its marriage law?

Gretna Green's blacksmiths became known as 'anvil priests'. The last of them, Richard Rennison, performed 5,147 ceremonies, and weddings in the village are conducted over an anvil.

Which Galway fishing village gives its name to the Irish ring that stands for love, loyalty and friendship?

Claddagh rings carry a crown for loyalty and two clasped hands for friendship. Galway has produced them continuously since at least 1700.

Which pop artist's LOVE design, with its slanted letter O, went on a US postage stamp for Valentine's Day 1973?

Robert Indiana first made the image in 1964 as a card for friends in the art world. A version became the Museum of Modern Art's Christmas card in 1965, which he called the most profitable card the museum ever published.

Which Victorian novel follows the foster child Heathcliff and the Earnshaw family on the Yorkshire moors?

Wuthering Heights is the only novel Emily Brontë wrote, first published in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell. Heathcliff enters it as an orphan Mr Earnshaw brings home from Liverpool.

Who plays Clementine opposite Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which opens on Valentine's Day?

Kate Winslet was cast against type, having mostly made period pieces, and earned a Best Actress nomination. The script, about a firm that erases memories of an ex, won the Oscar.

The name Valentine comes from the Roman family name Valentinus and the Latin 'valens', which means what?

Strong, with the added sense of healthy: the same Latin root gives English the chemistry term 'valence'. A valentine in the sense of a card sent to a sweetheart is recorded by 1824.

Which romantic holiday, first held in Cleveland in 1921, falls on the third Saturday in October?

Sweetest Day was planned by a committee of 12 confectioners. They handed out more than 20,000 boxes of candy to newsboys, orphans, old people and the poor of Cleveland.

Which country swapped pounds, shillings and pence for dollars and cents on February 14, 1966?

Australia set its new dollar at ten shillings, so one old pound became two dollars. The plan was modelled on South Africa's earlier switch from the pound to the rand.

Which technology giant took its present name on February 14, 1924, dropping Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company?

IBM's boss Thomas Watson never liked the clumsy hyphenated name. He borrowed 'International Business Machines' from the title already used by the firm's Canadian division.

Which country marks its own lovers' day, Dragobete, on February 24, ten days after Valentine's Day?

Romania has a saying that 'Dragobete kisses the girls'. In some regions, stepping on a partner's foot that day is believed to decide who will have the upper hand in the couple.

What name is given to the 'language of flowers' that let Victorians send coded messages in a bouquet?

Floriography reached England from Constantinople, brought back by the poet Mary Wortley Montagu in 1718. The first dictionary of flower meanings followed in 1819.

The valentine rhyme about blue violets echoes lines from which Elizabethan epic poem of 1590?

The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser, pairs the same two flowers. A version close to the modern rhyme was printed in 1784 in Gammer Gurton's Garland, a London collection of nursery rhymes.

Which hilltop district of Paris holds the Wall of Love, where 'I love you' is written in 250 languages?

Montmartre's wall is made of 612 tiles of enamelled lava. Its creator began by asking his brother, and then his foreign neighbours, to write the phrase in their own languages.

In which Balkan country does February 14 also bring Trifon Zarezan, a feast of vine growers and winemakers?

Bulgaria's feast marks the first job of the vineyard year, the spring pruning of the vines. Wine growers, gardeners, barrel-makers and innkeepers all keep it as their trade holiday.

Which Tom Cruise film gave romance the lines 'You complete me' and 'You had me at hello'?

Jerry Maguire also made 'Show me the money!' a catchphrase. The American Film Institute ranked that line 25th, and 'You had me at hello' 52nd, among the greatest movie quotes.

In which film does dance instructor Johnny Castle declare 'Nobody puts Baby in a corner' at Kellerman's resort?

Dirty Dancing is set in the Catskills in the summer of 1963. The American Film Institute ranked the line 98th among the greatest movie quotes.

Which film of a Nicholas Sparks novel stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as Noah and Allie?

The Notebook earned the pair the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss in 2005. Critics gave the film mixed reviews but singled out both performances for praise.

Which city's Hilton hosted John Lennon and Yoko Ono's honeymoon 'bed-in for peace', the first of their two?

Amsterdam's Hilton gave them the presidential suite, Room 702, for a week. They invited the world's press to their bedside every day from nine in the morning until nine at night.

The bridal rhyme that begins 'Something old, something new' ends with which coin in the bride's shoe?

A sixpence, worn in the left shoe, stands for prosperity. The line about the coin is a later Victorian addition to the older rhyme.