Interesting Facts

According to the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualite (INAO), the difference between vines within France's Champagne region and those just outside is 995,000 euros. (If a vineyard falls on the wrong side of the "Champagne" divide, the land is worth 5,000 euros a hectare, but on the other side it's worth 1m euros. And all because people like bubbles.)

According to the Office of National Statistics, the weekly spend on pets in the UK ranks 37th, ahead of cosmetics, cakes and holidays in the UK. (Fifty years before, in 1957, it ranked 49th. Of course my guys take this as a matter of course.)

Forty years after colour TV was introduced to the UK there are still 34,700 people with black and white television licences. (Of course this doesn't necessarily mean they don't have a colour TV.)

According to the organisers of the Conmex construction machinery exhibition, about 30,000 of the world's 125,000 construction cranes are currently operating in Dubai. (When I first heard that they have 24 per cent of the world's cranes, I had thought they meant birds, because they've been nicknamed the national bird of Dubai. I think they would have looked prettier.)

According to the National Geographic up to one quarter of the sand on shorelines can be composed of plastic particles. (U.K. researchers in Plymouth and Southampton, England, found that microscopic fragments of nylon, polyester, and seven other types of plastic are widespread in sediments around British shores. This is in addition to the washed up bottles, plastic bags and nappy liners that adorn our beaches after high tide.)

According to trade association English Apples and Pears, Brits eat 75 apples on average each year, per person? (If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, they must be very busy for 277 days a year.)

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 killed more than 20 million people worldwide. (One fifth of the world's population was infected. The disease was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas, United States, on March 4, 1918.)