Ten Facts About Soup That Will Change Your Life

1. Jason Statham's favourite soup is Kalashnikov.
2. As an exercise before a university drama production Hugh Grant was asked to pretend to be a bowl of soup. It is feared nobody ever told him to stop.
3. Nigel Farage MEP is rumoured to be the secret architect of the groundbreaking European Directive on Tinned Soup (Safety in Transit Regulations - Interim Agreement 17.5 part 4(c)).  It has saved countless thousands of lives. 
4. During the reign of Henry VII a tax was imposed on ladles, but poor drafting meant that if used left-handed owners avoided the need to pay. A treasury team is still working on the re-draft.
5. After a five year programme of study researchers at an American University found that if spilt on exposed flesh boiling soup may cause burns.
6. For perfectly legitimate tax reasons David Cameron's father could only eat soup in Belize.
7. Only a few close friends of Boris Johnson are aware that his great-great-grandfather was a bowl of vegetable soup.
8. Elvis once had his private plane fly Heinz tomato soup, heated up by his chef in Graceland, to Las Vegas. It arrived cold, and he is thus credited with inventing gazpacho.
9. Tins of Scotch Broth more than four years past their sell-by-date are so explosive that they feature in the UN's list of items that may not be exported to North Korea.
10. It is estimated that House of Lords debates on soup cost UK taxpayers more than £12 million last year alone.