It's not whether your towel is large or small, it's whether you know where it is.

How many of these towel-related questions could you answer?

1. What country is traditionally credited with inventing the towel?
   
   Turkey.
2. According to the Bible, did Jesus know where his towel was?
   
   Definitely. At the Last Supper.
3. Does Shakespeare ever talk about towels?
   
   Nope.
4. What was special about tea towels in 18th-century England?
   
   They were lint-free, to polish that special china. (Tea. A ritual of significance everywhere in the galaxy.)
5. Terry cloth comes from Manchester. How did ethnologist Henry Christy discover the secret of terry cloth in the 19th Century?
   
   By travelling to Istanbul, of course.
6. Paper towels were invented in Philadelphia in 1907. What was the inventor's name?
   
   Scott.
7. The term 'to throw in the towel' comes from 1915. What was thrown in to signal defeat before 1915?
   
   A sponge. (How dull.)
8. According to Douglas Adams, 'A towel... is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.' Why?
   
   Because non-hitchhikers will assume you have other accoutrements of civilisation (and will lend you the ones you've 'misplaced'). Clever.
9. Where does a towel jockey work?
   
   In a locker room.
10. What is the most money a tea towel has ever sold for?
    
    £2.1 million. It was painted on by Vincent van Gogh.

Entertain passersby with these fun towel facts when they stop to admire your towel. It helps to make friends.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

23.05.16 Front Page

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