Trivia

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If you spell out numbers in order from one, you would not use an “a” until you reach “One Thousand”.

(Started trying it, didn't you!)

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Flamingos are born grey and then become pink from eating shrimp. The pink comes from a type of organic pigment called a carotenoid. Brine shrimp feast on microscopic algae that naturally produce carotenoids, with enzymes in the flamingos’ liver breaking down the compounds into pink and orange pigment molecules, which are then deposited into the birds’ feathers, legs and beaks. If flamingos didn’t feed on brine shrimp, their pink plumage would eventually fade.

Oh, and contrary what is sometimes passed on as a fun fact, flamingo egg yolks are not pink, they are yellow, the same as other eggs.

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In early versions of the Red Riding Hood tale, before the Grimm brothers’ version, the wolf left the grandmother's blood and meat for the girl to eat, who then unwittingly cannibalizes her own grandmother. 

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In one episode of Tom and Jerry, it is implied that they commit suicide over lost loves, both having lost out to other suitors The episode, "Blue Cat Blues", dates from 1955 and ends with them both sitting on the railway track to end it all as the whistle of an approaching train gets louder. The episode is regarded as one of the darkest cartoons to be aired at the time. Because of the unhappy ending and the implied suicide at the end, this cartoon has rarely been seen on American television. 

In Blue Cat Blues initially only Tom wanted to suicide, Jerry being happy at the thought of his own girlfriend, “Toots”, being faithful. 

He then sees Toots ride by with another mouse with a "Just Married" sign on the back of their car. Jerry then joins Tom on the railroad tracks. 

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Hot water freezes faster than cold water, known as the Mpemba effect. The effect was named after the Tanzanian student who in 1963 noticed that hot ice cream mix freezes faster than a cold one. The effect was first observed by Aristotle in the 4th century BC, then later Francis Bacon and René Descartes. Mpemba published a paper on his findings in 1969. No one has ever been able to definitively answer why it happens.

Erasto Mpemba (left) and Denis Osborne (right) in London (2013)

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Speaking of “Startling”, the 194p's and 50’s loved their gratuitous sex and violence . . .