TWENTY REBUS FACTS

1. John Rebus and Ian Rankin were born in the same Scottish coal-mining town, Cardenden, about twenty miles north of Edinburgh.
2. Although the word rebus is a type of picture puzzle, it is also a Polish surname — something Ian Rankin found out only recently.
3. There is only one person called Rebus listed in the Edinburgh telephone directory. He lives in Rankin Drive.
4. There are two main soccer teams in Edinburgh, Hearts and Hibs. Ian Rankin has been careful not to make Rebus a fan of either. However, in the recent TV dramatisations, Rebus is portrayed as a Hibs fan — at the expense of lead actor Ken Stott, himself a lifelong Hearts supporter.
5. Rebus has always lived in Arden Street, which is where Ian Rankin lived while writing the first Rebus novel.
6. Rebus's favourite five albums are 'Beggars Banquet' (Rolling Stones), 'In Search of Space' (Hawkwind), 'Argus' (Wishbone Ash), 'Hard Nose the Highway' (Van Morrison), 'Solid Air' (John Martyn).
7. Rebus's favoured pub, the Oxford Bar, is real. Ian Rankin first started drinking there as a student. In the Rebus novels, the two pathologists (Professor Gates and Dr Curt) are based on two real drinkers who frequent the Oxford Bar.
8. Rebus's favourite snack — a bun with a filling of corned beef and beetroot — is unique to the real-life Oxford Bar, where it now known as a 'Rebus Roll'.
9. Rebus served in an elite unit of the British Army before becoming a cop.
10.  If you read the novels closely, you will find that Ian Rankin credits Rebus with having attended two completely different High Schools — an error which no reader has spotted up till now.
11. Rebus seldom operates outside Scotland. One book, however, is set almost entirely in London. That book, 'Tooth and Nail', was written because Ian Rankin was living in London at the time and hated it, so thought he would take his character there, so that he could share the pain.
12. 'Tooth and Nail' was originally called 'Wolfman', until Ian Rankin's American editor suggested the alternative.
13. The American edition of 'Let It Bleed' has an extra final chapter unavailable in any other country.
14. Ian Rankin plays one of Rebus's colleagues in the Rebus TV series, but with no speaking part so far.
15. Many Rebus book titles are taken from albums or songs, including 'Black and Blue' (Rolling Stones), 'The Falls' (Mutton Birds), 'The Hanging Garden' (The Cure) and 'Dead Souls' (Joy Division).
16. We do not know if John Rebus has a middle name.
17. The Elvis-themed restaurant in 'The Black Book' is based on an establishment Ian Rankin encountered in New Orleans while on a six-moth tour of the USA in 1992.
18. The last rock gig Rebus went to was Lou Reed.
19. Rebus has read Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' several times.
20. One of the above 'facts' is untrue...