Interesting Facts

According to card manufacturer Clintons, Father Christmas now appears on 5.6 per cent fewer cards than before. (Their research also found that the appearance of robins on festive cards has declined by 23.4 per cent in 10 years, but the snowman has increased in popularity by 17.1 per cent. Images of snowflakes also rose by 14.3 per cent and Christmas trees have become more common, appearing on 7.3 per cent more cards.  Glitter now appears on 34.7 per cent more cards than a decade ago. Despite the changes, traditional designs are still popular, such as Victorian street scenes, holly bushes, bells and stars. Personally I prefer hand made cards.)

I'll be honest, when I first heard of the poo bus, I thought of this guy:- However, this is actually about a bus that runs on gas generated through the treatment of sewage (real poo), and food waste that is unfit for human consumption. The Bio-Bus (Foto: GENeco) (A renewable and sustainable source of fuel, the bus can travel up to 300km on a full tank of gas generated at the Bristol sewage treatment works – a plant run by GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water. Personally, I love the idea, and the humour of the advertising on the bus itself.)

According to research commissioned by home insurance company More Than, the biggest hazard in the home is ... children. (By the age of 10 the average child in the UK will have caused more than £2,000 worth of damage around the house. The most common things kids do to destroy the house are:- 1. Drawing on walls 2. Permanent stains on the carpet 3. Breaking plates and crockery 4. Damaging furniture 5. Footprints/handprints on surfaces 6. Scratching upholstery 7. Blocking the toilet 8. Accidentally smashing a window 9. Scratching walls with bikes 10. Blocking the kitchen/bathroom sink 11. Breaking beds by jumping on them 12. Staining kitchen surfaces 13. Breaking door handles 14. Pulling up carpets 15. Splashing paint on everything 16. Gluing things to furniture and walls 17. Breaking the banister to the stairs 18. Breaking the TV 19. Setting things on fire 20. Putting toys in the microwave I'll always remember when a friend of mine found that her son had pu...

According to card company Clintons, Santa Claus has lost over 2 stone in the last decade. (They analysed 20 years of archived cards and found that depictions of Father Christmas on Christmas cards had become slimmer. "He’s not as fat and round as he once was,” said a spokesperson, putting it down to increased health consciousness. I bet Rudolph and co. are pleased.  Some enterprising person is bound to bring out a mince pies and sherry diet book. )

The French city of Grenoble is going to ban all advertising hoardings by next year. (They will scrap 326 advertising hoardings, including 64 large billboards by April 2015. The mayor has promised to replace the signs and billboards with trees and community noticeboards. They will be the first city in Europe to do so, although the French village, Forcalquier, implemented a similar ban back in 2009.)

According to a report, commissioned by property company CBRE, people who play organised sport tend to be £500,000 better off than people who don't. (Experts say that organised sports such as cycling , football, rugby, etc. can boost a person's annual salary significantly due to the skills they gain from participating in group activities, which over an average 47-year career could amount to a significant boost of £522,000 in wages . Of course, you could argue that people who earn a lot have more disposable income to play sport.  That said, I wonder if disorganised canoeing counts.)

We were talking about maternity and paternity / maternal and paternal in today's session, so this little factlet is very fitting. According to a survey carried out by the Family Matters Institute, 12% of fathers in the UK aspire to be like Homer Simpson. A good role-model? (The following "father figures" were most popular:- David Beckham - 21% Jamie Oliver - 14% Homer Simpson - 12% Prince William - 9% David Walliams - 7% Simon Cowell - 5% David Cameron - 4% Wayne Rooney - 1% The typical, modern UK dad was described as a food-loving, health-conscious, house proud family man, but their choices of role models leaves a lot to be desired.  For goodness sake! David Cameron left his 8 year-old daughter in the pub!)