Really TRUE odd factoids

[Beebo]

On the London Underground, it is illegal to stand in areas marked for the opposite gender.

Specifically: "No person above the age of ten years shall enter, attempt to enter or remain in any part of the railway which is marked or notified as being for the exclusive use of persons of the opposite gender to that person."

i never seen any such area, so it must be an old bye law

 

[rikki]

i never seen any such area, so it must be an old bye law

Surely it includes the Ladies and Gents restrooms.

 

[Beebo]

Surely it includes the Ladies and Gents restrooms.

actually there are some women only waiting rooms in stations.
i was thinking about specific areas on the trains.

 

[Chris S]

On the London Underground, it is illegal to stand in areas marked for the opposite gender.

British Rail used to have Ladies Only waiting rooms and carriages. Perhaps it was the same on the Tube?

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

A 'deadline' was a line drawn in or around a prison that inmates would be shot dead for crossing.

 

[roley poley]

a threshold held the threshed wheat behind the door of your barn

 

[classic33]

"Jack o'lantern" comes from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack

Legend has it that Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him, but Jack didn't want to pay for the drink, so he convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin. Instead of buying the drink, he pocketed the coin and kept it close to a silver cross in his house, preventing the devil from taking shape again.

He promised to let the devil go as long as he would leave Jack alone for a year – and that if Jack died, the devil wouldn't claim his soul.

After a year, Jack tricked the devil again to leave him alone and not claim his soul. When Jack died, God didn't want such a conniving person in heaven and the devil, true to his word, would not allow him into hell.

Jack was sent off into the night with only a burning coal to light his path. He placed the coal inside a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth ever since.

 

[Chris S]

"Jack o'lantern" comes from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack

Legend has it that Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him, but Jack didn't want to pay for the drink, so he convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin. Instead of buying the drink, he pocketed the coin and kept it close to a silver cross in his house, preventing the devil from taking shape again.

He promised to let the devil go as long as he would leave Jack alone for a year – and that if Jack died, the devil wouldn't claim his soul.

After a year, Jack tricked the devil again to leave him alone and not claim his soul. When Jack died, God didn't want such a conniving person in heaven and the devil, true to his word, would not allow him into hell.

Jack was sent off into the night with only a burning coal to light his path. He placed the coal inside a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth ever since.

"That's a mad story Ted, it's madder than the one about the loaves and the fishes."

 

[Chris S]

Eamon de Valera sent a message of condolence to the German High Commission in Dublin when Hitler committed suicide.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Socrates taught Plato, Plato taught Aristotle, and Aristotle taught Alexander the Great

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Earwax analysis shows WWII was stressful for whales

 

[Tail End Charlie]

In WW1 after a Zeppelin raid, one of the Zeppelins was damaged and ditched in the North Sea. A passing trawler refused to save the crew (contrary to the early Geneva Convention) and as a result they all perished. How do we know this? One of the crew put a message in a bottle, naming the ship and where it sailed from, and the bottle was was washed ashore in Sweden some months later. There were calls from the Germans to prosecute the trawler skipper for a war crime, but given the anti German feeling (Zeppelin raids were the first instance of strategic bombing) there was no action taken. Apparently even the Bishop of London said leaving the German baby killers was understandable!

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

There is a German War Graves Cemetery in England. Every German from the two wars who died on or near British soil is buried there. It is looked after by our own War Graves Commission, just as we look after all our cemeteries abroad.

It is on Cannock Chase and is a very sympathetic location. I've been, and it is worth a visit.


View: https://flic.kr/p/o9YGBA


An infra red photo of the cemetery.

 

[Chris S]

There is a German War Graves Cemetery in England. Every German from the two wars who died on or near British soil is buried there. It is looked after by our own War Graves Commission, just as we look after all our cemeteries abroad.

It is on Cannock Chase and is a very sympathetic location. I've been, and it is worth a visit.


View: https://flic.kr/p/o9YGBA


An infra red photo of the cemetery.

There was no need to drape their coffins in swastika flags though. Couldn't they find ordinary German ones?

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

There is no indication when or where that photo was taken. If during WW2 then it would be an "ordinary" German flag. Initially the dead were buried near to where they fell.

The cemetery was only created after WW2 when all graves around the country were exhumed and contents required. This included WW1 and WW2 victims.