Interesting Facts

According to a survey commissioned by Nationwide Credit Cards, the 1970s was the most tasteless decade when it comes to home decor in the UK. #TBT to when avocado bathrooms were in. Seriously, who thought that was a good look?! pic.twitter.com/liz1dJVtK8 — WICKES (@Wickes) January 29, 2015 (Lava lamps, orange and purple decor, tartan upholstery, shagpile rugs, avocado bathrooms and woodchip wallpaper all contributed to make the 70s so unstylish, but the 1980s, with its textured ceilings, frills and flounces, and Laura Ashley prints came second at 16 per cent. I wonder what they will say about the 2010s?)

Play-doh was first manufactured to be used as a wallpaper cleaner. It was created by Noah McVicker of Cincinnati-based soap manufacturer Kutol Products. "Play-Doh" by Larry D. Moore © 2006 Larry D. Moore. Creative Commons 3.0 (It was a putty made of flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil, formulated to remove soot and oily residue from wallpaper, but children at a nursery school in Cincinatti school had been using it as a modeling compound to make Christmas ornaments. McVicker's nephew, Joe McVicker, joined Kutol with the remit to save the company from bankruptcy; and saw the opportunity to completely remarket the product, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Toy Industry Association named Play-Doh in its "Century of Toys List" in 2003.  I do hope they gave that nursery school a free supply.)

Photographer Charles O'Rear took the iconic photograph, Bliss, that has adorned many computer screens around the world; the default wallpaper in Windows XP. https://plus.google.com/115724842162075287959/posts/WHHAYFpncaP (He took the photo 60 miles north of San Francisco in a wine region of Napa Valley called Carneros. It is now a vineyard, so that particular landscape no longer exists, but although the operating system is no longer supported by Microsoft, the image will live on for this generation. Estimates say that ‘Bliss’ may have been seen by over a billion people around the world, from Buckingham Palace in London, factory control rooms in North Korea to the situation room of the White House in Washington DC.)