Odd factoids

[PeteXXX]

In 2013 Manchester Council had a vote to rename it's self Them/theychester.
It a competition to out-stupid each other, Northampton is planning to call it's self Northveganton.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

In 1951 an atomic bomb exploded whilst being built at a secret location in Leeds. Residents thought it made the city look better.

 

[Drago]

The five pound note was first printed in 1952, that being the sum required to cover the damage cost of the 1951 Leeds Atom disaster.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

The five pound note was first printed in 1952, that being the sum required to cover the damage cost of the 1951 Leeds Atom disaster.

With change left over for a chip supper for 4, remember.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The local house builders took advantage of the fallout, with metal bolted onto the interior walls of new builds and called radiators. A Geiger counter was fitted in a cupboard to measure the radiation. But was latter renamed an electricity meter.

 

[Drago]

Electricity meters are traditionally a metre long. The old electricity yards are now highly collectible.

 

[simongt]

Clapham Junction railway station, at one point in it's career, had up to 2500 trains a DAY stopping or passing through.
Hence the origin of the expression - 'Cor, it's like Clapham Junction round 'ere - !' when applied to a particularly busy location - !

 

[Drago]

Syphilis was first discovered in Clapham, hence the term "the clap".

 

[PeteXXX]

VD is nothing to clap about.

 

[Drago]

VD is Vernon Kay's real initials.

 

[bruce1530]

VD Day signalled the end of the Second World War

 

[Drago]

The Americans, as is their custom, turned up over two years late for the second World War. This was simply churlish behaviour, upset as they were rest they hadn't started thar particular dust up.

This is why president Biden pretends to have alzheimers. If someone else starts a good war he can pretend to have forgotten about it and thus justify turning up late again, having used the intervening period to sell weapons to the bad guys.

 

[bruce1530]

Since the early 1980s, The US President has been a robot.

This custom started with Reagan, who died shortly before inauguration. He was reconstructed by the team who made the Six Million Dollar Man, and served as president for many years.

Every 5 years, technology companies such as IBM and HP present a new model robot, and the public vote on which one is most realistic.

Donald trump won a narrow victory over a Roomba hoover

 

[Drago]

IBM originally started out as a trader in savoury spreads. I Buy Marmite, or IBM, moved into computing following the great yeast spread poisoning of 1878.

 

[bruce1530]

The US presidential election format is based on the voting system devised for the Eurovision Song Contest.

This ensures a fair and open competition, free from political interference, where the victory is awarded to the candidate with the best PR, stage management and lighting.