Interesting Facts

14th August 1947 - Colonial rule in India ended, and the country of Pakistan was created.

16th June 1487 – The Battle of Stoke Field was fought. The final battle of the Wars of the Roses. 1586 – Mary Queen of Scots recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir. 1779 – Spain declared war on Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar began. 1871 – The University Tests Act allowed students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology. 1883 – Panic broke out at The Victoria Hall theatre, killing 183 children. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company was incorporated. 1915 – The British Women's Institute was founded. 1963 – Russian Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. 1972 – Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof was captured by police in Langenhagen. 1976 – A non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto, South Africa turned into days of rioting when police opened fire on the crowd and kiled 566 children. 1992 - Andrew Morton's explosive new book about Princess Dian...

6th June 1944 - The Battle of Normandy began as thousands of Allied troops started landing on the beaches of Normandy in northern Franc: the beginning of D-Day, which was code named Operation Overlord, 1966 - James Meredith, the first black man to brave the colour bar at the University of Mississippi, was shot in the back and legs while on a civil rights march. 1975 - British voters backed the UK's continued membership of the EEC by two-to-one in a nationwide referendum. 1982 – The Lebanon War began. 1984 - Nearly 300 people were killed as Indian troops stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, which was being held by Sikh militants. 2004 – Tamil was established as a "classical language" by the President of India.

According to research funded by Butterkist popcorn, the average British adult feels a true 'wave of happiness' eight times a week. (The main source of happiness was cuddling with a partner on the sofa.  Awww. How sweet. Unsurprisingly only 16% of respondents said that work made them happy.) Source

6th March 1988 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers were murdered by the SAS on the territory of Gibraltar. 1987 – The British car ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsized just outside the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, in about 90 seconds killing 193 people. 1974 -  The miners' strike came to an end following a pay increase of over 30%. 1970 - The British Government announced an indefinite ban on the importation of domestic pets to prevent rabies. 1964 – Nation of Islam's Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Robert Poole) officially gave boxing champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali. 1961 – George Formby, British comedian and singer, died. 1957 – Ghana became the first Sub-Saharan country to gain Independence from the British 1945 – Cologne (Köln) was captured by American Troops. 1899 – Bayer registered aspirin as a trademark. 1836 - Mexican forces captured the Alamo in San Antonio killing the last of 187 defenders who had held out...

5th March 1770 - British troops killed five people in Boston USA. One of the events that led to the American Revolution.

According to educational charity, the Sutton Trust if you have a private education, you are considerably more likely to get to the top of British public life. (Their research shows that Oxbridge graduates are over represented in top jobs in fields as diverse as the law, politics, medicine, journalism, and even acting. In 2014 the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission reported that 59% of the Cabinet were Oxbridge graduates (compared to the average of less than 1% of the public as a whole). This recent research shows that although only 7% of the population attend independent fee-paying schools, almost three quarters (71%) of top military officers were educated privately, with just 12% having been taught in comprehensive schools. Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust, said: “As well as academic achievement, an independent education tends to develop essential skills such as confidence, articulacy and teamwork, which are vital to career success." Sir Peter, I think y...

According to a survey commissioned by Tetley the following are the top 40 traits of being "British". 1. Wearing summer clothing at the first sight of sun 2. Apologising automatically 3. Ability to talk at length about the weather 4. Making a cup of tea in response to a crisis 5. Finding queue-jumping the ultimate crime 6. Forming a queue for pretty much anything 7. The typically British 'stiff upper lip' 8. Grumbling throughout a meal, but not telling staff, so as not to cause a fuss 9. Making sarcastic/dry jokes 10. Having a beer at the airport even though it's before 8am 11. Giggling at innuendos 12. Making a cup of tea when you have no time to drink it 13. Getting sunburnt on the first warm day of the year 14. Finding American forwardness 'a bit much' 15. Avoiding eye contact on the Tube 16. Binge drinking at the weekends 17. Insisting the other person goes through the door first 18. Searching for a fry-up when on holiday abroad 1...

According to report by NatCen Social Research 82% of Brits are proud to be British. (But only 62% of people who live in Britain said they would rather be citizens here than anywhere else. In a similar survey, commissioned by Tetley, researchers also found that Brits wear summer clothes at the first glimpse of sun, apologise too often, discuss the weather (see the forum), and make tea in response to a crisis.  The top signs of Britishness were eating a Sunday roast, the Fab Four, takeaway grub and the traditional brew (not beer - tea). Well 3 out of 4 isn't bad, I still think the Fab Four are overrated.) Source

According to a study conductedd by online electricals retailer, ao.com, 82% of Brits admit their homes are filthy. ( More and more Brits have given up the traditional spring clean in favour of quick and easy surface cleans. The chores Brits are most likely to neglect include cleaning their mattresses and the tops of cupboards and shelves. 16-24 year olds were actually the cleanest age group with nearly a quarter saying they do a try to do a big clean once a week, whilst those over the age of 55 were most likely to leave their big clean to only once a year. I am waiting for my domestic robot.)

