Interesting Facts

27th June 1967 - The world's first ATM was installed by Barclay's Bank in North London. (We also call the a hole in the wall or a cash machine.) 1986 - The International Court of Justice found the United States guilty of violating international law by supporting Contra rebels in Nicaragua. 1991 - Yugoslav tanks, troops and aircraft rolled into the small republic of Slovenia, 48 hours after it declared independence.

Roughly 1.1m people work in Britain’s gig economy, and according to a survey carried out by Ipsos Mori and the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), 69 per cent of them are male. (In recent years, the word gig was used to refer to a live performance by or engagement for a musician or group , but “Gig economy” work is used to describe part-time self-employed work, often office work, short tasks and ‘click work’ done online.  In Britain that kind of work has tended to attract women in the past.  Nowadays there is a real gender imbalance in some sectors: For example men account for 95 per cent of Uber drivers and 94 per cent of Deliveroo couriers.)

According to the TUC (Trades Union Congress) 5.3 million people in the UK work an average of 7.7 hours of overtime a week. (Chief executives topped a list of those doing the most unpaid overtime, at an average of 13.2 hours a week, followed by teaching staff (12.1 hours), finance managers (11.3 hours) and managers in production and health care workers (10 hours). The TUC has called on people to take their full lunch break and go home on time, asking managers to set an example by leaving on time too. Oh dear, I never leave a session on time, but then I don't get paid either. The TUC would hate me.) Source

According to research conducted by Nationwide, office workers in the UK spend an average of £40,000 during their careers on treats, traditions, whip rounds and equipment associated with the job. (All those tea jars, after work drinks, leaving presents, highlighters etc. add up. In fact tea and coffee clubs alone cost £66.36 a year.)

Christina Estrada, a former model, is claiming nearly £200million in her divorce from Sheikh Walid Juffali, a Saudi multi-billionaire. (In a divorce settlement case that has more twists and turns than a game of snakes and ladders, he actually tried to prevent her claim in the British courts on the grounds that he was entitled to legal immunity because of his diplomatic status as permanent representative to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) of the Caribbean island of St Lucia, she is demanding such a huge sum as it "reflects the standard of living she enjoyed during her marriage to the Sheikh". She is trying to justify her rather large claim for the following expenses:- £55million for a new London home with annual staff costs of £335,558, which would cover a live-in butler, housekeeper, chauffeur, a nanny for the London home together with two cleaners, a chef, a reserve nanny and an office manager. £4.4million for a second house at Henley. £2.1million ann...

The next English £5, £10 and £20 banknotes will be printed on plastic. (The fiver will be issued first in September 2016, followed by the tenner, which will be issued in 2017, but the £20 note will have to wait until 2020. Their appearance will change too. Sir Winston Churchill will feature on the £5 banknote, replacing Elizabeth Fry, ​​Jane Austen will replace Charles Darwin on the £10 banknote, and artist J.M.W. Turner will feature on the £20 not, replacing economist Adam Smith. Nothing has been said about the £50 note, which features the engineers Matthew Boulton and James Watt. Historical characters have only appeared on bank notes since 1970.  Other people depicted on previous notes have been: Sir Edward Elgar (composer) Michael Faraday (scientist) Sir John Houblon (first Governor of the Bank of England) Sir Isaac Newton (scientist) Florence Nightingale (nursing) William Shakespeare (poet/playwright) George Stephenson (engineer) 1st Duke of Wellington (gener...

According to a study conducted by TopCashback website, on average, in 2015 pedestrians in the UK picked up £5.45 each in dropped change, and one in 20 managed to find £20. (However, millions of Brits would not stoop to pick up anything less than 50p dropped on the floor: only 4 in 10 people would bother to bend down to pick up a penny, and most would ignore anything that wasn't silver.  1 in 3 people said they would not pick up any cash dropped as in their eyes it would be stealing, however 8 in 10 Brits applied the finders-keepers rule, but they were unsur about how much they would pocket if no-one was around.  Most agreed that anything over £10 and they would hand it into the police, or give the cash to charity or a homeless person. 6 in 10 would hand in money left at a cash point by mistake, but only a fifth would run after the person who absent mindedly walked off without it.  Scarily 1 in 10 would quietly pop it into their purse or wallet. I will admit, I pi...

According to data from hitched.co.uk, more and more Brits are getting married on a Thursday. (Is this because of tradition, or for religious reasons?  No.  It's because it's cheaper.  Seemingly, tying the knot at weekends can cost thousands of pounds more for the cost of venues, catering and entertainers. Caroline Hendry, editor of hitched.co.uk, said that Thursdays are popular as many venues charge the same high prices on a Friday as they do on the weekend. She added: ‘With many venues and wedding suppliers booking up months or even years in advance, a Thursday wedding can also give couples a better chance of booking their first choice vendors.’ At a time when everyone is struggling with debts and rising house prices, around 21,700 couples chose to marry on a Thursday in 2015 – about 6,000 more than in 2008. According to figures compiled by the Daily Mail, the Achnagairn Estate in the Highlands, where castle hire, including use of the ballroom and a two-night...

