51 favourite facts you’ve always believed that are actually false

The chewy base of gum is indigestible and passes straight through. The remainder is absorbed.

The helmets were created by a costume designer for a 19th-century Wagner opera.

It merely dilates warm blood vessels near the skin, creating the impression of warmth. It can actually drop core body temperature.

Not a room Romans used for Bacchanalian binges, but the name for the entrance to a stadium.

Studies have disproved this. Poor or rowdy behaviours still occur in children with sugar-free diets.

Bulls are colour-blind. They actually perceive the motions of the bullfighter’s cloth as a threat.

Sorry, Braveheart fans: they were prevalent in the Middle East centuries before Western Europe.

Wrong – but your skin tissue does recede, making them appear longer.

Humans can catch warts only from other humans. Those bumps on toads are just their skin glands.

It doesn’t stand for anything. SOS became a Morse code distress signal because it’s so easy to transmit: three dots, three dashes, three dots.