Did you know

Santa Claus was issued a pilot’s license from the U.S. government in 1927. They also gave him airway maps and promised to keep the runway lights on.

Children in Sweden might leave out a bowl of porridge for the “Yule Goat” or “Julbock” which is a Christmas figure in Scandinavian folklore.

Caribou and Reindeer are the only species in the deer family where both males and females have antlers. The female’s antlers are smaller than the males, but they carry them longer. Caribou and Reindeer start growing their antlers in the Spring. Males lose their antlers by late October / November. Females, especially those who have had babies, don’t lose their antlers until May and June. This helps them protect their calves.

Viejito Pascuero (Chile) is the name affectionately used in Chile for Santa and translates to “Old Man Christmas”. He can be found delivering gifts via the front door or windows. Sometimes he arrives on horseback or by boat.

In 1882, the first electrically lit Christmas tree was introduced by Thomas Edison’s friend and associate, Edward H. Johnson. He decorated a Christmas tree with a string of 80 red, white and blue electric bulbs in his New York City home Before then trees were illuminated with candles.

Pantomimes or “pantos”, are a lively stage event held during the Christmas season in the UK. The panto combines elements of comedy, music, dance, and very importantly audience participation.

On Christmas Eve 1914, the first bomb was dropped on Britain when a German Plane tried to Bomb Dover Castle during WWI.

The name “Santa Claus” comes from the Dutch “Sinterklass” or St Nicholas who lived in the 4^th century AD in south-west Turkey. It is said he once gave three bags of gold to three girls to prevent them from having to live on the streets. The three bags of gold have since become symbolised in the pawnbroker’s three golden balls.

The ingestion of Christmas decorations is the most common pet, Christmas related injury accounting for over 40% of all pet Christmas related Vet visits. Pets can ingest decorations such as tinsel, ornaments and lights, which can cause choking, intestinal blockages or poisoning.

On Christmas day 1932 King George V would broadcast the very first radio message on the BBC. Queen Elizabeth II would make the first televised speech on Christmas Day 1957.

Another traditional and much-loved Christmas performance that involves music is a magical ballet called the “Nutcracker”, it was first performed at the Imperial Theatre in St Petersburg in Russia, on the 18^th December 1892, and has since become a Christmas Staple. One of the most loved pieces is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The plot is based on a story called “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” by E.F.A Hoffman, however the story we love today comes from revisions made to the story in 1884 by the noted French author Alexander Dumas. The story is set on a snowy Christmas Eve and features a young girl called Clara and her nutcracker doll.

Charitable people in many countries have singled out a tree (s) in their town where in the colder months the trees become “Mitten Trees and Scarves of Kindness” This is an initiative where kindly people hang up gloves and scarves for those in greatest need to take from the tree to stay warm over the winter months.

New Years Eve is known in Scotland as Hogmanay, this celebration sees out the old year and greets in the new one. The passing of the old year is often marked by the toiling of church bells and also by many traditions including opening all the windows or doors of the house at the stroke of midnight to let out the old year and usher in the new one.

LED lights have revolutionized Christmas decorating by being energy-efficient and longer lasting. LED lights can last up to 25,000 hours or more. Not only do they consume up to 80% less energy than traditional lights, but they also emit less heat, reducing the risk of fire hazards.

Millions of Children have woken early on Christmas morning and inched their feet down the bed in the pre-dawn silence until they find their stocking-heavy (with luck), enticingly lumpy and, most of all, full of promise. In the past stocking presents might be simple, such as a tangerine, a bag of chocolate coins, some toys and the annual of a favourite comic or television programme. Today the presents might be more sophisticated and vastly more expensive. But for many children, both young and old, waking up to their stocking on Christmas morning is still the most magical part of a magical day!

Synesthesia : Is a condition where one sensory experience in involuntarily linked to another, such as seeing colours when hearing music.

A leech farm in Wales sells 15,000 leeches a year to the NHS. They are said to be particularly useful in plastic surgery, such as breast reconstruction and where a part of the body has become severed and has had to be sewn back on.

Immunotherapy : This is a breakthrough cancer treatment that uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells.

The Braille system was invented by Frenchman Louis Braille in 1824. Braille lost his vision when he was a child of 3 but developed the system of writing while he was a teen. The Braille system is an alphabet that has 63 characters that can be written or read by the blind. Braille was first published in 1829 and is read using the fingertips.