According to research company Mintel, in the UK sons spend more on their mothers on Mother's Day than daughters.  Over 40% more! (Men spend an average of 41.15 on Mother's Day gift, whilst women send just 28.97. Sons spend more on flowers for their mums than they do for their partners on Valentine's Day. The only catch to all this benficance is, they have to remember.  Only 57% of men remembered to buy a gift, compared with 62% of women. In addition 24% of men chose a present at the last minute, compared with just 18% of women.  Guys, if you are reading this now, if you hurry you might find a garage open. I wonder what Laika has got me.) Source

The UK government paid social media giant Facebook 113 times more in taxpayers’ money for advertising than Facebook paid in corporation tax in the UK. (Government departments spent £489,329 in the 2014-15 fiscal year for advertising on Facebook, who only coughed up £4,327 in corporation tax. They only had to pay such a tiny amount because they recorded a £28.5million loss in the UK, but at the same time they handed staff £35million in share bonuses. Increasingly it seems that the job of governments is to be cleverer than corporations, but I want to know the answer to one question, "What on earth were they advertising?")

According toThe Money Advice Service (MAS), supermarkets are making an extra £1,000 from families each year by using BOGOF and other special offers. (76% of people regularly spend more than they mean due to the buy-one-get-one-free deals among others. On average, people said they spend £11.14 more on a weekly shop, than they had budgeted for. What's worse is some of the deals have been shown to be completely bogus, this could mean that confusing offers will be banned.)

According to a report from Oxfam, 62 people are now as rich as 50% of the rest of the world. (The richest 62 people in the world now own as much as the poorest half of the world's population. They would fit on a bus. Last year it was 80, and in 2010 it was 388. So, someone, somewhere is making a killing.)

According to a study by Swiss bank UBS, the number of female billionaires worldwide has increased nearly sevenfold in the past 20 years to 145. (In fact, women have outpaced men when it comes to membership of the billionaires’ club, with their ranks and wealth growing at faster rates.  The number of male billionaires has only grown by a factor of 5.2, that said, there are 1,202 male billionaires. I haven't even joined the millionaire club.  Has anyone got a membership card I can borrow?)

According to the Royal Mail in the UK, a letter to Mars would require 18,416 first-class stamps. (Royal Mail contacted NASA after 5-year-old Oliver Giddings asked the Royal Mail how much it would cost to post a letter to the red planet. The answer came back with a cost of £11,602.25  US$18,003.40. Of course Royal Mail then added the £2.25 (US$3.40) to send the letter from Britain to NASA in Florida.)

According to the website Sporting Intelligence, Manchester United is the most valuable football club in England. (It's worth a staggering £1.8bn. The figures were produced, using a formula involving total revenue, assets, stadium capacity and wage ratio. They are basically a money making machine, with the biggest stadium in the country, and other assets, including the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal, worth £47m from Chevrolet, a 10-year kit deal with German sporting outifitters Adidas which is worth £750m over 10 years. Would anyone like to sponsor an LEN kit or shirt? Instead of buying overpriced football players, we will employ some lovely English teachers.) 

According to research carried out by the High Pay Centre, among FTSE 100 companies, the average pay of a chief executive is almost £5 million. (They found that average executive pay in the UK jumped to £4.964 million in 2014, compared with £4.129 million in 2010.  The figure was 183 times the earnings of average full-time workers, up from 160 times in 2010. The top 10 highest-paid chief executives (CEOs) were paid over £156 million between them in 2014, prompting fresh calls for action to curb executive pay. We have a minimum wage, maybe it's time to have a maximum wage too.)

As part of an experiment to save money,  a police force in the UK has decided to stop investigating attempted burglaries - at odd-numbered houses. (Leicestershire Police said the pilot scheme had had no adverse effect on crime rates, or public satisfaction.  Try asking people who live in odd-numbered houses!)

In George Osborne's first budget since the UK election he has announced:- Child tax credits will be restricted to 2 children. Public sector pay rises will be limited to 1% a year. Corporation tax will be cut. ( Q. What are child tax credits? A. These are state benefits that provide extra money to people responsible for children. Q. What is the public sector? A. The part of an economy that is controlled by the state. Q, What is corporation tax? A. Tax levied on companies' profits. Q. What did the budget really mean? A. Less money for the poor. More money for the well off.  )

For everyone who was in today's Skype session.  Who does Greece owe money to? In Euros Germany - 68.2bn France - 43.8bn Italy - 38.4bn Spain - 25bn IMF - 21.4bn  (International Monetary Fund) ECB 18.1bn  (European Central Bank) The Netherlands 13.4bn The US - 11.3bn The UK 10.8bn Belgium 7.5bn Austria - 5.9bn Finland 3.7bn (I told you everyone needs to start learning big numbers nowadays.)

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...