Interesting Facts

Tiny chemical differences in how our skin reacts to ultraviolet light could explain why redheads are more likely to suffer skin cancer. (Slap on that sunscreen!)

In the US, paper currency was created in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War. They were printed in $5, $10, and $20 denominations, redeemable in coins on demand. (All the notes were printed green, hence the nic name "greenbacks.")

About half a million people basked in the sunshine on the second and biggest day of the 41st Notting Hill Carnival. (Attendance was slightly lower than expected - organisers said people might have stayed away because of the London bombings in July.)

The Asian Tiger mosquito lays up to 300 eggs at a time and one female can average 1,000 to 3,000 offspring during her lifetime. (It must get hectic around Christmas.)

The average computer keyboard is reportedly infected with 3,295 germs. (As I am typing: "Yuck, yuck, yuck!")

Britain has pledged to build or begin work on building 200 academies by 2010, at a cost of £5bn. (Academies have typically replaced failing schools in urban areas of Britain, they are partly funded by the private sector. In order to become an academy, a school must raise up to £2m from private sponsors.)

Each successive monarch faces in a different direction on British coins. (Now I never knew that - I am now going to go and look at my coin collection.)

Over 28,000 people have signed up to become citizens of a new country formed by King Danny Wallace. (Guess who's one of them?)

Bigamy is being illegaly married to two people at the same time, and trigamy is being married to three people. (Otherwise known as a glutton for punishment.)

The piano man - a mystery figure who washed up on the shores of Kent in England, has proven to be 20-year-old Bavarian, named in reports as Andreas Grassl. He has flown back to Germany. (Maybe I'll see him on the street and I can ask him, "What was all that about?")

The Queen is planning to create an underground network to extract heat from the earth’s natural warmth and cut energy bills at Buckingham Palace. (Well well!)

In London the average price per head for three courses, a shared bottle of house wine, coffee and a tip is £36.82. (I was a bit surprised at this - I thought it would be more.)

The recent strike dispute between the BA's catering firm and its workers over job losses which caused the shutdown of all BA operations at the airport resulted in the loss of £30m and forced the cancellation of around 700 flights. (Sometimes I am glad I usually drive back to the UK.)

2005 - Hunter S Thompson, died.  For his funeral he had come up with the idea of having his ashes mixed with explosives and fired from a 153-foot memorial tower. His wishes were carried out. WTG!

A towel doesn't legally reserve a sun lounger - and there is nothing in German or Spanish law to stop other holidaymakers removing those left on vacant seats. (So there!)

We are more likely to die in our sleep because our brains can forget to tell our bodies to breathe. (This is more a worrying fact than an interesting one. I will try to remind myself to breathe tonight, but if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know what's happened.)

One in six children in the UK think that broccoli is a baby tree. (You mean it isn't?)

New research has revealed that Alexander the Great was killed by a mosquito. (Ah how the mighty are fallen.)

Bees are more likely to land on paintings of flowers than paintings of pottery. (Whats even more interesting is that somebody actually studied this and the bees preferred Van Gogh's Sunflower painting. And who said education was a waste of time?)

The UK has around 28 million cars. (A lot of old bangers.)

A typical PC mouse clocks up 422 miles in its lifetime. (That's a lot of mousework.)

Snorers have narrower throats than non-snorers, and the smaller the opening is, the louder the snore. (Open wide!)

The Fibonacci numbers are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21... (By definition, the first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. For example:.- 0 + 1 = 1 / 1 + 1 = 2 / 2 + 1 = 3 / 3 + 2 = 5 / 3 + 5 = 8 / 5 + 8 = 13 / 8 + 13 = 21 ... Fibonacci sequences appear in nature, such as branching in trees, arrangement of leaves on a stem, the fruitlets of a pineapple, the flowering of an artichoke, an uncurling fern and the arrangement of a pine cone.)

According to a US medical study, Hollywood villains and working class characters are more likely to smoke in movies than the rich and heroic. (Anyone remember Cigarette Smoking Man in the X files?)

The shuttle Discovery touched down successfully in California after the first mission since 2003's Columbia disaster. (It was nice to see commander Eileen Collins gush a bit. She had been so cool, calm and collected during the whole thing I was beginning to wonder if she were human. Fancy being able to say "It's absolutely fantastic to be back on planet Earth"!)

Microsoft has denied reports that viruses can already exploit its new version of Windows, dubbed Vista. (I see no viruses.)

The oldest registered domain name is SYMBOLICS.COM - registered 15-Mar-1985. (And of course it's a computing web site. Albeit not the best design I've ever seen. Listen to who's talking!)

According to Mintel a third of men are preoccupied with concerns over their own health and that of those around them. (So much for women being hypochondriacs.)

More than 6,000 police are on London streets today - four weeks since the 7 July attacks in which 56 people died.

Pedestrians hit by four-wheel drive cars are twice as likely to die as those struck by saloons, according to new research in the United States. (Of course in the US these are called SUVs "Sports Utility Vehicles".)

Forty squirrels were trained to crack nuts in the new film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (I wouldn't have thought they needed much training.)

Cats are genetically unable to taste sweet things. (While dogs adore chocolate, cats remain indifferent. My dog doesn't know what chocolate tastes like, but he still drools if I am eating any!)