Interesting Facts

According to wine expert Jancis Robinson, author of The 24 Hour Wine Expert, any open bottle of wine – even a red – should be kept in the fridge. (Seemingly the old adage of serving red wine at "room temperature" was coined before the advent of central heating. Nowadays room temperature tends to be too warm, and we are drinking tepid red wine. According to the experts, refrigerating lighter reds such as beaujolais and pinot noir brings out all their fresh fruit flavours, and full-bodied reds such as cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and malbec benefit from being served cooler (around 17 or 18°C). Of course, it's unlikely we have any left in the bottle to store, but I'm going to try out this advice this weekend. ) 

The UK is about to introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks, which will add at least 18p a liter to sweet fizzy drinks. (The tax will be levied according to how much sugar is added to a drink. According to the BBC, there will be two bands - one for total sugar content above 5g per 100 millilitres and a second, higher band for the most sugary drinks with more than 8g per 100 millilitres. Analysis by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility suggests they will be levied at 18p and 24p per litre. It is estimated that it will raise around £520m a year, which the government has pledged will be spent on increasing the funding for sport in primary schools. So, does this mean people will drink less sugary pop? Probably not, they'll just have less money to spend on fruit.) The sugar tax has an interesting history:- First they said they wouldn't, then they said they might, now they have: Talk about flip flopping:- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-rules-out-s...

According to a study carried out by home insurer MORE TH>N women are at their most fashionable around the age of 30. (By this time the average British woman owns 212 items worth around £7,658.  Their wardrobe usually consists of 166 items of clothing (including designer outfits worth £2,399, 7 pairs of designer shoes, costing £2,086, and some, 24 pieces of jewellery worth £2,800. Men on the other hand hit their peak at 36, but will own a staggering of £8,868 worth of clothing, shoes, watches, bags and jewellery by then. However, 1 year later, the value of a person's wardrobe falls, and between the ages of 30 and 50 women see a 26% decrease in the value of their wardrobe and a 70% decrease in the number of designer items.  For men, the value plunge is even more pronounced, dropping by 46% over the same period. This either means everyone develops some common sense, or they have children.)

Football star, Jermain Defoe is advertising for an executive personal assistant. (For £60,000 a year, he is looking for someone who is flexible, hands on, capable of multi-tasking, and who demonstrates a high level of discretion and confidentiality. Do you think you fit the bill? Well, you will be on call 24/7, and able to travel worldwide at a moment's notice. You will also be expected to organise his and his family's (including his pets) private, social and business calendars. You will be maintaining his itinerary, arranging all public appearances and travel arrangements, working on business projects including creating a global brand for the Jermin Defoe name, including his clothing line and fragrance, spotting sponsorship opportunities, and growing the online database for his website, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking platforms, oh and producing his iPhone app. On top of that the lucky applicant will be tasked with organising his wardrobe wi...

According to a study conducted by Virgin Active, more than a third (38 per cent) of Brits aged 25 and over say they have no desire to try anything new. (It gets worse: 16% of 25-year-olds believe their favourite foods, travel destinations, hobbies and even their friendships will remain the same for the rest of their lives!   24% admitted that they avoid even trying anything new because they are frightened of being laughed at. When you think about it, that's laughable.)

France, India and Italy all have laws banning the publication of opinion polls in the run-up to an election. (In France newspapers and media can't publish opinion polls up to 24 hours before an election. In India that is 48 hours, and in Italy, 15 days. Of course the opinion polls published in the UK were so wrong, it would be funny, if they didn't charge £8,000 to £12,000 for the privilege of using them.  The pollsters are blaming the public - for lying.)

According to a  study by the Energy Saving Trust, women like it hotter - in the home.  ( Women prefer the home to be 24°C on average, while men prefer a cooler 19°C, but each extra degree costs around £85 a year for a three-bed semi. However, it's women who win the “thermostat war".  Guys!  It's not a war, you just want to keep us happy!)

According to a survey conducted by the AA, 63% of British drivers have used a map in the past six months. (About a third (35%) of drivers in the UK said they use both sat navs, and an atlas as a back-up to plan a route - with just one in six (17%) relying solely on their sat nav. Unsurprisingly, younger drivers, aged 18 to 24, prefer to use just a sat nav. Of course, a sat nav is still a map, really.)

The UK government has announced plans to spend £85m building a secure college in Leicestershire that will hold up to 320 young people in custody.. (This should go under "sad facts", because it's in reaction to the number of deaths in custody over the last 10 years.  During that time, 163 young people under the age of 24 have killed themselves in prison in the UK The secure college is planned to be the first step towards several other so called "fortified schools" that will eventually cater for the vast majority of young offenders.)

According to a survey ­carried out by the ­British ­Chiropractic Association, two in three of us Brits have suffered serious neck or back pain by the time we hit 35, and what's worse, a survey Simplyhealth showed that 84% of 18-24 year olds admit to having suffered back pain in the last 12 months. (The biggest culprits? Computers, tablets and smartphones. So, sit up straight - stretch, and now, if you can, go for a walk for a couple of minutes.)

Some supermarket salads in the UK contain more fat and calories than a Big Mac! (Research by consumer magazine Which? found that a Big Mac and medium fries contains 820 calories and 40g of fat, and an Atlantic prawn marie rose salad, that was tested from Morrisons, contained 855 calories and 66.3g of fat. A Big Mac on its own contains 490 calories and 24g of fat, and a chicken caesar pasta salad from Asdo contained 683 calories, and the fat content was 41.3g. That is almost as much fat as 7 Cadbury's Creme Eggs!)