Useless Trivia Daily

BOOK WEEK Don Quixote is believed to have sold over 500,000,000 copies since it was first published in 1605. If true, this would make it the highest-selling novel of all time.

BOOK WEEK Mary Shelley's mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was also a famous author. Her best-known work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, is considered to be one of the most important works in feminist philosophy.

BOOK WEEK An early draft of John Steinbeck's best-seller, Of Mice and Men, was eaten by his pet dog.

BOOK WEEK Jane Austen's original manuscript for Pride and Prejudice was titled First Impressions. Ironically, it was rejected by publishers.

BOOK WEEK To Kill a Mockingbird was Harper Lee's only published novel.

BOOK WEEK It took Joseph Heller eight years to complete the original manuscript for Catch-22.

BOOK WEEK Roald Dahl's original notes for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory described the character of Charlie Bucket as a "small Negro boy".

Moby takes his stage name from the novel Moby Dick, which was written by his great-great-great-great uncle, Herman Melville.

Jack Nicholson was the first actor to use the word 'cunt' in a Hollywood film, in 1971's Carnal Knowledge.

Budweiser beer was originally named for a small town in the Czech Republic.

Alaska has more caribou than people.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is a fear of the number 666.

If you laid a human being's small intestine in a straight line, it would be four times as long as their body.

China is the world's largest gold producer, producing 370 metric tonnes in 2012.

Wham! were the first Western pop band to tour China.

Although it's regarded as one of the biggest flops of the 90s, the box office takings of Waterworld exceeded its budget by $90mil.