Antiretrovial Therapy : This Therapy was first developed in the 1990’s, it transformed HIV from a fatal disease into a manageable condition.

Winston Churchill suffered from bouts of depression, he called his “black dog”

Abraham Lincoln suffered from depression and had several breakdowns during his life. The death threats that he endured ran into 3 figures.

Vincent Van Gogh painted his famous “The Starry Night” shortly after checking into a psychiatric hospital in 1889.

Scottish Bacteriologist Alexander Fleming trained as a doctor at St Mary’s Hospital in London. After serving in the Medical core in WWI he became interested in the problem of controlling infections caused by bacteria. One morning in 1928 Fleming was preparing a routine set of bacterial cultures when he noticed something was killing the bacteria. When he investigated further he found that the bacteria had been attacked by a bread mould / penicillin. From penicillin came the world’s first antibiotics, drugs designed to kill bacteria.

During his experiences in WWI Fleming was to develop anti-Cancer Drugs from the symptoms of gas attack victims. Two other scientists, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, helped perfect the manufacture of penicillin, and they shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for Medicine along with Alexander Fleming.

The world’s first voluntary Blood Donor Service began in 1921 when Percy Oliver and three other British Red Cross members became the first volunteers to give blood to patients in King’s College Hospital, London. Having realised that many patients had neither friends or relations willing to donate blood, he formed the London Blood Transfusion Service and built up a donor panel from his home.

The Bee Gee’s song “Stayin Alive” is used to train medical professionals to provide the correct number of chest compressions per minute whilst performing CPR.

American engineer Robert Moog and his 1964 invention, the Moog Synthesizer changed popular music forever. The Moog synthesizer was groundbreaking because when it became available to the public in 1965, it became the world’s first commercial synthesizer. It was used on the Beatle’s album “Abbey Road” in 1969.

Bluesman BB King became a guitar legend for his catchy solos and longevity. From 1949 until 2008, King released 43 studio albums, 16 live albums and had scores of hit singles. BB King’s humble start in music began by picking the notes of old discarded guitar strings by nailing them tight to the wood of his front porch at his home, and practising constantly.

The line “4,000 Holes” in Blackburn, Lancashire featured on the 1967 Beatle’s track “A Day in the Life”. The line had come from an article read by John Lennon in the Daily Mail that reported that there was “one twentieth of a pothole” for every Blackburn resident in the streets.

Ellen Naomi Cohen, better known as “Cass Elliot” or “Mama Cass”, struggled with her weight her entire short life. She died of a heart attack on July 29^th 1974 at the age of 32.

At the same time that Ringo Starr received an offer from Brian Epstein to join the Beatles, he was also asked to join another Liverpool group called “Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes”. Ringo chose the one offering the best wages at £25 a week.

Spoons have been a used as musical instruments for centuries. Former UB40 singer Duncan Campbell was once a registered spoon player with the UK’s Musicians’ Union.

Johnny Cash took only three voice coaching lessons before his teacher advised him to stop the lessons and to never deviate from his natural voice.

At the 2020 Grammy Awards, Billie Eilish became the youngest person ever to win the four main awards. Previously, Taylor Swift held the record.

The first cat show was held at the Crystal Palace in London in 1871, featuring over 170 cats of various breeds.

Reindeer eyeballs turn blue in the winter to help them see at lower light levels.

Dogs watch more television now than a few years ago. The frequency of the transmitted signal has changed speed and can now be processed by most dogs.

In Taiwan, a group of cat lovers has built a “cat village” to provide a safe and comfortable home for stray cats. It was in Taiwan that the world’s first cat café came into operation.

Although the dog show Crufts was founded in 1891, it has only been organised by the Kennel Club since 1942 after it bought the rights from the widow of Charles Cruft.

An Animal Shelter in Florida hosts an annual “Kitten Bowl” event, where visitors can watch adoptable kittens play football on a miniature field. The event helps raise awareness for cat adoption and has helped many kittens find their forever homes.

Sir Isaac Newton is believed to have invented the first cat flap. While Newton was in his attic trying to conduct light experiments, his cat kept nudging the door open and letting the light in, spoiling his experiments. So Newton decided to cut a small opening in the doorway, which he then covered with felt, attached to the top of the opening.

