David Wallechinsky - The Book of Lists

• Doberman Pinscher

• Shetland Sheepdog

• Labrador Retriever

• Papillon

• Rottweiller

• Australian Cattle Dog

• Afghan Hound

• Basenji

• Bulldog

• Chow Chow

• Borzoi

• Bloodhound

• Pekingese

• Mastiff

• Beagle

• Basset Hound

Source: The Intelligence of Dogs Stanley Coren (New York: The Free Press, 1994)

• Gulf Jet Stream — $4.9 million (the most expensive item sold on the site)

• Lady Thatcher’s handbag — £103,000

• Max the Mammoth (prehistoric skeleton) — £61,000

• Joanna Lumley’s Ferrari — £35,000

• Decommissioned nuclear bunker — £14,000

• A date with Penny Smith (GMTV presenter) — £9,000

• David Beckham’s Range Rover — £24,000

• Ronan Keating’s leather trousers — £5,000

• FA Cup Final football medal Bradford City 1911 — £26,201

• Jamie Oliver’s scooter — £7,600

• Wedding dress (modelled by ex-husband — the highest viewed item in the history of eBay — over 17 million) — £2,125

Digs up live ants for use in plastic ant farms.

Tends the machine that crushes animal bones that are used in the manufacture of glue.

Inserts stays (bones or steels) into prepared pockets of women’s foundation garments, such as corsets or brassieres.

Applies bleaching liquid to bottom of leather outsoles of lasted shoes, using brush or cloth, to lighten colour outsoles.

Places animal head on a table or on hooks in a slaughterhouse, splits the skull, and picks out the brains

Inserts a light to examine the sex organs of chicks, then separates the males from the females. A university degree in chick sexing is offered in Japan.

Smells eggs after they are broken open to check for spoilage.

Hairdresser who sets waves in with fingers.

Inspects cloth in a textile mill for defects by using a hooking machine which folds the cloth.

Tends vacuum or pressure tank that impregnates powdered-metal parts with lubricating oil or molten plastic.

Arranges and mounts letters, logos, and numbers on paper backing to make signs and displays

Operates cooker and mashing tub to combine cereal and malt in the preparation of beer.

Repairs metal phonograph record ‘mother’ by removing dirt and nickel particles from sound-track grooves. Records are mass-produced by being pressed by the metal mother record.

Tends machine that washes prunes preparatory to canning, packaging, or making speciality foods.

Raises queen bees.

Operates refrigeration or air-conditioning equipment aboard ships.

Tends agitation tanks that mix copper or slime and acid solution preparatory to precipitation of copper.

Sniffs people’s body parts to test the effectiveness of foot and underarm deodorants.

Tends machine that automatically forms lollipops of specified shape on ends of wooden sticks.

Tends toe-punching machine that flattens toe seams of knitted seamless socks.

A corporate or product name can symbolise more than intended, especially when that name is used in other lands. Today’s multinational markets require sensitivity to other cultures, as many companies have learned the hard way.

Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in Canada before realising that the name, which translated to Gros Jos , was French-Canadian slang for ‘big breasts’. However, sales did not suffer from this translation.

The Ford Pinto suffered image problems when it went on sale in Brazil — pinto is Portuguese slang for ‘small male genitals’. For Brazilian buyers, Ford changed the name to Corcel, which means ‘horse’.

When Coca-Cola expanded into China in the 1920s, the company chose Chinese characters which, when pronounced, would sound like the English name for the drink. Those particular Chinese letters, though, actually translated to ‘bite the wax tadpole’ or ‘wax-flattened mare’. The company now uses characters that mean ‘good mouth, good pleasure’ or ‘happiness in the mouth’.

The Johnson Company retained the American name of the wax product when it was introduced in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, in Dutch it means ‘piss’, making it difficult for shoppers to ask for Pledge. The product survived because most Dutch retail stores converted to self-service.

The Yokohama Rubber Company was forced to withdraw hundreds of tyres from the sultanate of Brunei when Islamic authorities complained that the tread design resembled the word for Allah.

British philosopher, economist, and historian, Hume spent the years 1752–57 as librarian at the Library of the Faculty of the Advocates at Edinburgh, where he wrote his History of England .

At the climax of his career in 1785, the inestimable womanizer began 13 years as librarian for Count von Waldstein in the chateau of Dux in Bohemia.

The Swedish author of the classic drama Miss Julie was made assistant librarian at the Royal Library in Stockholm in 1874.

After 19 years as a member of the College of Doctors of the Ambrosian Library in Milan, he was appointed chief librarian. In 1911 he was asked to reorganize and update the Vatican Library. From 1922 until his death in 1939, the former librarian served as pope.

Before launching his art career, Duchamp worked as a librarian at the Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve in Paris.

After the Russian Revolution, the future author of Doctor Zhivago was employed by the library of the Soviet Commisariat of Education.

Playwright, poet, lawyer, assistant secretary of state, winner of three Pulitzer prizes, and a founder of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization (UNESCO), MacLeish was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as librarian of Congress in 1939 for five years.