Peanuts or just plain Nuts?

During the Cold War, Russian intelligence personnel mistakenly believed that Charles Schultz' Peanuts comic strip was actually being used as a communication medium with undercover U.S. agents operating in Europe. An entire department was created within the KGB to analyse the antics of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Co. and several complex theories were developed regarding the coding methods thought to be employed.

Agents believed that the central character, Charlie Brown, signified the American nation, Snoopy the U.S. space program, Lucy van Pelt the pro-Communist movement in Cuba, Woodstock the American nuclear arsenal and Peppermint Patty was the Soviet Union itself.

The erroneous beliefs were the subject of much heated debate within the dedicated department throughout the 1950s and 60s until it was disbanded in 1974. However, it has been reported that rogue operatives who disagreed with closure of the unit continued studying the work of Schultz and ultimately attempted to communicate with the cartoonist himself, who, one particular day in the 1980s, was somewhat baffled to receive a crude drawing of a mouse wearing a ballgown in the mail.

After the Fact

People who eat cabbage at least once a month earn approximately 8% more than those who do not. That's just one of many startling revelations reviewed in a recent publication. Other statistical gems include the little known fact that people with long earlobes are 16 times more likely to have a failed marriage, and the amazing discovery that the bald are 27% more prone to accidents involving glue.

Who's Who

Marylin Monroe owned a collection of vintage bedpans that she liked to use as unusual flower vases. That's just one of the revelations in a fantastic new book, which provides an unprecedented insight into the private lives of such stars as James Dean, Rock Hudson and Russ Abbott. Among the more surprising revelations is the news that James Cagney once paid for a sickly relative to fulfil their lifelong dream of parachuting into an artificial lake filled with cream soda. Christ, I Didn't Expect That Type Of Thing by Zackary Rackman is out next week.

Bad Hair Day

Chewbacca's costume in the first Star Wars movie was actually woven from the hair of George Lucas' children in a budget minimising move. The children had to have their heads shaved several times in the run up to the production, and rumour has it the family dog was also roped in to the procedure when the children failed to produce enough hair in time for filming.

The production was famously short on funds, and a number of innovative cost-cutting measures were employed. Princess Leia's white gown doubled up as a bed sheet, while Alec Guinness reportedly donated a pair of false earlobes that he had worn as a prop in The Ladykillers, which were auctioned off to raise money. Previous tales of Harrison Ford demanding two chocolate biscuits per day when the budget would only stretch to one per cast member have consistently been denied.

Waste Not

Up until the 1950s it was not uncommon for carpets to be woven from recycled skin and hair. During the war years it was of course necessary to economise wherever possible, and home furnishings were no exception. Many families used bodily fluids to add a little colour to their wall paint, and in particularly deprived areas, men's beard shavings would often be used by the ladies in the house for makeup, and toenail clippings found new lives as an alternative to dessicated coconut for children's birthday cakes.

Bent Out Of Shape

We all know that the combined shapes of Turkey, Malaysia and Jamaica look like a freshly baked shepherds pie, but did you know that if you trace the outlines of Japan, Iceland, Nottingham and the Blackpool Pleasure Beach and place them all in a line, perpendicular and adjacent to one another that they form an uncanny resemblance to Orson Welles' left ventricle? Thought not.

Old Hat

A shocking discovery has been made by a recent study into Britain's museums. The research, commissioned by the Institute For Finding Important Finds, found that an alarming 98% of exhibits are actually extremely boring and pointless. The find comes as good news to the hoards of children and new boy/girlfriends who feel compelled to feign interest at the thousands of museum pieces every year on days out that could better be spent drinking, eating fast food and committing violent acts against passers by.

Picture Perfect

Research has revealed that celebrated director Alfred Hitchcock liked to work in some pretty unorthodox ways. Stories of his strange demands have long been the stuff of Hollywood legend, but an extensive study carried out by the Institute for Filmic Speculation verifies that many of the accounts do in fact appear to be accurate. According to these, the director had a habit of pinching the faces and necks of his leading actors, and also liked to draw sketches of them, which he would then chew up and eat in front of them if they failed to deliver a satisfactory performance. The commonly recounted story of the day Hitchcock allegedly smashed and later set fire to Tippi Hedren's penis-shaped umbrella stand has not yet been verified.

Lucky Stars

An upcoming book is set to reveal some startling facts about the Hollywood stars of yesteryear. Rich Tallbag spent the last four years researching the work, which has already been met with legal threats from the estates of some of those featured. Mr Tallbag is confident in his research though, and publishers are hoping to push the tome through by the Ides of March 2011 in time for the 14th Edinburgh International Festival of Tawdry Nostalgia in Book Form. Leaked excerpts from the book include such nuggets of gossip as James Cagney's naked underwater defecation habit, Jackie Gleason's six tonne dancing racist toilet brush and Rita Hayworth's artificial torso.

The jig is up

A new dance craze is sweeping the region of Anathema in central Asia. The style is a startlingly unconventional fusion of tap, ballet and the birdie dance, culminating in the beheading of a nearby statue where possible. Teens in the area are hooked on the craze, to the virtually exhaustive misapproval of their parents, most of whom believe the dance can only lead to moral incertitude at best. Rebellious youngsters are busily organising festivals at which the dance is performed competitively, winners being afforded the chance to writhe enthusiastically around on a bedsheet that was once believed to have accommodated a weary Hedy Lamarr.