Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts

Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts is a collection of facts and trivia in a book edited by Sir Isaac Asimov. Steve Merchant's parents bought him a secondhand copy for Christmas one year and he brought it into the studio twice to stimulate discussion with Karl Pilkington, one fact of which he included both times.

26 January 2002 Episode

• The ancient Egyptians trained baboons to wait on tables
• In 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz who concealed his weapon under a handkerchief
• City Ordinance Number 352 in Pacific Grove California makes it a misdemeanour to kill or threaten a butterfly
• Sauerkraut was renamed 'Liberty Cabbage' by Americans during World War I
• In their denunciation of all things German (during World War I), some Americans kicked Dachshunds

29 November 2003 Episode

• The ancient Egyptians trained baboons to wait on tables
• Peter the Great killed his wife's lover and put his (the lover's) head in a jar of alcohol in her bedroom.
• Officially, the 2nd World War is not over because no official treaty has been signed between Germany and Russia.
• In Babylon, sick people would be sat in the city center to be assisted by passers-by who'd had the same illness.

External Links

Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts at Amazon.co.uk