Sports Pub Quiz

To celebrate our recent partnership with ITV's The Chase, we've been brushing up on our general knowledge. Are you a sports enthusiast who loves nothing more than reciting a list of trivia to anyone who'll listen? If so, you might enjoy a few of the curious facts we've found that would give even the Chasers a run for their money:

1. Playing football in the park with your kids is a treat for many families. Iceland's Eidur Gudjohnsen and his son Arnor went further than most playing in the same international squad. Unfortunately they didn't make it on to the pitch at the same time: Eidur was substituted for his son, former Chelsea star, Eidur, much to both of their dismay. SOURCE
2. Olympic gold medals may look like the real deal, but they haven't been made out of solid gold for over 100 years. Although it might not matter to those who have won them, modern medals are made out of silver and coated in gold. The medals for the Beijing Olympics even included a small amount of Jade! SOURCE
3. Tennis is a great sport for keeping fit, but it's not for everyone. For poor old Charles VIII, a French monarch, the sport played a key part in his downfall; he died after hitting his head on the door of a Real Tennis court in 1498. SOURCE
4. Golf may seem like a pretty down to earth sport, but that didn't stop astronaut Alan Shepard from hitting two golf balls while on the moon in 1971 and becoming the first out of this world golfer. SOURCE
5. Basketball may seem like a sport for giants, but spare a thought for NBA player Muggsy Bouges who played professionally despite being 5'3" tall. In his first season in the NBA he teamed up with Manute Bol, who at a massive 7'7" was 28 inches (over 2 ft) taller than him! SOURCE
6. Giving up alcohol is one thing, but what about giving up sex before a big sporting event? For Muhammad Ali, ditching sex was a no brainer. He once went two months without sex before a fight. Today, Manny Pacquiao has continued this tradition, stating that he too separates himself from his wife in the weeks building up to a fight and only sees her with a chaperone present! SOURCE

7. Michael Phelps is clearly an inspirational athlete. In fact, the American swimmer has won more gold medals (23) at the summer Olympics than entire countries, including India, Ireland, and Argentina. Madness. SOURCE
8. You may think the highest score from a single shot in cricket is 6 runs, but Banyule CC batsman, Gary Chapman, once hit a world record 17 runs off a single shot when the opposition fielders lost the ball in some long grass and the batsman just kept on running! SOURCE
9. The longest ever game of tennis went on for over 11 hours across three days when John Isner met Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010. Isner eventually took the win after defeating Mahut an astonishing 70-68. SOURCE
10. In the golfing world, it is well known that if you manage to bag a hole-in-one it's polite to buy your mates a beer after. But in Japan it's customary to throw a party and buy your friends a gift, so golfers there can take out hole-in-one insurance policies that cover the costs. SOURCE

From sports and leisure through to arts and culture, we've been hitting the books harder than ever – and we'll be sharing a whole host of interesting facts with you over the coming weeks, so make sure you keep one eye on our blog!