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 a study carried out by CheapHolidayLand.com, British holidaymakers double their daily calorie intake in the first 24 hours of an all-inclusive break. (Holidaymakers consumed on average 5,756 calories on the first day of all-inclusive trips.  Research found that binge eating amounts to twice recommended daily intake; enough fuel for them to run two marathons The meals worked out at:- Breakfast - 1,117 calories A bowl of cereal (113 calories), full English breakfast (870), a glass of orange juice (112), cup of tea (22) Mid-morning drinks - 240  calories A glass of Sangria (150 calories), a glass of Coke (90) Lunch - 1,260  calories Burger and fries (770 calories), a side salad (17), a glass of Coke (90), one ice cream (230), one bottle of beer (153) Afternoon snack - 425  calories A packet of crisps (160 calories), a glass of orange juice (112), one bottle of beer (153) Dinner - 2,191  calories Starter – a bowl of soup a...

Mr Twiggy Garcia attempted a citizen's arrest on former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. (Mr Garcia, a barman at a restaurant the ex Prime Minister was eating in, said he had fantasised for years about “arresting” Mr Blair, who is now ironically a Middle East peace envoy, for war crimes.  It was not a plan, he claimed, but “something I have wanted to do for a few years”. He is the fifth person to have tried to arrest Tony Blair, but they don't call him Teflon Tony for nothing.) Source - The Independent

Research carried out at Swansea University suggests that babies who are spoon-fed by parents are more likely to become overweight. (The researchers believe the results of the study show that babies allowed to feed themselves during weaning are less likely to overeat and be overweight as toddlers as they can regulate their intake and stop eating when they are full. Their study also revealed that spoon-fed children were more likely to grow up to be "fussy-eaters" than those left to their own devices. This might explain why the phrase to be spoon-fed something is negative.  It means to be treated in a way that discourages independent thought or action. So don't be spoon-fed your English. Feed yourself.) Source - Journal of Pediatric Obesity

According to a study run by vouchercloud.com, 79% of office workers in the UK waste 4 hours and 22 minutes every day. (On average respondents believed that they actually did 2 hours and 53 minutes of productive work. The favourite pastimes that eat up "productive" time were:- 1.       Checking social media – 47% 2.       Reading news websites – 45% 3.       Discussing out of work activities with colleagues – 38% 4.       Making hot drinks – 31% 5.       Smoking breaks – 28% 6.       Texting /instant messaging – 27% 7.       Eating snacks – 25% 8.       Making food in office – 24% 9.       Making calls to partner/ friends- 24% 10.   Searching for new jobs – 19% Average time spent on each distraction: 1.       Checking social media – 44 minutes 2.       Reading news websites – 1 hour 5 minutes ...

According to a study published in the journal Psychological Science, singing Happy Birthday before having a slice of cake makes it taste better. (The study shows that performing rituals before eating food can make it taste better. It works by creating what the psychologists call an 'intrinsic interest' in the food, which draws you into the experience of eating and boosts any positive feelings towards it. I wonder if it would work on a plate of spinach?)

According to a poll carried out in Europe by the website GrowingUpMilkInfo.com,   British children are the fussiest eaters in Europe. (Seemingly 26% of British children reject their meals every day, and 69% of children under five in the UK sometimes refuse to eat what they are given. The league table for fussy eaters is:- 1st - United Kingdom - 69% 2nd - Netherlands - 63% 3rd - Germany - 58%  and  Sweden - 58% 4th - France - 54% 5th - Spain - 40% Italy doesn't appear, probably because 37% of mothers in Italy said they are 'not bothered' about what their children eat.) Source

Emperor Nero had a rotating dining room built. (Archaeologists on a dig on Palatine Hill in Rome, Italy (where Roman emperors traditionally built their most lavish palaces) believe they have found the remains of the legendary rotating dining room which the Emperor Nero built to entertain his guests. According to the Roman historian Suetonius, who described the unique revolving room in his Lives of the Caesars, written about 60 years after Nero's death: "The chief banqueting room was circular and revolved perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies. Just imagine having a huge dinner and then sitting there - rotating day and night - ugh!)

According to a study by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), the French devote nearly twice the time to meals than do Americans, Britons or Mexicans. (Of course the French take eating very seriously, and whatever you do, don't try to talk about work during lunch. That said, the credit crunch is having an effect. According to the Guardian newspaper, over 3,000 traditional French restaurants, cafes and bars went bust in the first three months of 2008.)

The British eat potatoes about 10 billion times a year. (The UK ranks No. 11 among world potato producing countries, but we still have to import a lot to meet our tatty requirements.)

In a normal lifetime an American will eat 200 pounds of peanuts and 10,000 pounds of meat. (Statistics say that about 9 million children and adolescents in the U.S. are overweight or obese - I wonder why?)

Eating lots of carrots will turn the pigment in your skin orange. (Carotenaemia is the presence in blood of the yellow pigment carotene from excessive intake of carrots or other vegetables or fruit containing the pigment, which results in increased serum carotenoids. Strangely carotene is the same substance that makes leaves turn orange in the autumn. But you would have to eat a silly amount of carrots, and eating them in moderation will help your eyes!)