Interesting trivia thread

[Duck n Dive]

John Lee survived three attempts to hang him for murder and so had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

He became know as "the man they couldn't hang".

 

[andyBeaker]

The Boeing 747 ‘Jumbo jet’ was three times longer than the Wright brothers first powered flight.

 

[derek kelly]

I remember at Halton Moor Junior School in Leeds we had a guillotine, used it for trimming paper.

 

[Squag1]

And chopping fingers sometimes

 

[slim63]

Back in the good old days (the 1500's)

Halifax had an execution Guillotine

The Halifax Gibbet

Bankers must have been a rough bunch back then !

 

[slim63]

I remember at Halton Moor Junior School in Leeds we had a guillotine, used it for trimming paper.

I made a working model of Madame Guillotine for number one daughter when she was studying the French revolution

 

[Squag1]

I made a working model of Madame Guillotine for number one daughter when she was studying the French revolution

Tested???

 

[slim63]

Yep, chopped carrots easy as I had weighted the blade a little, lopped the end off a mates cigar like it wasn't even there, really surprised none of the kids lost a finger to be honest, you wouldn't be allowed to send it in to school nowadays

Not thought about this for years and am now wondering what happened to it

 

[ogr1]

Not thought about this for years and am now wondering what happened to it

Maybe it got the chop?

 

[Malone]

I named a RNLI lifeboat over 30 years ago.

 

[derek kelly]

I named a RNLI lifeboat over 30 years ago.

That’s a stupid name for a lifeboat.

 

[Malone]

the ‘polite’ term to call someone a berk comes from Cockerney rhyming slang

originally it came from Berkeley Hunt (pronounced Berk-lee ‘unt and not Bark-lee)

Quite apt when used with ‘ a berk in a Merc’

 

[andyBeaker]

Bruno Tonioli of Strictly fame was the main dancer in the video for I’m Still Standing by Elton John.

 

[Minkey]

The first person recorded as having a pair of football boots was Henry VIII

the Toffees are trying to sign him

 

[andyBeaker]

The current Nimitz class of American aircraft carriers have a power plant that can theoretically keep them at sea for a minimum of 22 years without refuelling.

Imagine that, going on board at 20 and getting off at 42.

 

[ogr1]

Mmmmmm 42....I wonder?

 

[derek kelly]

The current Nimitz class of American aircraft carriers have a power plant that can theoretically keep them at sea for a minimum of 22 years without refuelling.

Imagine that, going on board at 20 and getting off at 42.

I was in Norfolk Virginia when Nimitz sister ship Dwight D Eisenhower was commissioned, she was berthed on the other side of the jetty to us & made Hermes look like a toy, we were s(own round by an airman who told us that she didn’t even have to leave port, just tap in a coordinate/post code etc, press the button & a missile would set off & land with pinpoint accuracy

 

[slim63]

I was in Norfolk Virginia when Nimitz sister ship Dwight D Eisenhower was commissioned, she was berthed on the other side of the jetty to us & made Hermes look like a toy, we were s(own round by an airman who told us that she didn’t even have to leave port, just tap in a coordinate/post code etc, press the button & a missile would set off & land with pinpoint accuracy

I take it this was a while ago when American "pin point accuracy" meant somewhere on the correct continent?

Unlike now where they sometimes hit the correct town and even the enemy occasionally

 

[Malone]

Bang! “Friend or foe?” Pass friend

 

[derek kelly]

I take it this was a while ago when American "pin point accuracy" meant somewhere on the correct continent?

Unlike now where they sometimes hit the correct town and even the enemy occasionally

1978