According to a survey run by Hotel chain Travelodge, the average British family will have their first alcoholic drink on Christmas Day at 9:05am. (Grown ups start the day with a drink at 9:05am, followed by breakfast at 9:19am. Yes, booze before breakfast. Usually disguised as a Bucks Fizz. Well, we do say, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die.")

Dr Rhys Morgan, a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering, has come up with a formula to help you choose the perfect stick for the popular British game of poohsticks. (The formula is - PP = A x ? x Cd PP = the perfect poohstick A =  the cross section area (the thicker the better) ? = the sticks density (the denser the better)  Cd = the drag coefficient describing the shape and roughness (the rougher the better)  So, it seems that Dr  Rhys Morgan claims the perfect way to win the game is to find something thick, dense and as rough as possible.  I would think any member of TOWIE would be a cert.)

According to the European Commission, British tourists visiting Disneyland in Paris are charged hundreds of pounds more than the French. (French authorities have been ordered to look into Disneyland's pricing policy for visitors from abroad, on the findings that British customers could be paying up to 15% more for one-day tickets, €1,870 (£1,327) compared with €1,346 (£955) for French ticketholders and Germans are even harder hit, paying €2,447 (£1,736). I wonder if you could simply get someone French to buy the tickets for you.) Thanks to Bubbli for sharing this one.

According to a survey conducted by money saving website VoucherCodesPro, the average British man doesn't learn to cook until he's 27, and is 22 before he figures out how to make the bed. (It doesn't stop at cooking either; over 50% said they had not bothered learning as they did not need to know how to do the housework, and 39% said they had someone to do it for them.  It looks as if men are turning into Tamagotchis.)

Bees contribute more to the British economy than the Royal family. (According to research carried out at the University of Reading, the overall value of the contribution of our busy bees is £651 million a year, which is £150 million more than the Royal Family brings in through tourism. In fact 85 per cent of the UK’s apple crop and 45 per cent of our strawberry crop relies on bees to grow. These two crops alone brought in £200 million to Britain in 2012. Unfortunately honeybee colonies have slumped in the UK from 250,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 100,000 today. In Germany everyone seems to have their own beehive.)

According to a survey run by GoEuro, women in France and Belgium ranked British men as the most desirable in Europe. (The European survey found that the typical British gentleman is now perceived to be the third most attractive nationality, ahead of the French (in fourth place). Go Euro said, the change in fortunes could be down to English now being the most widely-spoken language. I like to think I've done my bit for the men of Britain.)

According to a poll carried out by Kelloggs, British children as young as 10 worry their SATS results will ruin their future. (The poll revealed that more than half of children surveyed were anxious about not achieving Level 4 in Maths, Science and English - the national standard, and 25% of parents said their child was too nervous to eat before the exams, with 14% saying they had refused to eat, whilst other kids say they take up smoking! SATS (Standard Assessment Tests) are given at the end of year 2, year 6 and year 9 in the UK, and are used to show a child's academic progress compared with other children born in the same month. They shouldn't be confused with the US SAT scores.)

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, on average British mums spend 3 hours a day on housework and cooking, whereas fathers spend an average of three quarters of an hour. (In 8 out of 10 couples, women do all the washing and ironing, but things are changing, a magazine survey in 1999 revealed that among the over-60s age group, none of the men surveyed ever did the washing! Of course in 1980 only 31% of women had a full-time or part-time job compared to 55% today. According to therapist Julia Cole, most men still expect women to do the housework, and if men do it, they act as though they are doing their partner a favour; saying things like: 'I've done the washing up for you' instead of regarding it as something which benefits both of them.)

According to a survey conducted by the British Heart Foundation, we Brits go to great lengths to conceal our chocolate eating habits from our partners. (Apparently many of us have a secret stash of chocolate, and a quarter of us hide our supplies in our drawer at work, a sixth in the bedside table, and a tenth of us hide it in the glove compartment of our car. I put mine in the fridge, not because I want to hide it, I just like cold chocolate.)

A cinema in Malvern, Worcestershire has replaced its seats because British bottoms are getting wider. (The Grade II-listed cinema in Malvern has had to remove 380 of their 17" wide seats because the average cinema-goer no longer fits in them. A spokesman said: “We haven’t had anyone stuck but it can happen.” I think they should let it happen.  Getting winched out of a cinema seat might just be the incentive someone needs to bypass the popcorn stand on their way in.)