My favourite piece of information is that Branwell Brontë, brother of Emily and Charlotte, died standing up leaning against a mantle piece, in order to prove it could be done.

More from The Salmon of Doubt

• All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.
• ‘Stotting’ is jumping upward with all four legs simultaneously. My advice: do not die until you’ve seen a large black poodle stotting in the snow.
• The hotel shop only had two decent books, and I’d written both of them.
• There is no problem so complicated that you can't find a very simple answer to it if you look at it right ... Or put it another way, "The future of computer power is pure simplicity."
• We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.
• A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.