The Second Book of General Ignorance (45 page)

naming, of new species
1

Naples
1

Napoleon
1
,
2

height of
1

‘Napoleon complex’
1

narcotics
1

Natural History Museum
1

Nautilus pompilius
1

Nazis
1

Neanderthals
1
,
2

Nelson, Horatio, height of
1
,
2

Netherlands
1

see also
Dutch New Labour laws
1

new towns
1

New Zealand
1

Newcastle Brown Ale
1

Newton, Humphrey
1

Newton, Sir Isaac
1
,
2

Newton, Wayne
1

Nichols I, Tsar
1

nightmares, and eating cheese
1

Nile, River
1

nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
1

Nixon, Richard
1

no-man’s-land
1

noctilucent clouds
1

Normans
1
,
2
,
3

north, finding of in a forest
1

North Korea
1

North Sea
1

North Star (Polaris)
1

nosebleeds

causes
1
,
2

and death of Attila the Hun
1

treatment of
1

‘not enough room to swing a cat’ phrase
1

Nubian people
1

Obama, Barack
1

oceans, temperature of
1

octopus
1
,
2

Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
1

oil
1

Olympic Games
1

perfect
1
score
2

sports no longer included
1

opiods
1

opium
1

oranges, colour of
1

Orbison, Ray
1

organ transplants
1

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
1

Ouroboros
1

ovum
1

Owen, Jennifer
1
,
2

Oxford English Dictionary
1

oxygen
1

oxytocin
1

ozone layer
1

Pacioli, Luca
1

Paget, Stephen
1

pandas
1

pandemics
1

panspermia
1

papal infallibility
1

paper money
1

Papua New Guinea
1

parachute, opening of
1

paraesthesia
1

Paris, Michelin stars
1

Parker Morris standards
1

Parliament Acts (1911/1949)
1

Parthenon
1

Pascal, Blaise
1

Pasteur, Louis
1

peanuts, avoiding of in bars
1

Peary, Admiral Robert E.
1
,
2

Peary Land
1

Pemberton, John Stith
1

Pen-tailed tree shrew
1

penguins
1

penicillin
1

penises

Argentinian Lake Duck
1

snake’s two
1

Penny Black stamp
1

Penny Red stamp
1

Peterlee
1

Petition of Right Act (1628)
1

Pharnaces II, King
1
,
2

phi
1

Phidias
1

Philip II, King of Spain
1

Phoenicians
1

phosphoric acid
1

photic sneeze reflex
1

pilchards
1

Pinker, Stephen
1

pins and needles
1

Pins and Needles
(musical)
1

pirates
1
,
2

Pius XII, Pope
1

place names, longest
1

plague
1
,
2
,
3

Plane Crazy
1

Plantagenet, House of
1

Plato,
Timaeus
1

Pliny the Elder
1
,
2

Plough (Big Dipper)
1

ploughman’s lunch
1

Ploughman’s Lunch, The
(film)
1

Pocohontas
1

poisoning, by Vitamin A
1

‘polar bear effect’
1

Polyphemus
1

Pompey
1
,
2

Pope
1

Poppaea (wife of Nero)
1

Post Office
1

postcards
1

postcodes
1

Potter, Beatrix
1

Powhatans
1
,
2

praetors
1

preformationism
1

premature burial
1

prison uniforms, striped
1

progesterone
1

Progressive Muscle Relaxation
1

prostitutes
1

Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status
1
,
2

Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status
1

Ptolemy I
1

Ptolemy XII
1

Ptolemy XIII
1

public speaking, fear of
1

puffins
1
,
2

Puffinus puffinus
1

Pythian Games
1

Quinion, Michael
1

radar
1

radiation
1

radio plays, world coming to an end broadcasts
1

radioactivity
1

radium
1

railways, Italian
1

rainfall
1

Ransome, Arthur
1

Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep
1

rats
1

magnetic
1

rattlesnakes, on television
1

Rawlinson, Thomas
1

Raytheon
1

razor blade, as compass
1

Reagan, Nancy
1

recessions, and suicide
1

Red Sea
1

Rehn, Ludwig
1

