Other facts you never knew

Hot on the heels of the news that some children thought the Queen invented the telephone, we asked the Junior Beakers and our visiting Imagineer, David Lewis, for some other "facts" that they knew.  They kindly provided the following, but we think they may have made some of them up.  Rather like the answers to the original survey.  After a great deal of analysis we reckon that one and a half of these are true.

• Albert Einstein invented Pringles while working in the Bern patents office.
• St Paul developed the prototype for the game we now know as "Ludo" - which is why it has a Latin name.
• Both the poet John Milton and economist John Keynes were born in John Street, in Milton Keynes.
• Thomas Hardy's job in early life was as a drag queen  He told his friends and family that he was working as an architect, although this was only slightly less embarrassing in 19th century London.
• Due to the rotation of the earth, if you stand at the North Pole you are more likely to die of dizziness than cold.
• In Essex, white socks are a sign you are looking for a fight.
• If you lit a line of beacons from Wallsend to the Solway Firth you'd cut Northern unemployment by 25% 
• It was originally planned that the M1 would connect London with Skegness.
• Jensen Button was named after a character in Button Moon.
• All the lions in the world are descended from one original pride that lived at Longleat Safari Park. 
• Night Nurse is used in the Turk and Caicos Islands as a form of hallucinogen 
• Phil Mitchell of Eastenders invented Thin Layer Chromatography.
• Carrots are actually fruits.
• If you live south of the Equator the hands on a clock go anti-clockwise 
• You can never have too many piercings.
• Homeopathy has been properly peer-reviewed and it turns out it's better than real drugs. 
• It has been proven that Rhubarb and Custard chews are a cure for Swine Flu.
• Wallabies are the only type of marsupial living wild in Bedfordshire.
• Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is based on the same chord progression as "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols 
• People from Corby don't really sound Scottish
• Due to the Coriolis effect everyone in New Zealand is left-handed
• From space, Ipswich looks like the face of Simon Cowell.
• Samuel Pepys got his nickname because he used to climb up a ladder outside Nell Gwynn's chambers 
• Lager tastings are serious events. Masters of Lager mark 17 different categories of taste, body and aroma 
• Wombles really did live freely on Wimbledon common until 1649, when Cromwell put a price on their heads.  
• Ducks are actually good at cricket, and regularly make centuries in matches against chickens.
• Moats in mediaeval days were filled with custard, thus providing a defence and sustenance for those inside.
• If you are playing against Arsenal it is within the rules to kick their players with the studs of your boots. 
• Sheep are slightly more intelligent that Dolphins, and can count up to 12. 
• George IV was a world-class chemist, which is why he was known as the "Prince Reagent".
• Plans are afoot to rename Prestwick Airport 'The London Airport at Prestwick' 
• The Corby Trouser Press was invented by a Corgi called Norbie.
• The Celtic Tradition in worship is both "Celtic" and "traditional".
• The first person to land on the moon was Alice Cooper. But the CIA hushed it up. 
• Due to a mirroring effect in the upper atmosphere, the Great Wall of China can sometimes be seen from Japan.
• Australia was towed into its present position by a large fleet of tugboats.  Originally it was an island off the Kent coast but it was towed away to be used for convicts.
• Due to the roundabouts, car tyres in Milton Keynes wear out on the Left Hand Side. On alternate days you have to drive backwards 
• You're safer in Bedford town centre than in your own bed at midnight on Fridays.
• Fireworks and glass were invented by an ancient civilisation in Croydon, 2 millennia before the Chinese. 
• Being on Twitter on a Saturday night is a sign of a fulfilling social life.
• Anoraks are so named because they were made up of the complete skin of an orak (a now extinct type of yak) 
• Kerry Katona worked as a designer on the Large Hadron Collider.
• Frogs aren't actually reptiles. They're arthropods. 
• When Rafael Benitez signed Lucas Leiva for Liverpool, he thought he was signing a different Brazilian called Lucas who is good at football.
• Buckinghamshire is the only English county where pineapples grow in the wild.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer discovered Fiji.