Top 10 Unique facts about toilets

1. World Toilet Day became an official UN day in 2013 thanks to a proposal to its General Assembly from Singapore.

2. This was the first time Singapore had ever put a resolution to the General Assembly.

3. The water closet dates back to 1589, when it was devised by Sir John Harington.

4. He described the flush, cistern and overflow pipe in his treatise ‘The Metamorphosis of Ajax’, published in 1596.

5. Under the Public Lavatories (Turnstiles) Act 1963, it is the duty of local authorities in the UK to abolish turnstiles in public lavatories.

6. In 1883, Mr Ashwell of Herne Hill, South London patented the Vacant/Engaged sign for toilet doors.

7. The magician and escapologist John Nevil Maskelyne invented the coin-operated lock for public lavatories in 1892.

8. Since 2009, people in Venice have been able to pay in advance online to go to public lavatories.

9. UK trains were first fitted with lavatories in 1873, but only in sleeping cars.

10. More people around the world have access to mobile phones than proper toilets.