Just when you thought it was Newport, the most common place name in Britain is Newtown, which occurs 150 times. And the most common name for a shopping centre is Arndale – which is also my Uncle Len’s middle name.

The herring is the most widely eaten fish in the world. Although not in itself very wide – in fact it’s very flat and no fun whatsoever.

Did you know that most cows produce more milk when they listen to music? Favourite with our bovine buddies are the Scissor Sisters and any oldie by Paul Young.

Were you aware that Queen bees lay nearly 1,500 eggs a day and live for up to two years?

According to top space scientists, about 1,000 tons of space material enters the atmosphere every year and makes its way to the Earth’s surface.

The world’s deadliest recorded earthquake hit in central China in 1557, killing 830,000 people. In 1976, another tremor killed more than 250,000 people in Tangshan, China.

Apart from Croydon, the wettest place on Earth is Lloro, Colombia, which averages 523.6in of rainfall a year, or more than 40ft (13 metres). That’s about 10 times more than the big cities in Europe.

The cockroach is the fastest animal on six legs – covering a metre a second. A little known extra factoid is that sizeable numbers of cockroaches have bad breath, and … don’t wash behind their ears.

The whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound. Oh – more! I’ll have what she’s having.

Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school.

One in four married women have a younger partner, like Madonna. When Madonna married Guy Ritchie, he was only 18. She was 74.

Electricity doesn’t move through a wire but through a field around the wire. The dot over the letter “ i ” is called a tittle.

55 per cent of people yawn within five minutes of seeing someone else yawn. Reading about yawning makes most people yawn. And yawning about Reading is against the law in Berkshire.

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. They bury their heads in the sand to worry about this factoid.

The recording artist with the most number one records is Elvis Presley – with 18 over 45 years.

Celebrity section 1

Kylie Minogue is the most groped waxwork at Madame Tussauds.

Singer Jamelia recorded the demo tape that was to lead to her first record deal, on a toy karaoke machine.

Former racing driver Damon Hill played guitar in a punk band called Sex Hitler and the Hormones.

Ringo Starr was the first person in Britain to own a video recorder.

Love Actually star Bill Nighy suffers from Dupuytren’s Contracture, which keeps the little and ring finger of each hand permanently bent back against the palm.

When she was eight, round the world yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur started saving her dinner money to buy a boat.

Rolling Stones star Keith Richards has a child called Dandelion.

Big-time actor Colin Farrell auditioned for boy-band Boyzone but was rejected by manager Louis Walsh because he couldn’t sing.

Ozzy Osbourne was banned from Texas for ten years after being caught urinating on the revered Alamo fort in San Antonio. He was wearing a dress at the time.

Hilary Clinton became the first First Lady to win a Grammy when she won the gong for the Best Spoken Word album in 1996.

Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke only 700 words during the whole of the film, The Terminator. That worked out at £12,000 per word, almost double the £6,500 payment he received for his first film, Hercules in New York.

Martin Freeman who played Tim in The office, was in the England squash squad as a junior.

Ground Force presenter Charlie Dimmock wears a 36B bra. Sometimes.

R&B soul babe Joss Stone recorded her million-selling debut album – The Soul Sessions – in only four days.

Demi Moore was born cross-eyed. … Is that why she can’t see how young Ashton Kutcher is?

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Celebrity section 1