A racing pigeon failed to find its way back home and ended up taking a 5,000 mile detour on board the QE2 luxury liner. Liberty, a three-year-old hen, set off with 3.000 other birds from Nantes in France, for what should have been a nine-hour race home to Derbyshire. Instead of flying back to the Peak District she landed on the cruise liner and took a detour to America and back!

In 1996 a team of scientists working at the Roslin Institute in Scotland succeeded in producing the first ever cloned mammal, Dolly the Sheep who was born on the 5^th July. Dolly’s name was inspired by the fact that the Cell used to create her came from a mammary gland, so she was named after buxom Country & Western singer Dolly Parton.

There is an uninhabited island in the Bahamas known as Pig Beach, which is populated entirely by swimming pigs.

There are now Dog Surfing Instructors that teach dogs how to surf, often participating in dog surfing competitions.

The Amsterdam Cat Festival is an annual event that celebrates all things feline. It features a range of cat-related attractions, from cat-themed markets to cat cafes, and even a cat adoption boat ride along the Amsterdam’s canals.

Roselle was a guide dog and Dickin Medal winner who led her blind owner down 78 flights of stairs. Despite the packed stairway and diesel spilling down from above, she kept her composure and led her blind owner onto the street below. In the confusion many people could not see where they were going but were led to safety by holding on to Roselle’s lead.

The Labrador Retriever has been the most popular breed of dog in Britain since 1989.

A Duck’s feet contain no nerves or blood vessels, which means they can swim in freezing water. Their webbed feet act like paddles for the ducks, but it also means they can’t walk and have to waddle instead.

A cat named Homer was rescued from a shelter in California after being deemed “unadoptable” due to his FIV-positive status. However Homer went on to become a Therapy Cat and helped many people in need. Many dogs and cats are trained to be therapy animals, providing emotional support and comfort to many people in hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities.

Back in the 1980’s, Yukio Nishimoto, a construction manager in the southern town of Shibushi, Japan, commented how much he liked his friend’s stuffed penguin. A while later, when fishing in the Indian Ocean his friend noticed a live penguin with a badly injured back and decided to bring it home to Japan for Nishimoto. The fisherman assumed that the penguin would die, which would allow Nishimoto to have a stuffed penguin of his own.

By good fortune the penguin didn’t die but instead the Nishimoto’s nursed the penguin back to health and treated him like a son and called him Lala. They built him his own small-enclosed bedroom with a massive air conditioner and they taught him how to walk into town and visit the fish market. Every day Lala would throw on his small backpack and waddle down the road, stopping by the neighbour’s house to take a shower with the garden hose and then off to the store for some mackerel or sardines (his favourite). In his spare time Lala would become an Internet sensation!

In 2020, a Cat Shelter in Canada hosted a “speed dating” event/ where visitors could meet adoptable cats in a speed dating format. The event helped many cats find their forever homes and was a fun and unique way to promote cat adoption.

The once common dog name “Fido” had its origins in Roman times. The name is derived from the Latin word fidelis, which means “loyal”.

Altruism : Is a behaviour seen in humans but is also present in the animal world. Insects and animals like ants and dolphins show an ability to help others even at a cost to themselves.

Acre comes from the old English word “aecer”, which means ploughed field. It was defined as the area a group of oxen could plough in one day.

Actor Gary Oldman has a sister called Laila Morse, who plays Mo Harris in EastEnders.

Cynthia Nixon is a natural blonde, so she had to dye her hair red for her role in Sex in the City. Sex in the City star Kim Cattrall was actually born in Liverpool, and trained at the London Academy for Music and the Dramatic Arts.

At the time of its release in 2011, the most expensive Bollywood film of all time was the science fiction movie Ra One. It cost $30 million to make.

Harry Potter books were so popular that they were always released on a Saturday to stop children “skipping school” to read or buy them.

Most Oscars won by a film : Ben-Hur 1959, Titanic 1997 and Lord of the Rings : (The Return of the King) 2003, they each won 11 Oscars.

The original Blue Peter ship logo was designed by legendary television artist Tony Hart.

The Clangers and Bag-puss creator Peter Firmin brought Basil Brush to life in 1963. He was paid £12 to make him, receiving just £1 for each of the puppet’s appearances.

