TEN THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT...BERLIN

1. In Berlin in 1996, Daniel Barenboim conducted a performance which involved 19 construction cranes swaying in time with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

2. More than 6,000 internet pages can be found stating that the first bomb dropped on Berlin during the Second World War killed the only elephant in Berlin Zoo…

3. …but that’s wrong. Bombs did kill all but 91 of its 3,715 animals, but one Asian elephant bull survived.

4. Seven elephants were killed in a raid on the nights of January 29 and 30, 1945.

5. In 1997, Berlin staged Europe’s first pizza convention, which was called Pizzatec.

6. A ‘Berliner’ means not only a citizen of Berlin but also a type of jelly-filled doughnut.

7. When President Kennedy in 1963 said, “Ich bin ein Berliner”, some said it meant “I am a jelly-doughnut” and he should have said “Ich bin Berliner”…

8. …but Kennedy’s German was correct. “Ich bin Berliner” would have implied he was born in Berlin; “Ich bin ein Berliner” implied solidarity with Berliners.

9. In January 1989, East German leader Erich Honecker said the wall could last another 1,000 years. He was out by 999 years and two months.

10. Berlin claims to be “the only European city with more museums (175 in all) than rainy days”.