April 30 is special to The Big Bang Theory. Not because that’s when this superhit sitcom started but because two of its leading actors were born on this day — Johnny Galecki (Leonard) and Kunal Nayyar (Raj)!

t2oS geeks out on this ‘Birthday Synchronicity’ *

You’ve watched umpteen episodes of Sheldon Cooper’s “Fun with Flags” vlog. So, can you identify this flag?

Well, that’s the official flag of Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment 4A. According to Sheldon, the flag must be flown
upside down when the apartment is in distress. A magnet version of the flag is kept on the refrigerator and has been turned upside down in times of distress. A full-sized flag is visible in the background of “Fun with Flags”. When Raj temporarily moved into 4A, he was given a lapel flag by Sheldon.

TBBT TRIVIA

⇒ Leonard Hofstadter’s IQ may be 173 and Sheldon Cooper’s 187, but the makers of The Big Bang Theory pack in 4.3 jokes per minute, which is deemed just right for the “average” viewer.

⇒ We all love Sheldon saying “Bazinga” after pulling a prank. Now a bee has been named “Euglossa
bazinga” by Brazilian biologists who recognised it was a distinct species previously misidentified. The biologists named the species “bazinga” in honour of Sheldon’s favourite word because the species had tricked them into thinking it was not a distinct species.

⇒ The actors playing Sheldon, Leonard and Penny made $1 million per episode from season 8 to 10.

⇒ According to Sheldon and Leonard’s Roommate Agreement, Section 8, “Visitors”, Subsection C, “females”, paragraph 4, “coitus”: Roommates shall give each other 12 hours’ notice of impending coitus.

⇒ Penny’s surname has never been revealed on the show.

⇒ Rare is the TBBT fan whose nerves have not been jangled by Bernadette’s high-pitched voice. In real life, actress Melissa Rauch sounds nothing like the tiny microbiologist. Melissa has said she modelled Bernadette’s voice after her parents: the “sweet, high-pitched purr” is from her mother, while the “eerie, haranguing imitation” of Howard’s mum Mrs Wolowitz, is modelled after Melissa’s father.

⇒ Bernadette’s boyfriend-turned-husband, aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz, may be the butt of jokes for being puny and unsporty but the actor who plays him, Simon Helberg, actually has a black belt in karate!

⇒The hilarious Leonard-Penny romance is #TotesAdorbs. IRL (in real life), b’day boy Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco were a couple too, for about two years till end-2009. They split up, moved on and then became single again. They posed together for shutterbugs in 2016, sparking fan speculation on whether they were back together. #Shipping

• Leonard is synonymous with his geeky glasses but Galecki has perfect eyesight. So he often shoots with just the frame, no lenses!
• Galecki was offered the part of Sheldon, but he felt he’d be a better Leonard!
• This is Galecki’s 42nd birthday.

⇒ If you needed any more reason to love Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon Cooper on TBBT, just hear him talk about love. Parsons came out in 2012, revealing he was living with his boyfriend of 10 years, Todd Spiewak, a graphic designer. Asked about their relationship, he said: “...it’s an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs [out] — a regular life, boring love.” #CoupleGoals

And can we just take a moment to fawn over the hotness of this couple?

⇒ Sheldon is often seen wearing “Flash” T-shirts on TBBT. And in the series The Flash, the character of Cisco Ramon frequently wears The Big Bang Theory shirts, like “Bazinga” or “This is my Spot”. #FunWithFandomFacts

⇒ Actress Mayim Bialik, who plays Dr Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldon Cooper’s on/off girlfriend, is the only cast member to have a Phd. While Bialik’s degree is in neural biology, her character is a neuroscientist.

⇒ The other b’day boy, Kunal Nayyar, plays Dr Rajesh Koothrappali aka Raj, who holds a Phd in astrophysics but is so socially awkward that he cannot talk to women outside of his family without having some alcohol or at least believing that he’s had some. IRL, Nayyar met Miss India 2006 Neha Kapur at a bar in Delhi and not only did he talk to her but charmed her enough to get her to marry him!

• In 2015 Nayyar published a book. Titled Yes, My Accent is Real, it traced his journey from a Delhi boy to a student in America to a global star.

• This is Nayyar’s 36th birthday.

• He is a huge cricket fan, tweeting about his love for Team India with #BleedBlue.