The Simpsons have broken many records in American television for the number of seasons and episodes. It is the longest running animated series, longest running sitcom, and the longest running scripted primetime television series.

Homer Simpson was named after the father of Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Marge, Lisa, Maggie and Patty are the names of Groening’s real-life mum, sisters and aunt. The name Bart how-ever was chosen because it was an anagram of the word brat. The Simpson’s yellow skin was intended to make the show stand out when viewers were flipping through the channels.

The phrase “Goodnight, sleep tight” originates from Shakespeare’s time when mattresses were secured to bed frames by ropes. If you pulled on the ropes, the bed would tighten and become firmer to sleep on.

The Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine, Florida is the oldest continuous church congregation in the continental U.S. It was established by the Spanish on September 8^th 1565.

The Green Jacket which is awarded to the winner of The Masters golf tournament, was first awarded in 1949.

The Butterfly has an exoskeleton which means that its body and internal organs are protected by an external skeleton. Monarch Butterflies use the milkweed plant as a host for their larvae.

The longest unbroken alliance in world history is between England and Portugal. It has lasted since 1386 and still stands today.

Cornish Pasties were first made to be taken down the mines. The miner’s wife would put their husband’s initials in the crusts, so they could tell whose pastie belonged to who.

Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo, which has a focus on safety, gave away its patent to the three-point seat belt in order to allow others to save lives.

The Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great was known for its policy of tolerance towards conquered peoples.

The reason why perfumes are sold at the front of department stores was to stop the smell of horse manure wafting into the store, in the days before shoppers had modern transport. The idea was thought up by Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of the famous department store Selfridge’s.

Pakistani philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi founded a charity providing free healthcare, shelter, and education to millions. His fleet of ambulances was ready to assist anyone in need, regardless of background.

The Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast has the world’s biggest dry dock, measuring 1,824 x 305 ft or 556 x 93 metres.

The Lorelei rock stands on the bank of the River Rhine near St Goar in Germany. It has an extraordinary echo that has given rise to a popular legend. The story relates that a beautiful girl drowned herself nearby because her lover left her for another women. She was changed into a siren who sits on the rock singing and combing her hair, luring sailors to wreck their boats.

It is believed that over 70% of all the original Land Rovers ever built are still on the road.

In 1991, British inventor Trevor Baylis invented the Wind-Up-Radio, enabling millions in the developing world, with no permanent electricity supply to receive broadcasts. The radio works by winding up a spring, which slowly uncoils and powers a small internal generator.

During the Irish potato famine (1845-1852), the Choctaw Indians in America collected $170 to send to Ireland, (although they never had much themselves). This was only 15 years after the Indian tribes had been forced to relocate on what became known as the Trail of Tears. However they understood what it was like to face starvation.

A single mature tree can absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide every year and release oxygen back into the air. This is why trees are so important in urban areas.

The thistle was adopted as the emblem of Scotland during the 13^th century. It is believed that during that period, an army of King Haakon of Norway, intent on conquering the Scots, landed at the coast of Largs, Ayrshire under cover of darkness. In order to move quietly and carefully the soldiers removed their footwear. Unfortunately for the invaders however, one stood on a thistle and shouted out in pain alerting the Scots to the invasion. The attack failed.

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, first held in 1877 in London.

No Christmas is complete without the sound of the Salvation Army playing in the town square, but what of its origins? The “Christian Mission” was started by a Methodist Minister, William Booth, in the East End of London in 1865. Thirteen years later it was renamed the Salvation Army and was reorganised along military lines with Booth himself as General in Command.

The soldiers of the Army set about a campaign of practical help, giving the hungry and the homeless decent food and shelter in the belief that they might then be able to listen with more attention to the Christian message. The Army has continued its work ever since and has spread through many countries, providing homes, orphanages. Schools, and meals in peace and war for soldiers and civilians alike.

In 1832, English businessman George Muntz invented an alloy of 60% copper and 40% zinc, it was known as Muntz metal. This new alloy soon replaced pure copper for sheathing the hulls of wooden ships.

The policeman’s whistle was invented by Birmingham toolmaker Thomas Hudson in 1883. It came in response to an advert from the Metropolitan Police, who were looking for a more effective replacement for the rattle, which was then in use for communication. Hudson’s police whistle could be used hands-free and the sound carried for over a mile. The first order from the police was for 21,000 whistles.

