The Spanish abbreviation for UFO is OVNIS: "objeto volador no identificado."
According to the London for Visitors website, the area known as Soho used to be part of King Henry VIII's hunting grounds. When a hunter spied a deer, he yelled "Tally-Ho!", but when he found a smaller prey, the cry became "So-Ho!" As the area was developed, the name stuck.
There is now an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which has a winter population of 200.
The flag of the U.K. is properly known as the Union Flag. It is only called the Union Jack when it is flown from a ship.
The Sitka spruce is Britain's most commonly planted tree.
There are more 100 dollar bills in Russia currently than there are in the United States.
The extras in the the battle scenes in the movie Braveheart were reserves in the Irish army.
The main export of Jamaica is bauxite, which used in making aluminum.
The original Guiness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland has a six thousand year lease.
South Africa used to have two official languages. Now it has eleven.
In 1848, Niagara Falls stopped flowing for 30 hours because of an ice jam blocking the Niagara River.
In Italy, it is illegal to make coffins out of anything except nutshells or wood.
Tourism, tourist, come from the first people who ever mass traveled for pleasure, being British citizens who visited the Chateaux de la Loire in France, the capital city of which is Tours.
The shortest British monarch was Charles I, who was 4'9" and that was before he lost his head!
The South American Electric Eel can produce almost 1 Amp of current
Since World War II, every American president to address the Canadian House of Commons in their first term of office have all been re-elected to a second term. Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton have all had the honour, while Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, Carter, and Bush did not address the Parliament.
Hong Kong has the world's largest double-decker tram fleet in the world.
Bulgaria was the only soccer team in the 1994 World Cup in which all 11 players' last names ended with the letters "OV."
The country with the biggest percentage of heads of household being women is Botswana.
Quebec and Newfoundland are the only two Canadian provinces which do not allow personalized license plates.
The proceedings in the British Parliament are meant to be in private (even though they are televised). So, if the MPs want to have a secret session, one of them points to the gallery from which the public watch, and calls "I spy strangers!", whereupon the House votes "that the strangers do withdraw."
On the London Underground, one station (Bank) has a different name on two of its platforms (where it is called Monument). There are two pairs of stations (Edgware Road and Shepherds Bush) which have the same name, but are different stations.
Ambassadors to the United Kingdom are not called that officially, but rather "Ambassadors to the Court of St. James's" - the palace which was the residence of the monarch before Buckingham Palace was built.
Liverpool Street station in London is the departure point for trains to East Anglia, but not to Liverpool.
Oxford Street in London is named after the Earl of Oxford, and it is only coincidence that it is the start of the main road from London to Oxford.
In British Monopoly sets, the most expensive property (Mayfair) is not a street, but a district of little streets near Hyde Park.
The official name of Jesus College, Cambridge, is 'the college of the Holy Trinity and the most Blessed and Exalted Virgin, St. Rhadegund".
The patron saint of Oxford is St. Frideswide, and many (female) children in Oxford are Christened 'Friday' after her nickname.
Bowerbirds of Australia and New Guinea decorate their courting grounds with everything from beetle wings to car keys.
The official, neutral name of Switzerland, which has multiple official languages, is the Latin "Confederatio Helvetica", or the Helvetic Confederation, thus the "CH" on license plates and stickers.
"Vang" is the most common surname among the Hmong people of Laos.
The London Underground station "St. John's Wood" is the only such station to not contain any of the letters of the word "Mackerel.
The longest intra-continental flight in the world is from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Manila, Philippines.
The oldest Whiskey distillery in the world is in Ireland and started distilling in 1657.
Whiskey in Ireland is spelt with an 'e' before the 'y.' Scottish Whisky (or Scotch) is spelt without the 'e.'
The official name of the UK is the second longest country name in the world: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 48 letters.
Finnish is not a Germanic, Slavic or Romantic language. It belongs to it's own language group. The other two languages in the group are Hungarian and Estonian.
The foreign city most visited by Americans is Tijuana.
The German Bundestag, or Parliament, has 672 members and is the world's largest elected legislative body.
Dominica, Mexico, Zambia, Kiribati, Fiji and Egypt all have birds on their flags.
Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the deaths of their cats.
Australia is the richest source of mineral sands in the world.
Cyprus has a map on it's flag.
The province of Alberta in Canada has been completely free of rats since 1905.
