Fact of the day from Michael Caine

One of my favourite charity shop finds is Not Many People Know This Is 1988: Michael Caine's File of Facts. Perhaps many people do know that Michael had a sideline in trivia books in the 80s, but I didn't until I happened upon this book. In 1988 I did know it was 1988, though.

Inside there is an interesting fact for every day of 1988. As he explains in the introduction "Nuggets of odd information like this are a great way of brightening up an ordinary day - and they're useful too. When I was just a Cockney kid going to school in Peckham I was known as the Professor because I spent so much time reading. That could have been a problem, but because I always had a collection of strange facts I earned my place in the local gang."

If you want to impress a hoodie standing on a street corner in South London, why not wow them with today's fact?

Friday 12 February 1988 

Tom Keating, the man who threw the art world into chaos when it was revealed that he had produced more than 2,000 fakes which had been snapped up by dealers and experts, died four years ago today [so 28 years ago today by my reckoning].

Ironically, shortly before his death he recorded a series of TV programmes showing how to imitate the styles and techniques of famous painters [don't think Michael understands the concept of irony].
And did you know that...During their lifetime most people eat food equivalent to the weight of six elephants?