The Encyclopedia of the Weird and Wonderful

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London Transport host tours of the station from time to time – giving visitors to take a look at the historic (and slightly creepy) interiors. Visit the Brixton Windmill

I’m drawn to things that show a desire, a dream or a belief, where you can get a sense of connection with the maker. And with The Maker: most of the world religions are represented in my collection. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the only film in the series not in the 50 highest-grossing films list. It did however reach 471 in Empire Magazine’s 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. When William Shakespeare died at 52 years old on Apr. 23, 1616, he was buried in a tomb that featured an epitaph meant to ward off grave robbers: "GOOD FREND FOR IESVS SAKE FORBEARE / TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HEARE / BLESTe BE Ye MAN Yt SPARES THES STONES / AND CVRST BE HE Yt MOVES MY BONES."

Sloth Facts

A plane passenger once played a pirated movie during a flight, only to discover the lead actress Kriti Sanon sat beside him. to reduce the staff numbers of a company to such low levels that work can no longer be carried out effectively The banking of the Thames was a feat of Victorian engineering. The Thames is a tidal river, and prior to the banking project, its shores extended way beyond the river we see today.

Costa Rica’s butterfly species is abundant. The range makes up around 90% of all Central American butterflies and even more impressively, 18% of the world’s total butterfly species. Russia’s area is larger than the total surface area of Pluto. The country has the largest area on Earth and measures 17,098,322 sq. km (6,601,699 sq. miles), Pluto, by comparison,is just 16,647,940 sq. km (6,430,000 sq. miles). London's Brompton Cemetery inspires some strange beliefs. It's the final resting place of Hannah Courtoy, who had a well-known respect for ancient Egyptians' astrological (and perhaps mystical) knowledge. She's buried there, along with two of her daughters, in a massive 20-foot granite mausoleum that includes a pyramid peak and a bronze door decorated with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Whenever you visit, you’re bound to see a new piece in the making, not to mention hundreds of others sprayed on every single inch of the tunnel’s walls. a Celtic symbol consisting of three radiating legs or curved lines, such as the emblem of the Isle of ManCongo may have once been a zoological curiosity, a rare primate who was given the unique opportunity to express his artistic desires – or at least to smear graphite and paint onto a flat surface. But in the decades since he produced his first drawing, zoos have been giving paintbrushes to animals as a common practice. The hope is that these attempts at creative expression help keep animals happy. Bob Bob’s appeal is that it lies a world away from the bland cookie-cutter restaurants that seem to dominate the city’s dining scene. It looks like your standard water bottle, but the Air Up uses a clever method to mask plain water as flavoured water. The craze has taken over many schools and gyms since launching in the UK in 2021. Christopher Wren basically re-designed London after the Great Fire of 1666. Most famous for his work on St Paul’s Cathedral, he actually created the designs for a number of buildings in central London, St Stephen Walbrook among them. If you can relate, you should totally get yourself down to The House of Minalima– one of my fave quirky places in London (and one of London’s top Harry Potter sights).

A trip to the London Transport Museum is one of the more unusual days out in London – but if you want to go the full hog, you should travel out to Acton to visit the museum’s vast depot. Lord Leighton was an artist – at the time the house was built he was an associate of the Royal Academy, and he rose to become its president before his death. Who else is a raging Harry Potter fan? I’ll freely admit that even eight years after the final film, I still sit down with the box set every Christmas, drawn into the world of The Boy who Lived.

In its former life, the Mail Rail was the lifeblood of the Royal Mail postal service. Ferrying thousands of letters to and from the sorting office on Mount Pleasant, the railway operated from 1927 until 2003. From animals to gaming, these 50 weird & wonderful facts span some of the most unique topics, and if you aren’t amazed by some of these, I’ve truly failed! In 2011, Australia, South Korea, and Germany banned Mortal Kombat. The Australian Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor said it was due to “public disquiet on the issue”.