MDCC

This is my 1700th blog. Yes - 1700. Wow. I’ve done so many now that it almost seems meaningless to keep count, but I’ve always liked statistics and I like to mention milestones of note, so forgive me for mentioning it one more time - after I finish typing this and hit the button marked “publish” I will have posted on this blog for the 1700th time…
To celebrate, here are some facts about the year 1700 (followed by some crap I made up) See if you can work out at which point the truth becomes sidelined for the lies:

1. The year 1700AD started on a Friday. 
2. Pope Clement XI succeeded Pope Innocent XII, becoming the 243rd Pope. 
3. The world population is estimated to have been 600-700 million.
4. Japan was hit by a tsunami, caused by an earthquake.
5. Most of central Edinburgh was destroyed by a fire.
6. Lions became extinct in Libya (estimated date)
7. Abraham Lincoln patented the flushing toilet.
8. The 1st Annual Mah-Jongg World Championship was held in Helsinki. It was won by a Russian gymnast called Olga Karmyolenko (who was 12)
9. Due to a clerical error at NASA, the month of October happened twice.
10. A homesick bear was elected Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury.
11. The King of Bolivia banned the importing of Rubiks cubes and Dairylea slices. 
12. In Penzance, Cornwall, 12 feet of rain fell every day for the entire year.

RC 23-10-16