No. 261.

In 2008, the Panel Prize of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards went to 'every comedian on the Fringe for making it happen'.

(Source: http://www.comedyawards.co.uk/panelprize.asp.)

No. 260.

There were riots when the fez was banned in Turkey in 1925.

(Source: QIkipedia Twitter feed.)

No. 259.

One of the working titles for Citizen Kane for John Q.

(Source: IMDB.)

No. 258.

Casablanca was adapted from a play called Everybody Comes to Rick's.

(Source: IMDB.)

No. 257.

Olympian gymnast Beth Tweddle has had a train named after her.

(Source: Alan Carr's Summertime Specstacular 2. Verified by http://www.heart.co.uk/wrexham/news/local/beth-tweddle-train/.)

No. 256.

In November 1997, Desperate Dan, the Dandy comic book character, struck oil, then sailed off with The Spice Girls.

(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/13/oldest-comic-the-dandy-faces-closure.)

No. 255.

The longest Olympic marathon finishing time is fifty-four years, eight months, six days, thirty-two minutes and 20.3 seconds. The Japanese runner Shizo Kanakuri fell asleep after taking a break close to his nineteenth mile during the 1912 Stockholm games, then woke up the next day. He was invited back to complete it in 1976 when he was sixty-seven.

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/qi/9472902/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-the-Olympics.html.)

No. 254.

Princess Anne was the only person not be gender-tested at the 1976 Olympics.

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/qi/9472902/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-the-Olympics.html.)

No. 253.

The collective noun for a group of apes is 'a shrewness' or 'a troop'.

(Source: Yahoo answers.)

No. 252.

Each of Nina Conti's Monkey puppets last about a year. She has to bid for replacements online because they are from a discontinued line of toys, and her fans are buying them in order to have one like her.

(Source: Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast.)

No. 251.

The last private owner of Stonehenge, Sir Cecil Chubb, allegedly bought it as a present for a wife. She wasn't impressed, so he gave it to the nation.

(Source: QIkipedia Twitter feed. Verified by Wikipedia.)

No. 250.

Lucy Porter was a researcher on Catchphrase. Her job was to ask the contestants for funny anecdotes that the host could prompt and then joke about it in the beginning of the show.

(Source: Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast.)

No. 249.

Stewart Lee sent a song he wrote to Fry and Laurie because he and Richard Herring weren't too impressed by the quality of the music featured on the show.

(Source: Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast.)

No. 248.

Lucy Porter was a researcher for Richard and Judy.

(Source: Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast.)

No. 247.

To amuse each other between takes, the cast of The Thick of It would perform impersonations of Darth Vader saying mundane things.

(Source: Chain Reaction interview with Chris Addison.)

No. 246.

Dr. Seuss died when he was 108.

(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/interactive/2012/aug/04/infomania-dr-seuss?intcmp=239.)

No. 245.

The creative team behind the London 2012 Opening Ceremony used the codename 'Betty' when refering to the Olympic cauldron. They named it after the executive producer's dog.

(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/29/frank-cottrell-boyce-olympics-opening-ceremony.)

No. 244.

Richard Herring features in Bridget Jones' Diary. In the book, the protagonist is up in Edinburgh and considers whether to see his show.

(Source: Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast.)

No. 243.

John Milton invented the word 'pandemonium'. He uses it to describe Hell in Paradise Lost.

(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/27/olympic-opening-ceremony.)

No. 242.

The People's Republic of China have had a basketball player serve as their flag bearer in every Olympics since 1984.

(Source: 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony commentary.)

No. 248.

Lucy Porter won a Time Out competition to be on the judging panel for the Perrier Award.

(Source: Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast.)

No. 241.

Paraquay have the only flag which has a different design on the front and back.

(Source: 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony commentary.)

No. 240.

2012 marks the first Olympics in which Great Britain has entrants competiting in all 25 sports.

(Source: 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.)

No. 239.

As of 2012, London is the only country to host the Summer Olympics thrice.

(Source: 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.)

No. 238.

The motorbike riden by Henry Winkler in Happy Days is the same one used by Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.
(Source: Twitter - somebody asked Winkler if the fact was true.)

No. 237.

Robert Powell met his wife, Babs of dance troupe Pan's People, in the BBC bar. He saw them come in, but didn't have the courage to ask her out, so he took the whole group out for a drink instead.

(Source: Tales From Television Centre.)

No. 236.

Once there was no show set to go out at 11pm, so a few comedy people, including Johnny Speight, Marty Feldmen, and Spike Milligan were asked in the BBC bar whether they would talk about their writing process. They said they would and suddenly the slot was filled.

(Source: Tales of Television Centre.)

No. 235.

One BBC director was trying to shoot a final scene before the television centre studioes closed at 10pm and came down from the gallery to instruct them from the floor. He ran downstairs, got into the room, and shouted 'will you fucking stop messing around?' It was only then he realised he was in the Newsnight set.

(Source: Tales of Television Centre.)

No. 234.

One of the directors in a BBC meeting said that the presenter on the Film programme appeared to have worn a wig and that he wouldn't stand for it. Barry Norman had in fact simply been having a bad hair day.

(Source: Tales of Television Centre.)

No. 233.

The BBC were so used to Michael Bentine destroying, and staging raids on, BBC television centre as the climax to each series of his television show that five men were able to steal £16,000 and be let out the back gate by the current commisioner who greeted them with  'Good to see you again Mr Bentine'.

(Source: Tale of Television Centre.)

No. 232.

The BBC once broke the world record for largest troupe of tap dancers. They staged a routine with five hundred and one performers in the circular quad in television centre.

(Source: Tales of Television Centre.)