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Eleven things you may not have known about the Brit Awards

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It all started in 1977 when the first Brit Awards took place, in honour of The Queen's Silver Jubilee and to celebrate music from the last 25 years. Click here for a list of the nominees. Ahead of Wednesday night's ceremony, HELLO! Online has unearthed some interesting facts you might not have known about the greatest night in Britain's musical calendar. 

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Adele and this year's host James Corden

1. Boy band Fine Young Cannibals stirred controversy when they returned their awards for Best British Group and Best British Album in 1990. The double winners were reacting in protest to Margaret Thatcher's appearance via video, when she announced that her favourite pop song was How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

2. The BRIT School in Croydon has an outstanding alumni of Brit Award nominees and winners including Adele, Jessie J, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Rizzle Kicks, Kate Nash and The Kooks. Jointly funded by The BRIT Trust and The Department for Children, School and Families, it is the only non-fee paying performing arts school in the UK.

3. Robbie Williams has received the most nominations and wins in the Brits' history, 30 and 17 respectively. The

Candy singer won 13 awards solo and four with Take That, and gained 23 nominations solo and seven with the band

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4. Jamiroquai and Radiohead have both been nominated 15 times without winning a single Brit Award.

5. The 2009 host Kylie Minogue had six outfit changes during the night. She co-hosted the event with James Corden and Mathew Horne, with all three doing a performance of Can't Get You Out Of My Head with James and Matthew acting as dancers. To celebrate this year's event, the Australian star has made her own playlist choosing from her all-time favourite BRIT Awards winners and nominees. To listen, click on the video below.

6. Lady Gaga had three spray tans before the 2009 awards.

7. James Corden will be hosting the awards for a fifth and final time. He matched Chris Evans' record in hosting the event four times last year.

8. After being cut short during her 2012 acceptance speech for British Album of the Year, Adele got some retribution last year while accepting her award for British Single for Skyfall. Via video, she quipped, "I won't keep you too long as I don't want to interrupt the best album speech at the end of the night."

9. Geri Halliwell's famous Union Jack dress was bought by Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas at an auction in 1998 for £41,320.

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10. The 2000 awards go down in history for not only being the awards when Robbie Williams challenged Liam Gallagher to a live boxing match, with the winner getting £100,000, but also for Brandon Block drunkenly taking the stage to collect an award his friends had told him he won. He squared up to Ronnie Wood, who was presenting an award, they traded insults, and Ronnie threw a drink in Brandon's face before being escorted away by bouncers.

11. Russell Brand's controversial turn at hosting the awards in 2007 led to ITV receiving hundreds of complaints after he made jokes about the "friendly-fire" death of a British soldier in Iraq and The Queen's "naughty bits."