1. He may be known the world over as Kit, but his real name is actually Christopher Catesby Harington.
2. Although he didn't actually know that was his real name until he was 11 years old because his family only ever called him Kit.
And he wasn't very pleased when he found out! He told CNN: "It's my name. It's short for Christopher. I didn't know my name was Christopher until I was 11. I went to school, you do these exams and I put down Kit Harington and the teacher said, 'That's not your name,' and I said, 'Yeah I think I'd know my own name!' They were like, 'No no your name is Christopher.' I was a bit pissed off with my mum. You didn't tell me my name till I was 11!"
In 2014 Glamour asked him why his parents hadn't told him before and he responded: "I haven't got a clue! I think they could see that I wanted to be Kit, but Christopher was a bit of a tradition. My brother's name is Jack, but his real name is John. Kit is traditionally an offshoot of Christopher, it's just not used that often."
3. His middle name, Catesby, is actually his mother's maiden name and he almost chose to be known professionally as Kit Catesby instead.
4. Speaking of his mother (who was a playwright herself) – she named him after fellow British playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was also better known as Kit.
5. Kit started his career on stage.
6. In fact, he played the lead male in War Horse while he was still at drama school.
Did you know that #GameofThrones' Kit Harington was our original Albert Narracott in War Horse. #ThrowbackThursday
7. And it was during that run that he caught the attention of Game of Thrones producers, who invited him in for an audition.
8. Although he turned up to that first audition with a black eye after having a fight in a McDonald's the night before.
9. He had short hair and no facial hair pre Game of Thrones and he'd never tried to grow it before. He didn't even know his hair was naturally curly.
10. Although he had to wear a wig for the pilot episode.
11. But now he is contractually obliged to keep his hair long the entire time.
He told Rolling Stone: "It's in my contract that it must be a certain length at all times."
But he can't wait until he can finally cut it again now: "I told my agent, no more swords, no more horses. You [don't want to get stuck in things] and maybe I can cut my fucking hair."
12. He's 5'8", hence some of the height gags in Game of Thrones.
13. He had a broken ankle throughout season 3 after hurting himself while trying to climb into his apartment when drunk a few weeks before filming began.
It meant that a body double had to step in for that bum shot during his sex scene with Ygritte. He told GQ: "Young male stupidity, really. I didn’t see any point in lying about it to anyone afterward."
14. In Season 6 he faced his worst fear – he's terrified of being buried alive and is extremely claustrophobic, so the "Battle of the Bastards" epic fight scene was his idea of a nightmare thanks to being trapped under piles of bodies.
15. He also accidentally really punched Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) in the face twice during filming for that episode.
16. He has a few other fears – spiders being one of them.
17. He's also scared of flying, despite his jet-set lifestyle.
18. And is also afraid of video games.
19. He's also not a fan of his birthday because he was born on Boxing Day (26 December).
20. His northern accent in the show was based on Sean Bean's accent.
21. He was sworn to secrecy over his big death/coming back from the dead storyline... but he did tell one person – a cop so that he could get out of a speeding ticket.
22. But he absolutely detested having to lie to close friends about him coming back.
23. Sophie Turner was so convinced he was done on the show she wrote him a really long letter saying how much she'd enjoyed working with him.
24. He feared people wouldn't give a shit when Jon Snow died.
25. He's anti social media and you won't ever see him join up to Twitter.
26. He's happy to be nude on screen.
"It’s only right, if you’re going to make a show where nudity and sex is a large part of it, that you be a part of that."
27. And he appears to enjoy skinny dipping.
28. He thinks he was too young when he lost his virginity.
29. He has ancestral links to King Charles II. But he's adamant he's not posh.
30. He's also anti pretentious titles.
31. And is not a fan of Downton Abbey because of how it celebrates the class system.
32. He also has another notable family link – his relative invented the flushing toilet for Queen Elizabeth.
It might even be where the slang term for toilet "John" came from: "That's 100 percent true. It's called 'the John Harington.' I'm glad it's not called "the Harington." [My family] also wrote the queen a lot of bad poetry. I've inherited the bad poetry genes, but not the inventor genes."
33. And in case you weren't already aware, Kit fell in love with co-star Rose Leslie (Ygritte) on set in Iceland.
34. In fact, they are still dating now and have moved in together.
35. Before he was a famous actor he used to work in a bookstore.
36. And for that reason he used to resent George R.R. Martin before he was on the show.
37. His favourite book is George Orwell's 1984.
38. And he's a huge fan of horror movies.
39. Kit also loves Harry Potter. He even wanted to audition to be Harry but was a year too old at the time.
40. You're unlikely to see him in a rom-com.
41. But he does love a good cry every now and then.
42. His talents don't end at acting – he's already written three TV shows and sees himself producing in his career.
43. His ideal first date is quite romantic.
44. He had a scary moment when on set for Pompeii when he was momentarily paralyzed.
45. And this is his advice to his younger self: Don't do anything dickish.
