Odd factoids

[Profpointy]

Hertz Van Rental, his grandfather, was force to leave Russia after the revolution.

A pal of mine got a 2nd hand car which only had one owner - this Dutch bloke, Hertz van Rental

 

[Drago]

Fray Bentos was the Cuban leader of Ururuay after the revolution in the 1960's.

He had a town named in his honour.

Hi Brother, Shay "Che" Bentos, was good mates with Fiddle Castro.

 

[bruce1530]

As well as being a talented violinist, Fiddle Castro invented engine oil.

 

[Drago]

Castrol was originally created from the juice of bulls testicles, and is a portmanteau of Castrate and Oil.

 

[bruce1530]

The term “Portmanteau” was originally coined by Frenchman Jacques Carry-my-Overcoat

 

[classic33]

Duffle coats were oversized because sailors shared a communal duffle coat. The coats were used by any sailor who needed a coat to go up on deck. So the duffles were cut generously to accommodate all shapes and sizes of sailor.

 

[Drago]

Duffel coats get their name, as in the 19th century they were traitionally worn by nerdish types. The hoorays of the day would "duff" them up, and "roll" their unconscious forms into the Thames. Use of language is lazy, and "duff and roll" quickly became "duffel"...

 

[Threevok]

Onken yogurt is called Boggin yogurt on the continent, but the name was changed for the UK market, in case the name was unappealing

 

[bruce1530]

eBay was invented by Eric Faulkner of the Bay City Rollers. It was originally called “Eric (Bay City Roller)’s list”, after “Craigslist”, and was set up as a way to move on 300,000 Bay City Rollers LPs, which were in a warehouse in Edinburgh. It was later abbreviated to “EricBayCityRollers”, then eBay.

 

[classic33]

Originally named ‘The Saxons’ they later changed to ‘Bay City Rollers’. How did they decide the name? They threw a dart at a map of the US and it landed on Bay City in Michigan.

 

[Drago]

The Saxons warriors were hard, but not all that hard. On a bad day the Vikings could whup them easy.

Therefore, the Saxons adopted the name of the band Saxon, who were also rather lightweight.

 

[bruce1530]

The Bay City Rollers wore tartan-trimmed trousers. This was the idea of their manager, Tam Paton, who insisted that all of his acts should adopt a tartan trousered image.

Initially the only other act in the Paton stable was Rupert the Bear, but Paton latterly signed up many punk bands, insisting they adopted the same corporate identity.

 

[Drago]

General Paton went into music promotion and management following his successful campaign leading the invasion of france in WWII.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Lloyd George invented Lego, but sold the patent to a Danish bloke in order to get the money to visit a high class brothel.

 

[Drago]

The Kremlin is made entirely from Lego.