1. Nearly 50% of all bank robberies take place on Friday.

2. On average, more than 45,000 pieces of plastic debris float on every square mile of ocean.

3. More than 99.9% of all the animal species that have ever lived on earth were extinct before the humans walked the Earth.

4. More than 40% of the women in the United States were in the Girl Scouts organisation and two-thirds of the women listed in “Who's Who” of Women were Girl Scouts.

5. The most popular topic talked about by public speakers is motivation at 23%, followed by leadership at 17%.

6. Happy birthday to you! Your birthday is not only a special day for you. You share it with no fewer than nine million others.

7. Textbook shortages are so severe in some U.S. public schools that 71% of American teachers say they have purchased reading materials for their pupils with their own money.

8. USA Today reported in 1998 that more than 40% of American households with children have guns.

9. The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

10. The average life span of London residents in the middle of the 19th century was 27 years. For members of the working class, that number dropped to 22 years.