Interesting Facts

The artificial sweetener saccharin derives its name from the Greek word "sakcharon" and "saccharine", meaning "sugary". (A coal tar product, it is the oldest artificial sweetener, first produced in 1879, by Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist working on coal tar derivatives in Ira Remsen's laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University, but it didn't achieve commercial success until sugar shortages during World War I. It is about 300–400 times sweeter than table sugar, with effectively no calories.)

Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was the son of a coal miner. He is often known as the father of the NHS. (A lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people, in his book, In Place of Fear, he wrote:- "The collective principle asserts that... no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means." 65 years on, his dream is still alive and provides an example of how a society can use public funds for the greater good - just.)