Interesting Facts

According to the website Sporting Intelligence, Manchester United is the most valuable football club in England. (It's worth a staggering £1.8bn. The figures were produced, using a formula involving total revenue, assets, stadium capacity and wage ratio. They are basically a money making machine, with the biggest stadium in the country, and other assets, including the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal, worth £47m from Chevrolet, a 10-year kit deal with German sporting outifitters Adidas which is worth £750m over 10 years. Would anyone like to sponsor an LEN kit or shirt? Instead of buying overpriced football players, we will employ some lovely English teachers.) 

7.5 million UK citizens who are eligible to vote are not yet registered for this year's (2015) General Election. (Changes to the voting system mean that many people are no longer on the electoral roll. This means that when they troll up to the polling station on May 7th, they will be turned away. They have till midnight tonight to get their skates on. It has to be said though; in the last General Election in 2010, out of 47 million voters, only 29.6 million bothered. Democracy in action? More like "Democracy inaction".)

We will be talking about maternity and paternity leave in the LEN Drama session on Monday, so here's a little interesting fact:- Almost half of women in the UK (43%) are likely to return to work sooner than they would like after having their baby. (The main reason was money worries, but according to the NCT (the largest UK parents charity), 47% said it was due to concerns over job security. Overall 4% of those surveyed said they took less than two weeks maternity leave, even though they are entitled to much longer.)

What price friendship? Well £6,800 actually. (According to a survey by the Post Office UK adults have spent on average £158 on gifts for their closest friend in the last year. Around £62 is spent on Christmas presents and £47 on birthday gifts, which over a lifetime adds up to £6,800, and one in seven people will fork out more than £100 on a friend’s Christmas present. When a best friend has children, the costs become even higher, adding an additional £53 annually. The survey doesn't mention regifting. (Giving a present you've received to someone else. I always give people permission to do this.) ) 

For 47 years Tom Jones has been banned from the tiny Welsh village of Fochriw (careful how you say that). (His crime? Allegedly stealing a chicken. Len Davies, 80, who was there at the time said, "There was a fight and then the chicken had gone. Tom got the blame – but nobody really knows." The ban has now been lifted, but it's a great mystery. Who stole the chicken?) Full story here: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/130945/Welsh-village-ban-lifted-for-Tom-Jones-/