Interesting Facts

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added over 1,000 words. (New entries include air-punching - the act of thrusting a clenched fist into the air in elation or triumph. Agender for designating people who do not identify themselves as a particular gender. Bovver - part of the catchphrase of comedian Catherine Tate's teenage character Lauren (Bovvered?) Budgie smugglers - close-fitting swimming trunks Dudettes - the female form of dude. Fro-yo - the short form for frozen yoghurt. Starter marriages are short-lived first marriages. *Stupid o'clock - used to describe a time outside normal waking hours. *See!  I told you it would make it in eventually.) A couple of new abbreviations were added too:- ICYMI (in case you missed it) FWIW (for what it's worth)

According to a report by Sainsbury's bank, daughters are more expensive than sons. (This isn't due to any costs of getting married, dowries etc., it's purely on the basis of raising the children. Girls cost thousands of pounds more than boys to bring up 0 to 5 boys cost £5,475 a year, and girls £5,767 6 to 13 boys cost £6,414 a year, and girls £7,794 14 to 18 boys cost £7,172 a year, and girls £7,747  The biggest issue is that clothing costs more for girls, so I would say from the ages 0 to 13, it's the parent's fault.  Pink stuff probably costs more than blue stuff.)

The Chilcot report into the Iraq war cost £10,375,000.00. It consists of 12-volumes containing 2.6 million words. (The inquiry was launched on 30 July 2009, to cover the period of 2001 to the end of July 2009.  Over 100 witnesses were called. The findings of the report were that British military action was not the last resort, that policy on Iraq was made on the basis of flawed intelligence that was never challenged, and that the overall severity of the threat posed by Iraq, particularly the existence of weapons of mass destruction, was grossly overstated, and presented with a certainty that was not justified.) The whole report can be downloaded here: http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/

6th July 2016 The Chilcot report was published.

1st July The nation remembers those who died and were injured at the Somme during the First World War. At 7:28 am The Lochnagar mine, which had been placed under the German lines, was detonated, creating the largest man-made mine crater created in the First World War. At 7:30am a whilstle was blown and hundreds of soldiers "went over the top" in what is now called Zero Hour, only to be mown down by machine gun fire.  No one seems to know how many German soldiers were killed in the explosion. By the end of the day thousands had died, and the Battle of the Somme continued for 141 days, at the end of which an estimated million soldiers were killed and wounded. The bodies of 72,000 men were never recovered. You can read more about the Lochnagar crater here .