Facts about France

1) France is actually called the French Republic
2) There is an Victor Hugo street in every town in France
3) It’s illegal to name a pig Napoleon in France
4) During the French Revolution, they mainly used a guillotine to execute people
5) France makes over 400 different types of cheese
6) French was the official language in England for over 300 years
7) Along with English, French is one of the only languages taught in every country in the world
8) Crayola is the French word for ‘oily chalk’
9) 34% of French people can speak English.
10) In 1386, a pig was hung in France for murdering a child
11) It’s illegal to kiss on railways in France
12) The French have one of the highest life expectancies in Europe
13) The French men have the lowest level of obesity in Europe
14) France is the most visited country in the world with over 75 million tourists a year
15) The French invented the hot air balloon, the parachute and the submarine
16) Every year, France produces over 50 million hectolitres of wine
17) More than 15000 people were beheaded at the guillotine
18) Paris is not nicknamed the city of lights because of the lights, it’s because of all the clever people that live there
19) The Eiffel Tower is painted every 7 years
20) Originally, the Eiffel Tower was built to then be destroyed straight away and sold as scrap metal.
21) French toast and French fries weren’t actually invented in France
22) The croissant was actually invented in Australia
23) There are 4400 cinemas in France
24) There are 1500 castles open to the public in France
25) On French radio between 8am and 8pm, all music must be by a French artist
26) As well as snails and frogs legs, he French also eat horsemeat
27) If you melted down the Eiffel tower and put it in a container the size of its base, it would only come about 10cm up
28) If a baby is born around Easter time in France they may be named Pascale meaning ‘belonging to Easter.
29) Shrove Tuesday in France is called Mardi Gras which means ‘Fat Tuesday’