Interesting Facts

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.)

A couple of shopping centres in the UK are going to trial the removal of mirrors in the changing rooms. (Their rather twisted logic for a mirror-free shopping experience is that 71% of women in the UK decide not to buy an outfit after they see themselves in the mirror! What? That's because the outfit either doesn't fit them, or doesn't suit them! I can see a big #fail coming here.)

If we ever needed proof that Brits are getting bigger, here it is:  High street retailer Debenhams is now stocking clothing in sizes up to XXXXXL. (Debenhams say they have begun to stock the 5XL size in male ranges to meet demand.  The new big and tall range goes up to a 64-inch chest and a 20-inch collar. The previous largest size was 3XL, but demand for larger sizes of shirts, suits, tops, casual jackets and trousers has soared by 170% over the last 2 years. If you go to their Big and Tall website, they even list XXXXXXL - 6XL! Now all I can think about is what clothing size the Hulk is.  Does anyone know?)

The first blue jeans made by Levis had four pockets: one at the back and, in the front, two plus a mysterious small pocket at the front, and our jeans still have this tiny pocket just above the front pocket. Why? Well, according to Levis that pocket was for a small watch. (According to Levi Strauss's historian Tracey Panek, the watch pocket appears on the oldest pair of jeans (1879) in the Levi's archives. People have been discussing the small pocket in a Quora thread for years, and eventually the Levi Strauss company confirmed their conclusion, adding, "This extra pouch has served many functions... condom pocket, coin pocket, match pocket and ticket pocket, to name a few." In my case, tissues, which I have to remember to remove before putting them in the wash.  What do you keep in yours?)

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 report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice: wearing high heels regularly for more than 3 years can ruin your feet. (Initially high heels can strengthen muscles around the ankle, but after three years some muscles become dominant and this increases the risk of sprains, and more severe problems like deformed feet, back pain and unhealthy walking patterns. I've spent most of my adult life in flatties, but I still have problems.  I think it's called old age.)

According to a survey by retail giant Debenhams, where men live can determine what kind of pants they prefer. (Men in Scotland are big on Y-fronts, men in London and up north opt for snug trunks, and men in the Midlands and Wales are more keen on baggy boxers. I always thought men in Scotland preferred going commando.)

In a poll conducted by GQ, Prince George was named as the 49th best dressed man. (The top 10 were:- Eddie Redmayne   Benedict Cumberbatch  Jamie Dornan  Alex Turner  Nick Grimshaw  Idris Elba The Prince of Wales Douglas Booth  David Gandy  David Furnish Dear GQ, please change the rules to only include men who actually dress themselves.)

Blackpool is banning the mankini to clamp down on stag and hen misbehaviour. (They have introduced Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO), which have the power to prohibit certain unwanted behaviour in specific areas, such as clothes like mankinis in family-friendly areas during the day. If you don't know what a mankini is, it was made famous by Borat, in the controversial film of the same name. I have no idea why any man would want to emulate the look, but there is a picture here (make sure you're not eating). http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/20/mankini-free-zone-blackpool-clamps-down-on-stag-and-hen-misbehaviour-4914040/)

28th August Bow Tie Day. (Get the dicky bow out.)

According to a survey by Cotton USA, 23% of people hate it when their partner wears socks in bed. (The problem with that is according to Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, wearing socks in bed can help you fall asleep. Luckily I have no trouble sleeping, and I can't believe that only 23% of people hate it.)

According to a report “Tailored Wages”, British high-street clothing labels Debenhams, Matalan and The North Face are among the worst high-street clothing shops at paying a fair wage to those who make their products. (The analysis of 40 top European clothing brands showed that many major chains are still doing very little to make sure that workers abroad, who produce their goods, are paid a living wage. The global fashion industry, worth more than £28bn across Europe alone, pays its workers so badly that many cannot afford to live with dignity; earning no more than £5 a day. The Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed on April 24, killing more than 1,100 people.)

According to a study commissioned by Teletext Holidays, Brits spend 18 days on planning their holiday (On average, people in the UK spend 14 days choosing a holiday destination. We spend just over 13 hours researching the accommodation, and 11 hours sorting out all the transport from the flights to car hire. A further nine hours are dedicated to washing and ironing clothes, and eight hours are spent on trips to the hairdresser and tanning salons. We then spend another two days packing our suitcases before finally jetting off. They have even come up with a new phrase PHT - Pre-Holiday Tension.)

Male students at Oxford University can wear skirts when taking their exams. (In the past only ceremonial clothing "specific to gender" was allowed, the outfits were known as known as subfusc, where male students were required to wear a dark suit and socks, black shoes, a white bow tie and a plain white shirt and collar under their black gowns, and female students had to wear a dark skirt or trousers, a white blouse, black stockings and shoes and a black ribbon tied in a bow at the neck. Since 2012 the regulations have been amended to remove any reference to gender, so male students are free to sit their exams in said skirts and stockings and women have the option of wearing the suits and bow ties. Guess what I sat my exams in?  Yup - jeans and a t-shirt.)

March 20th is the official birthday of jeans. Loading...

Wool&Prince, an American company claims to have invented a shirt that can be worn for 100 days without being washed. (It says its new shirt, made of wool of all things, can go months without being cleaned because the fabric is naturally resistant to odours. This could only appeal to the kind of person who sniffs their clothes to see if they're clean or not.  If you've worn it - wash it!)

Have you ever wondered why men's clothes have buttons on the right while women's clothes have buttons on the left? (Me neither, but when I read the reason, I thought, "Now that's interesting". Seemingly when buttons were first used they were very expensive and worn primarily by the rich. Since most people are right-handed, it is easier to push buttons on the right through holes on the left.  However, wealthy women were dressed by maids, and so dressmakers put the buttons on the maid's right. That is where women's buttons have remained ever since. Now where's my maid?) Thanks Marianne

UK inflation rate fell to 2.4% in June 2012. (The reason for this surprise drop was clothing and footwear prices continue to drop. The trouble is that as food prices continue to rise it might give a whole new meaning to the idiom "I'll eat my hat".)

Female beach volleyball players have been given the option of playing in shorts rather than skimpy bikinis at the London 2012 Olympics. ( The new rule permits ‘shorts of a maximum length of three centimetres above the knee, and sleeved or sleeveless tops’.  I was pleased to read this, I don't usually watch beach volleyball, but the one time I did I couldn't fail to notice how the cameraman zoomed in to the players' posteriors whenever possible.) Source

A survey suggest that only 18% of male office workers in the UK wear ties. (The German boss of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Professor Martin Roth, said that only security guards bothered to wear a tie any longer. As proof of this people have noted that David Cameron chose an open-neck shirt in many of his appearances on TV, so as not to appear stuffy, and even Prince William got in on the act when he turned up at a recent charity event in a shirt and sweater rather than a suit and tie.