Stupid stuff I know #1

I know rubbish. Seriously. Can't do other languages. Struggle with sums. But nonsense? I've got loads of it. Line up her and fill your boots with bilge.

I had a fitful night's sleep last night - about four hours in total - and found myself awake processing ridiculous information. Stuff like this, which for some reason had been on my mind for a while.

Reg Varney, star of On The Buses, was the first person in the UK to use a cashpoint. Handy to know eh? I think I read it online a while back and at around 5.03am, it was the only thing I could think about. I didn't even like the ruddy programme, but there you go.

On The Buses, for those of you too young to remember, was about lecherous bus drivers, daft inspectors and a woman called Olive who effectively looked like Harry Hill. It made a star of Reg and that might be why he probably got the gig for a rather bizarre job and the answer to a cracking pub quiz question.

Yes, this is utterly true, Reg Varney was the first person to ever use a cashpoint. Back in 1967 he used the first one in a branch of Barclays in Enfield, North London. Reg Varney used the first cashpoint. It's worth repeating, as it just seems bizarre.

But there's more.

Did you also know that the person who made the first ever mobile phone call, utterly true again, was Ernie Wise of Morecambe and Wise. He called from London to Vodafone's Newbury headquarters. Quite why, I have no idea, but its true.

I'd like to think that more comedians should have been the first to do significant things or trial important services. How great would the world be if the first ever search on google was made by Russ Abbot, if Griff Rhys Jones had invented pritt-stick or Lenny Henry had taken the first brick from the Berlin Wall.

And why do I know these things? Why is this the sort of stuff I remember when I can't sleep? I haven't a clue, but based on what the missus told me when I mentioned it, it's quite clear.

I'm mental apparantly. Nice to know.