China has the most TV sets (300 million).

The world’s first TV news helicopter was introduced by KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles on 4 July 1958.

In 1919, 18-year-old Walt Disney teamed up with Ub Iwerks, to produce a series of cartoons entitled “Alice in Cartoonland.”

The home video recorder was introduced in 1972 by Philips of the Netherlands.

About one quarter of movie videos sold are animations.

DVD discs are the same diameter (120mm) and thickness (1.2mm) as a Compact Disc but a DVD can store 13 times or more data.

There are 6 versions of Franz Schubert’s “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”), simply because when friends asked him for copies of the song, he wrote out new copies to the best he could remember at the time.

The harmonica is the world’s best-selling music instrument.

The LP (long-playing) record was invented by Paul Goldmark in 1948. The LP is not dead yet: more than 10 million LPs are sold every year.

Duran Duran took their name from a mad scientists in the movie Barbarella.

In 1973, Swedish confectionery salesman Roland Ohisson was buried in a coffin made entirely of chocolate.

English soldiers were called Tommies because the example name on the soldier forms was Thomas Atkins. (The example name on US forms is John Smith.)

Julius Caesar was known as a great swimmer.

There are about 5,000 prince and princesses in each Saudi Arabian royal.

Winston Churchill was a stutterer. As a child, one of his teachers warned, “Because of his stuttering he should be discouraged from following in his father’s political footsteps.”

Richard M. Nixon was the first president to visit all 50 states.

Andrew Johnson was the only president to sew his own clothes.

David Rice Atchison, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, was president for a day. When Zachary Taylor was inaugurated in 1849, he refused to take the oath on a Sunday, so someone had to be sworn into office for one day. Atchison got the job.

Woodrow Wilson is the only president buried at Washington D.C.

Millard Fillmore authorized Matthew C. Perry’s trip to Japan, which helped open trade with Japan.

In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.

On average in the West, people move house every 7 years.

The world’s average school year is 200 days per year. In the US, it is 180 days; in Sweden 170 days, in Japan it is 243 days.

According to the US Census Bureau, 19% of US children live in poverty. (1999)