Interesting Facts

According to a survey by Cotton USA, 23% of people hate it when their partner wears socks in bed. (The problem with that is according to Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, wearing socks in bed can help you fall asleep. Luckily I have no trouble sleeping, and I can't believe that only 23% of people hate it.)

According to former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo, teachers should let themselves cry in class when reading poignant stories. (He says it would help teach children that books matter. Of course I don't read, I make everyone else read, although I think Hermine had a lump in her throat when we were reading Wind in the Willows.)

Just in case you hadn't noticed, the World Cup is on, but what is it?  It is is a gold trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. (The trophy is 36.8 cm high and weighs 6.175 kg.   1.8 kg of which is 18k gold.  It's not the original trophy, as that one was stolen .)

The top teams at the World Cup are Brazil, Germany and Italy. (To date, the points they have are as follows:- Brazil - 20 tournaments / 101 games / 224 points Germany - 18 tournaments / 103 games / 209 points Italy - 18 tournaments / 83 games / 156 points Poor Italy are already out, which opens up the 3rd place, and maybe we will see a Brazil vs Germany final.  What do you think?)

According to the Talis 13 report issued by the OECD, England has the rowdiest classrooms in Europe. (6.5% of teachers in England face intimidation or verbal abuse. Brazil tops the league with 12.5%, followed by Estonia at 11% and Australia at 9.7%. You might be shocked, but I'm pleasantly surprised the figure for England is so low.)

According to the Guardian newspaper, there are only 987 independent bookshops in the UK. (The number of independent bookshops in the UK fell below 1,000 in 2013, with 67 closing, leaving just 987 across the UK. It's really sad, and Amazon needs to take some of the blame.) Source

US crime writer James Patterson is offering £250,000 to independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland. (Worried about the death of the independent bookshops, he has already run a similar scheme in the US, with grants of between £250 and £5,000 available to spend on schemes aimed at encouraging reading among children.  This is what you could call, putting your money where your mouth is.)