Interesting Facts

According to a study carried out by the British Heart Foundation, Brits spend about 19 minutes a day on regrets, which means we waste 2 hours a week dwelling on things we wish we had (or hadn't) done. (The average Brit seemingly has six major regrets.  The most frequent are not travelling enough and failing to keep in touch with friends.  Here are the top 20 regrets:- 1. Not travelling more and seeing more of the world 2. Not keeping in touch with more friends from the past 3. Taking too little exercise 4. Not saving enough money 5. Taking up smoking 6. Not working harder at school 7. Choice of career 8. Wasting years with the wrong partner 9. Eating unhealthily 10. Not asking grandparents more about their lives before they died 11. Not learning to speak a foreign language properly 12. Not spending enough time with family and friends 13. Not telling a relative who’s now dead that I loved them 14. Drinking too much alcohol 15. Not undertaking a once in a li...

According to career website, CareerCast.com, the people with the worst jobs in the US are newspaper reporters. (The five worst jobs were:- Oil-rig worker Actor Enlisted military personnel Lumberjack Newspaper reporter The top five jobs were:- Actuary Biomedical engineer Software engineer Audiologist Financial planner Poor old Clark Kent.)

According to ONS (Office for National Statistics) figures in the UK, just over 80% of "science, research, engineering and technology professionals" are male. (By contrast, 82% of workers in "caring, leisure and other services", and 78% of administrative and secretarial workers are female.)

According to the parenting website Netmums, by the age of 32 we are turning into our parents. (The pressures of career, buying a house and having children mean one day we suddenly realise we are echoing phrases or mannerisms that used to end in a good door slamming.  Six out of seven people who took part in the poll admitted that they had reason to fear they were already “turning into” their mother or father. If you are in your twenties and think it can't happen to you - think again.)

According to a survey conducted by Mothercare, when British children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, more boys than girls dreamt of becoming dancers, the girls wanted to be footballers. (Children aged between two and 12,were asked what they wanted to be, and the following careers proved most popular:- Doctor (9%) Footballer (8%) Teacher (8%) Dancer (6%) Police officer (5%) Firefighter (4%) Scientist (4%) Musician (4%) Actor (2%) Nurse (2%) The top 5 jobs for boys:- Doctor (11%) Footballer (10%) Dancer (8%) Teacher (6%) Police officer (6%) The top 5 jobs for girls:- Doctor (8%) Teacher (8%) Footballer (7%) Dancer (5%) Police officer (5%) What? No lawyers? The future is looking bright.)

In the 1970s 70% of mothers in the UK stayed at home full time. (In 2013 that figure is just 10%, but according to a survey by uSwitch, 75% of mums would like to be able to afford to stay at home and look after their children. Six out of ten mothers who return to work after having a baby do so only to pay the mortgage, or to ease financial pressures such as debt. Just one in seven said they wanted to develop their career.)

According to research carried out by Ultralase, over half of British dads would rather see their children find fame and fortune by winning a reality TV show, than see them pursue academia and traditional sought-after careers. (I guess that with all the worries about pensions, British dads have their eye on the future.)

In 1960, Joanna Woodward was the first star to be honoured on the historic Walk of Fame in Hollywood. (When it was first constructed there were 1,558 blank stars, but new stars were added and Sophia Loren was honoured with the 2,000th star in 1994. As far as I know there is still room for a few new stars, so there's time for my acting career to take off.)

For Rachel:- According to a recent study by the UK Office for National Statistics the day you were born could be an influence on your eventual career. (GPs (family doctors) and debt collectors had the greatest percentage of January births, while sheet-metal workers had the lowest percentage. '' February appear to give a greater chance of becoming artists. March was a good month for pilots. April and May had a fairly even spread of career paths.  Babies born in June, July and August had a much lower chance of having high-end, top-paying careers, such as doctor, dentist, or professional athlete. September babies had a greater chance of becoming sports players or physicists, and a less likely chance of becoming bricklayers or hairdressers.  Giving birth in December could make your child become a dentist. They also noticed that certain jobs were spread quite evenly throughout the year; most notably CEOs of large companies and real estate agents. Now b...

In her virtual life Barbie has had 108 careers. (She's been an Olympic athlete, a Marine Corps sergeant, a dentist, an aerobics instructor, an astronaut and a rock star to name but a few. That's what you have to do in a recession though - be flexible.)