During WWII many cars (especially in Britain) were rigged to run on the gas produced by burning coal because of fuel rationing. They were not a pretty sight but they got many from A – B. In Wartime Britain many modern conveniences were the first to go. Since Britain was cut off from a lot of fuel reserves, most fuel needed to be conserved for the military. To keep civilians from simply siphoning out gasoline from parked army vehicles, a red dye was added to the military gasoline so if the police officer did a spot check it would be obvious that the fuel was stolen.

Entertainer Bruce Forsyth was evacuated from London at the start of WWII but returned after just three days as he was badly homesick. Forsyth was going to call himself Jack Johnson when he started out in show business. However there was already a heavyweight boxer of the same name so he decided to keep his own name instead.

Gun emplacements, factories and airfields were all disguised in Britain by the use of camouflage netting.

During WWII, to help troops stay connected with their loved ones, a special letter system called V-Mail or Victory Mail was introduced. These letters were designed to be compact and efficiently transported overseas. Instead of sending physical letters, these V-Mail messages were photographed onto microfilm, which saved valuable cargo space on planes and ships. Once developed, the microfilmed letters were printed and delivered to soldiers, allowing them to receive heartfelt messages from home despite the distance.

Polish activist Irena Sendler rescued 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and finding them safe homes with false identities.

There was a sensation when a parachute bomb smashed through the roof of the London Palladium to dangle, still live. It was a naval officer who defused it he was rewarded with free tickets to the Palladium for life!

The V-2 Rockets were devastating on impact. One hit a Deptford branch of Woolworth’s crowded with Saturday morning shoppers, killing 160 people, mostly women and children. Yet despite the havoc they wrought, neither of the V-Weapons proved capable of altering the war’s course. By the time they had come into use, the war’s end was already in sight.

Christan was a Danish Resistance worker during WWII German Occupation. “ I was scared nearly all the time, I think everyone was. The thought of being arrested and tortured was very, very frightening. It was the little things that got to you, like meeting a friend in a restaurant and becoming aware that someone sitting nearby seemed interested in our conversation. Walking the streets at night, when it was very silent and dark, I used to imagine the Gestapo were round every corner waiting for me. I kept on the move all the time and never stayed in the same place for more than a couple of nights.

The worst moments were at night, trying to get to sleep. Every time I heard a car on the street, I would jump out of bed to see if the Gestapo were outside. But I never considered giving up; once you are in something like that you just cannot walk away.” Copenhagen 1943.

Hanna Reitsch was a German aviator who was a test pilot for the Luftwaffe during WWII. She flew the last Luftwaffe plane out of Berlin in 1945.

During the “Hunger Winter” of 1944-45 the Dutch were reduced to eating their famous tulips. The bulbs were roasted on stoves, and proved palatable, though prone to giving people indigestion.

During WWII, rose hips became an important source of Vitamin C in Britain when supplies of citrus fruits, such as oranges and lemons, were greatly reduced. The government encouraged the collection of rose hips and the manufacture of rose hip syrup which remains in production even today. Rose Hips contain four times as much Vitamin C as blackcurrants.

During WWII, Lord Woolton, Minister of Food, declared that Fish & Chips was among the few foods not to be rationed as it was considered so important to the British diet.

Leslie Howard, who played the part of Ashley in the movie “Gone With The Wind” died in 1943 when his plane was shot down by German military over the Bay of Biscay. He was returning to Bristol from Lisbon.

During WWII, the United States government mobilized everything they could to help with the war effort. This included recruiting women to important industries eg : Rose the Riveter is an iconic symbol of this all-hands-on-deck approach. Women were also encouraged to join the armed forces via organizations such as the Women’s Army Corp, or WAC.

Many Danes wore their caps in RAF red, white and blue coloured circles to indicate their Allied sympathies, however the occupying Germans caught on and these caps were banned in 1943.

Women toiled alongside men to make and test barrage balloons at the Dunlop rubber factory in Manchester.

During the WWII years Norway was under German control. King Haakon, his family and government were evacuated by the British Navy. They made it safely to London, where the King set up a government in exile for the remainder of the war.

Tokyo Rose was the voice of the enemy. Her radio shows were transmitted across the Pacific region with the sole aim to demoralise the American GI’s and naval crews who were serving in the region. After the war she was put on trial in the USA.