Reith, Lord
1

Renaissance Bug
see Halobacteria
Rentokil
1

Representation of the People Act (1969)
1

reproduction
1

and budding
1

see also
mating Rescue Annie
1

restaurants, and Michelin stars
1

resuscitation
1

Richard III, King
1
,
2

Roberts, Andy
1

Roe, Donald
1

Rolfe, John
1

Roma
1

Romani
1

Romans/Roman Empire
1
,
2

army/legions
1

conquering of Rome by Goths (410 AD)
1

eating of dormice
1

fighting of Huns
1

and glass
1

and hair
1

invasion of Britain
1

language spoken in Rome
1

sacking of Rome by Vandals (455)
1

treatment for insomnia
1

Roosevelt, President Theodore
1
,
2

rope-climbing Olympians
1

Rothschild, Lord
1

rubber balls
1

Russian Revolution (1917)
1

rust
1

Rutzen, Michael
1

St Andrew’s Day
1

salt
1

Samaritans
1

sardines
1

satellite navigation
1

Saturn
1
,
2
,
3

sauna
1

Scarfe, Gerald
1

Schatz, Albert
1

Schimper, Anna
1

Schuetz, George and Edward
1

Scotland, wearing of kilts
1

Scott, Sir Walter
1
,
2
,
3

Scythians
1

seawater, freezing of
1

Second World War
1
,
2
,
3

Sellmer, Richard
1

semen
1

sensory substitution
1

Sequin, Albert
1

serfdom
1

Settlement Act (1701)
1

sewage, polluting of beaches
1

sex

sneezing during
1

see also
mating

Shakespeare, William
1
,
2

Henry VI Part (1)
1

sharks

and tonic immobility
1

tracking by
1

Shaw, George Bernard
1
,
2

shearwater
1

sheep-counting
1
,
2

Sheffield
1

Sheffield FC
1

Shelley, Mary,
Frankenstein
1

Shima Marineland Aquarium (Japan)
1

shivering
1

Sikhs, in India
1

silkworms
1

Sino-Japanese War (1937–45)
1

skin
1

breathing through
1

effect of drinking water on
1

shedding of dead
1

Skipsea (Yorkshire), planned atomic bomb explosion
1

slavery, in England
1

sleep
1

and dreaming
1

and eating cheese
1

REM (rapid eye movement)
1

slim appearance and black clothes
1

and stripes
1

smell
1

smiling
1

Smith, John
1

Smyrna
1

Smyth, Admiral W.H.
1

snakes

beating heart of cobra
1

rattlesnakes on television
1

swallow big objects
1

tail
1

sneezing

during sex
1

in response to bright light
1

snow
1

sound

in space
1

speed of
1

South African pilchards
1

South Pacific
1

Southern Pole star
1

sovereigns
1

Soviet Union, and Second World War
1

space, sound in
1

Spanish Armada
1

Spanish Civil War
1

Spanish national anthem
1

species

discovering new
1

naming of
1

Specific Anthropomorphic Mannequin (SAM)
1

spectacles
1

speed cameras
1

destruction of
1

Spelling Reform Bill
1

Spencer, Percy
1

sperm

human
1

octopus
1

Spiderman
1

spiders
1

sportsmen, and huddles
1

Spratly Islands
1

staircases, helical
1

Stalin, Joseph
1

stamps
1

stars, finding north through observing
1

Steamboat Willie
1
,
2

steel balls
1

Stevenson, Robert Louis,
Treasure Island
1

‘stiff upper lip’
1

stiffness, measuring
1

Stilton cheese
1

Stilton (town)
1

stings, treatment of jellyfish
1

Stone Age
1

Stowe, Harriet Beecher
1

Straits of Gibraltar
1
,
2

stratosphere
1

streptomycin
1
,
2

stripes and appearance
1

substances

hardest known
1

strangest
1

Sudan
1
,
2

sugary drinks/food
1

suicide (s)

and handwriting
1

and recessions
1

and Wall Street Crash (1929)
1

Sullenberger III, Captain Chesley ‘Sully’
1

Sun

rising of
1

setting of
1
,
2

water vapour traces
1

supercooling
1

Superman
1

swallowing
1

sweat/sweating
1
,
2

swordtail fish
1