No. 39.

M&Ms are named for business partners Mars and Murray, the pair who brought Smarties to America only to discover there was already a brand of that name.

(Source: The Unbelievable Truth.)

No. 38.

In Japan, the character Tintin is known as 'Tantan'. 'TinTin' is Japanese for 'penis'.

(Source: @qikipeida - the official Twitter feed of the QI elves/researchers.)

No. 37.

In 1981, the most watched programme on television in Britain was a showing of Jaws.

(Source: BBC article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16671101)

No. 36.

Battle in East Sussex is named for the Battle of Hastings, which occured near there.

(Source: Told by friend. Verified by Wikipedia.)

No. 35.

Sherlock star, Benedict Cumberbatch, spent his gap year in a Tibetan monastery.

(Source: Wikipedia - it verifies this with a link to an interview with the star.)

No. 34.

There are no mentions of cats in the Bible.

(Source: Radio 2 Factoids Twitter feed.)

No. 33.

Gatwick literally means 'farm where goats are kept'.

(Source: @qikipeida - the official Twitter feed of the QI elves/researchers.)

No. 32.

A Simon Callow theatre production is sufficiently long enough so that you can walk out of, see a full film at a nearby cinema, and return to find the show is still going.

(Source: Lecturer anecdote.)

No. 31.

Actor Mark Wahlberg used to rap under the name 'Marky Mark'.

(Source: Lecturer explaining reference in the Bill Hicks routine famously cut from David Letterman's show.)

No. 30.

In Tibet, tea is served mixed with salt and butter.

(Source: dailyinfographic.com. Spotted link on friend's Facebook page.)

No. 29.

In a college production of A Christmas Carol, Dustin Hoffman, playing Tiny Tim, for a bet, changed the last line from "God bless everyone!" to "God bless everyone, goddamn it!". He was subsequently suspended.

(Source: IMDB.)

No. 28.

The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.

(Source: Radio 4's News Quiz. Verified by Wikipedia.)

No. 27.

According to researchers in Finland, if the doll Barbie was life size, she would be too thin to menstruate.

(Source: BBC News.)

No. 26.

Forty-eight piglets were used in the making of the film Babe.

(Source: Yahoo article on animals stars post-films - http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/what-happened-to-these-famous-movie-animals.html.)

No. 25.

A clause in the Treaty of Versailles (an agreement signed following the First World War) dictated that only sparkling wine made in the eponymous French region of Champagne could be marketed under this name. However, as the U.S. senate never ratified it, some manufacturers have got away with labelling their product as such.

(Source: Told by friend. Verified by http://www.worldsstrangest.com/mental-floss/bubble-trouble-the-not-so-sweet-history-of-champagne/.)

No. 24.

Despite making his name in Westerns, Clint Eastwood is allergic to horses.

(Source: The Guardian.)

No. 23.

In the film Forrest Gump, the protagonist's eyes are closed in every single image or photograph he is in.

(Source: IMDB.)

No. 22.

That really is Vernon Kay's mother in the Flora Cuisine cooking oil adverts.

(Source: Multiple Google results. Investigated when somebody wondered aloud whether it was.)

No. 21.

The word 'sadistic', as well as its variations, derives from the Marquis de Sade. His life, and written works, were filled with depraved acts of debauchery. Consequently, they are 'sade-istic'.

(Source: Introduction in Oxford World's classics edition of Sade's The Misfortunes of Virtue.)

No. 20.

Kangaroos have three vaginas and two wombs.

(Source: QI, episode 2.6 Beavers.)

No. 19.

DVD is an abbrieviation of Digital Versatile Disc.

(Source: The small print on the back of any DVD.)

No. 18.

Christine Bleakley has a phobia of birds.

(Source: Dancing on Ice website.)

No. 17.

The most common baby name to be accepted by New Zealand registrars in the last ten years is 'Justice'. Others rejected included Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit.

(Source: The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/06/new-zealand-justice-baby-names.)

No. 16.

In Morris dancing, specifically the Cotswold dance style, a 'baldrick' is the strap upon which you hang a sword.

(Source: A flyer entitled Morris Dance/The Differences'.)

No. 15.

The Wizard of Oz's full name is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. He dropped the latter seven because they spelt out 'Pinhead'.

(Source: Wikipedia. Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz by L.Frank Baum.)

No. 14.

Out of all the babies born in Britain in 2011, only three were named Ethel. One was Lily Allen's daughter.

(Source: Yahoo.)

No. 13.

Stephen Hawking was born exactly three hundred years after Galileo, who is often hailed as the father of modern physics, died.

(Source: Radio 4's Dear Professor Hawking.)

No. 12.

In 1975, students from the University of Manchester protested against the dominance of Oxbridge teams on University Challenge by answering each of the questions in the first round with the name of a revolutionary.

Their institution was banned from the programme for the rest of its ITV run.

(Source: www.ukgameshows.com)

No. 11.

Mufti, a word now meaning casual clothing, originally was an Arabic term for a scholar of Sharia Law. It gained its current definition via the British Army - mufti was the vaguely Eastern clothes worn by off-duty officers.

(Source: Wikipedia. Researched as curious to the ethnic origins of the word.)

No. 10.

Although renowned for being Holmes' arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty only appears in two of Conan Doyle's stories. The character was initially created solely to kill off Sherlock in The Final Solution.

(Source: Wikipedia. Researched out of curiousity.)

No. 9.

When you have finished cooking cookies in the oven, get them onto a cooling rack as soon as possible or they will stick to the tray.

(Source: Mother's advice.)