Strange But True: World's Biggest Liar

By Lucie Winborne

• It is illegal to publish photographs of handcuffed suspects in France, as they're not to appear guilty until actually proved so.

• The word "king" in a snake's name indicates that it preys on other snakes.

• St. Lucia is the only country in the world named after a woman. Originally called the Island of the Iguanas by early Carib settlers, the name was later changed after French seamen were shipwrecked there on Dec. 13, the feast day of St. Lucy.

• Studies have shown that spending only a few minutes every day in the New York City subway system can ultimately result in hearing loss.

• When you snap your finger, it moves at about 20 mph.

• Pope Gregory I decreed that rabbit fetuses were marine mammals and they could therefore be eaten during Lent.

• A bobsled is so named because early racers bobbed their heads back and forth in an attempt to gain speed. (It didn't work.)

• The annual World's Biggest Liar competition in Cumbria, England invites entrants from around the world to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can muster in five minutes. No props or scripts are allowed, nor are politicians or lawyers permitted to compete, as "they are judged to be too skilled at telling porkies."

• More than four tons of old U.S. paper money is mulched into compost every day.

• Cockroaches are so repulsed by humans that if they're touched by a human, not only do they run away, but they wash themselves. (Personal to cockroaches: The feeling is mutual!)

• Bananas are curved because they grow towards the sun, in a process called "negative geotropism."

Thought for the Day: "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." -- Marcel Proust

(c) 2025 King Features Synd., Inc.