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“Important” things you didn’t know about Germany

• Watching the slapstick 1963 British comedy sketch “Dinner for One”, starring Freddie Frinton and May Warden, is an essential part of the German New Year’s Eve celebration.
• Although he cut a fine figure in his youth, “Mad” King Ludwig II of Bavaria started losing his teeth in his twenties – one of the reasons why he became increasingly reclusive in his fairytale castles.
• If you ask a German the time and are told “halb drei” (literally “half three”) the time is in fact half past two (half two in English).
• Germans count the minutes to the next hour rather than after.
  The Munich Oktoberfest actually starts in late September. Don’t worry too much if you miss it: there are 60 beer gardens in and around the city that are open all summer.

• The Plattdeutsch dialect spoken in parts of northern Germany stems from Old Saxon and contains many words with the same roots as English – “maken” (make), “dat Kniv” (knife), “dat Sailschipp” (sailing ship), “af un an” (sometimes).
• Trabant, the name given to East Germany’s answer to Audi and Mercedes Benz, literally means “satellite”. It was intended as a tribute to the first-ever satellite – the Soviet Sputnik, which went into space in 1957.
• In 1888 Germany had three emperors: Wilhelm I, Frederick III and Wilhelm II. Frederick III died from cancer of the larynx aged 56 having ruled for just 99 days. A liberal by disposition, he would have been a very different emperor to Wilhelm II.