Steve Wright’s Book of Factoids. Steve Wright

admitted that she has never read a book from cover to cover.

       Swedish supergroup Abba were originally called ‘The Engaged Couples’, Oasis was formerly known as ‘Rain’, The Red Hot Chili Peppers once called themselves ‘Tony Flow and the Miraculous Majestic Masters of Mayhem’, whilst U2 initially performed as ‘Feedback’.

       Elvis Costello’s father sang ‘I’m a Secret Lemonade Drinker’ on the advert for R White’s Lemonade.

      Anastacia owns 20 pairs of her trademark glasses.

      Jemima Khan has developed her own brand of ketchup.

      EastEnders Pat Butcher, actress Pam St Clement, has 125 pairs of earrings to choose from.

      Before he became an actor, Kumars at No 42 star Sanjeev Bhaskar completed a business degree and worked as a marketing manager for IBM. He also married his own TV grandma.

      Before having a gastric band fitted to shrink her stomach, Sharon Osbourne used to weigh 16 stone. She is now half that weight. A gastric band? We’re not sure if Ozzy used to be in it.

      Johnny Vegas reportedly attended interviews and was accepted by the priesthood – he changed his mind at the last minute.

      It was rumoured that during the filming of American Idol, judge Paula Abdul hired the services of a scriptwriter to come up with witty one-liners, which she could use to respond to attacks from judge Simon Cowell.

      Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria has a huge cross tattoo on her back. Producers of the show have to spend thousands of dollars digitally airbrushing it out when she is seen walking around in her underwear.

      Tom Baker has been the longest serving Doctor Who, playing the part for seven years. His famous scarf was much longer than was originally planned, because its designer thought that all the coloured balls of wool provided had to be used.

      Back with Desperate Housewives, Nicollette Sheridan is naturally a redhead but has been dying her hair blonde since she was 13 years old.

      Robbie Williams is an ordained minister after completing a form online, which allowed him to officiate at a friend’s wedding.

      Cold Feet and My Dad’s The Prime Minister star Robert Bathhurst once auditioned for the role of James Bond.

      When Shane Richie started out in showbusiness he was known by the stage name “Shane Skywalker”. It was Lenny Henry who persuaded him to change it.

      A recent opinion poll revealed that seventy per cent of people do not know which Geordie presenter is and which is Ant and which is Dec.

      Friends star Matthew Perry is missing part of the middle finger on his right hand.

      When Julie Walters announced she was going to become an actress, her disappointed mum declared “she will be in the gutter before she’s twenty”.

      Vanessa Feltz’s first kiss was with dance DJ Pete Tong.

      Simon Cowell and Pete Waterman were originally asked to come up with a theme tune for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Unfortunately the pair argued so much during initial meetings that the job was eventually given to someone else.

      Liz Hurley auditioned for the role of Cassandra in Only Fools and Horses.

      Gwyneth Paltrow wears size 9 shoes, whilst Uma Thurman wears a massive size 11

      

      A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. Mmm, what? Who are you?

      Psycho was the first Hollywood film to show a toilet flushing and that generated many complaints. The stabbing in the shower scene was okay, then?

      “ Stewardesses ” is the longest English word that is typed with only the left hand. And I’ll be back with your peanuts in a minute sir.

      The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable”.

      The greatest football headline ever written is said to be the one in The Sun in February 2000 after Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Celtic 3-1 in the Scottish Cup:

       “Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious”.

      Thirty-one different shapes of UFO have been sighted, including the traditional saucer-shaped one. Elvis was on board two of them.

      In the Stone Age half of all people were left-handed, but today only five per cent of us are left-handed. Barney Rubble was himself left-handed.

      It is impossible to lick your elbow. Please don’t try, I was in Outpatients for 2½ days.

      After his first concert appearance, Elvis Presley was advised to consider becoming a lorry driver. … Because he already looked like one.

      The practice of “ giving away the bride ” goes back to the time when money exchanged hands for the privilege.

      The very first episode of Doctor Who was shown on November 23, 1963 – the day after President Kennedy was assassinated. The nation was so shocked the show went unnoticed, so the BBC repeated it a week later.

      It takes a lobster seven years to reach a weight of 500 grams. Unless it dies screaming in a pot of boiling water.

       The hair on your head grows at a rate of 0.34 millimetres a day. But not on mine.

      The average two year old learns 16 new words a day. Including “Are we there yet?”

      A can of Spam is opened every four seconds. And it’s getting fed up with it.

      A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit Little Ant and Dec inside.

      Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 0.1 of a calorie. So don’t do it.

      If you