FACT #243

As research for his role in Awakenings Robert De Niro spent four years in a coma.

FACT #242

Tory MP Boris Johnson has a collection of Memento-style tattoos over his body which give him clues to his own identity.

FACT #241

Contrary to the popular saying, 90 percent of the time you lead a horse to water it will drink on its own.

FACT #240

Seven out of every ten hurling-playing Irishmen will lose a tooth during a game. For Irishmen who only watch hurling, that figure drops to five out of ten.

FACT #239

Approximately one-sixth of your life is spent on Sundays.

FACT #238

A batsman called Peter Young made 8,345 runs for Warwickshire in 1991, even though he spent the entire season batting with a rolled-up, lacquered copy of the Coalville & Ashby Echo.

FACT #237

Since you refreshed this page, the Notorious BIG has released three posthumous albums.

FACT #236

In the director's cut of Seven, Brad Pitt opens the box to reveal a video tape rewinder from the Innovations catalogue.

FACT #235

If you read the Bayeux Tapestry backwards you can clearly see the message "McCartney spear'd upon Hastings field", further fuelling the fake Beatle rumours.

#FACT 234

Water juice is set to be the latest fashion craze this year after Sienna Miller and Gwyneth Paltrow were seen carrying bottles of it.

FACT #233

On average, 100 people every year choke to death on adverbs.

FACT #232

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces were invented by the Duke of Edinburgh.

FACT #231

Even James Joyce himself never managed to read Ulysses to the end.

FACT #230

Among the strange by-laws of the Isle of Man are Acts banning the hosting of late-night strongman competitions, riding a drumkit up and down the stairs and going through a dustbin looking for clues.

FACT #229

During a two-week knife amnesty in 2003, Hesketh Bank police station anonymously handed out 450 weapons before realising their mistake.

FACT #228

The taste of perfection has only been achieved once, by Brian Turner's Lancashire Hot Pot in October 2002. The feat was marked by the unanimous support of the Ready Steady Cook audience and was the first time a chef has managed a green pepper whitewash.

FACT #227

Backbench MPs first became aware of Charles Kennedy's drinking problem when he challenged Tony Blair to a game of Pass the Pigs during Prime Minister's Questions.

FACT #226

Neil Morrissey runs a finishing school for aspiring young actresses in Putney.

FACT #225

Ground-breaking children's drama Press Gang was so called because Julia Sawalha and Dexter Fletcher had to be cudgelled over the head by TV executives and taken in bags to Richmond Studios before they agreed to play the leads.

FACT #224

Achilles spent 10 weeks in an oxygen tank prior to the Trojan War trying to shake off a broken metatarsal.

FACT #223

Samuel Pepys' first diary entry on January 1, 1660 included his thoughts on the interregnum, sketches of the Palace of Westminster and his plans to renew his gym membership "once it warms up a bit".

FACT #222

Jamie Oliver invented celery.

FACT #221

In 1994, Phil Redmond was brought in as editor of the Beano to make it more 'modern' and 'gritty'. He was sacked after one issue in which Dennis the Menace was diagnosed with cancer and Lord Snooty became addicted to crack.

FACT #220

As part of its forthcoming Great Outdoors season Channel 4 plans to screen The 100 Greatest Dogging Sites, presented by Stuart Maconie.