The 50 Interesting World General Knowledge Facts
Below are some interesting general knowledge facts everyone should know
1. While writing Invisible Man, author Ralph Ellison worked as a waiter, photographer, and jazz trumpeter.
2. A legend is a table accompanying a map that explains what the colors and symbols used to represent.
3. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole became known as the Five Civilized Tribes in early America because of their willingness to adopt aspects of western culture and government.
4. Algeria has been the largest country in Africa since South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011.
5. A 9,000-year-old skeleton was discovered in Cheddar, England, and genetic testing found a 300-generation later relative of his teaching school half a mile away.
6. Skylab, which orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, was the first U.S. space station.
7. Donnie Osmond has his first solo hit as a teen idol in 1970 with a cover of Roy Orbison’s “Sweet and Innocent.”
8. In a single mouthful a blue whale can consume as many calories as the average human takes in 180 days.
9. About 22 million gallons of water are trapped inside plastic bottles in U.S. landfills.
10. The Larry O’Brien Trophy features a regulation-size sterling silver basketball.
11. In 2007 a bowhead whale was discovered with the tip of a harpoon embedded in its back from 1890.
12. UNICEF is the world’s largest buyer of vaccinations for poor countries.
13. Paul Anderson holds the record for the greatest weight ever lifted by a human, backlifting 6,270 lbs. in 1957.
14. Betty Ford had a CB handle in the 1970s, “Frist Mama.”
15. Unimak and Unalaska are the largest of the Aleutian Islands.
16. Admiral Chester Nimitz formed the Blue Angels during World War II to showcase Naval aviation.
17. The first color TV transmission was produced by John Baird in this London in 1928.
18. The Spanish word for beer comes from Ceres the Roman goddess of agriculture.
19. Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, captured Palmela Castle from the Moors in the 12th century.
20. Lisbon and Eureka are popular types of lemon.
21. Ivan the Terrible was the first Russian ruler to hold the title of czar when he was proclaimed Crown Prince of Moscow in 1533.
22. The use of the word “flak” for anti-aircraft guns comes from WWII and the German word Flugabwehrkanone means “aircraft defense cannon.”
23. Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973.
24. Delivering the ball to the batsman in cricket is called bowling.
25. The first youth hostel in the U.S. opened in 1934 in Massachusetts.
26. In addition to its technological fame, Hoover Dam is known as a masterpiece of the art deco style of design.
27. Actor Harrison Ford once put his carpentry skills to use as a stagehand for The Doors.
28. “Home on the Range” is the official state song of Kansas
29. Englishman Thomas Cook founded one of the world’s oldest and most enduring travel agencies when he started giving rail tours by getting bulk discounts for train travel.
30. Motorola engineer Martin Cooper placed history’s first cell phone call on April 3, 1973, to a rival to brag about his achievement.
31. History’s deadliest recorded earthquake took place in China in 1556 and reportedly killed 830,000 people.
32. A major port on the Red Sea, Jeddah is the second most populous city in Saudi Arabia.
33. The plastic tag closures on loaves of bread are color-coded to different days of the week to help ensure proper stock rotation.
34. Studies have shown that most people are more likely to remember what they’ve written if they write it in blue ink.
35. The tiny nation of Monaco is the most densely populated in the world with more than 18,000 people per square kilometer.
36. Mount Godwin-Austen and Chhogori are other names for the world’s second highest mountain commonly known as K2.
37. James Michener’s book Tales of the South Pacific became the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific.
38. Nathan Hale gave his “one life” to his country on Sept. 22, 1776.
39. Paranormal and psychic debunker James “The Amazing” Randi set up the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) which offers a $1 million prize to anyone able to demonstrate supernatural abilities under scientific testing.
40. In a record that has stood since 1931, Norman Taurog is the youngest person ever to win the Oscar for Best Director at the age of 32.
41. Legend claims that the tapping noise made by the death watch beetle heralds a death in the house.
42. The CN Tower in Toronto is the tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere.
43. Tojo, the Prime Minister of Japan during WWII, was hanged for war crimes in 1948.
44. There are about 9 million people having a birthday on any given day.
45. The First run on June 19, 1867, the Belmont Stakes is the oldest of horse racing’s Triple Crown races.
46. Two-thirds of Greenland lies north of the Arctic Circle.
47. In the 16th-century Dutch growers specially bred carrots to come out orange to honor the ruling house of that country.
48. About 1 in 12 men is colorblind but only about 1 in 200 women.
49. Azrael is a Muslim name for the Angel of Death.
50. Built in the early 1700s, the Alamo was originally the chapel of the Mission San Antonio de Valero.
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