A “fifth column” is usually taken to mean an undercover force that is fighting inside the enemy lines. The original Spanish phrase “quinta columna” was used in a radio address during the Spanish Civil War in October 1936. General Emilio Mora heard that there were four columns of Franco’s troops marching on the city of Madrid. He declared that Franco also had a “fifth column” of sympathisers within the city.

Jelly Babies were originally called “Peace Babies” when launched , to celebrate the end of WWI. Production stopped during WWII due to rationing, and it was only when rationing stopped in 1953 that the name was changed to Jelly Babies.

In 1917, all convicts were withdrawn from Dartmoor prison, which was regarded the one of the harshest prisons in the country, so it could be used to confine the 1,100 conscientious objectors who refused military service.

Chlorine and Phosgene were chemical weapons that affected the respiratory tract. Phosgene was six times more deadly than Chlorine and accounted for 85% of all chemical weapons deaths in World War I. Chemical weapons could be delivered in two ways in WWI, by canisters or shells. Canisters required stealth and a favourable wind, while chemical shells required special cannons.

In WWI the German troops that used the gas/chemical weapons were known as the Pioneer Regiment 35, whilst the French equivalent was called the Z Companies. Mustard gas. or sulphur mustard is a substance that burns the skin, it was first deployed on the battlefield in 1917 during WWI.

Tommy Atkins (The British Soldier) : One of the most popular nicknames for the British soldier has been “Tommy” it has even been used by Britain’s allies and enemies. It stands for “Tommy Atkins” a soldier who never existed. The name originated at the beginning of the 19^th century, when every soldier was issued with a book explaining how to draw their pay. Certain information had to be written on a form in the book, giving the soldier’s name, rank, age, length of service and record. An example of the form was enclosed with each book, made out in the name of the fictitious Tommy Aitkins, to show the soldier how to fill in the form correctly. The nickname “Tommy” spread throughout the army and stuck.

The cardigan was first worn by British soldiers to protect them from the cold during the Crimean War. It was introduced by James Thomas Brudenell, the seventh Earl of Cardigan. He is said to have paid £10,000 from his own pocket every year to make sure that his regiment was the most smartly dressed in the British Army.

According to a 2015 issue of Popular Mechanics, you have a 40% chance of surviving a plane crash if you sit in the tail section. ( seems to make some sense, when have you ever heard of a plane reversing into a mountain!)

Some years ago when Arthur Fowler was sent to prison in EastEnders, a couple turned up on the set of the soap and offered to look after his allotment until he got out. (lost for words on this one)

In November during the late eighties, strong winds in London blew in the well-known Jewish suburb of Golders Green. It blew off the last letter of the film being advertised on the front of the Cannon Ionic Cinema. ( It now read “Who Framed Roger Rabbi”)

A lamb can identify its mother by her bleating sound. (not always! One evening Grace and I took Buffy the Beagle for a walk near a farmer’s field. We stopped to watch a lamb being born and all went well except the new-born ignored its mother’s bleats and ran over to Buffy thinking this was her mum. She checked Buffy through the fence and wondered where she kept her “Gold Top” milk. Buffy started to sniff around the lamb searching for the Mint Sauce!

The average Briton drinks up to 3 cups of tea a day. ( In our house you could add another decimal point )

According to Elsa. How do you make holly water? “You have to boil the hell out of it”!

In the 1980’s, the founder of Pringles, Fredric Baur, requested to be buried in a Pringles can. His children honoured the request. ( must have been an awful tight squeeze.)

In feudal Japan, lords purposely built homes with squeaky floors as a defence measure against ninjas. (Sadly it would take more than squeaky floor-boards to keep a determined ninja at bay!)

The world’s deepest mailbox is in Susami Bay, Japan, where it lies 10 metres underwater. ( I’m awful sorry you never received my Tax Returns but I was just about to post it when a big hungry shark ripped it out of my hand. Honest!)

Fish breath oxygen through their gills. The gills diffuse the oxygen through the fish’s membranes. ( This is a little different from the Human Sewer Mutants of Futurama. They inhale a cigarette through their mouth and exhale through their gills!)

In a marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other. (This is a symbolic declaration, that during their married life they would each be responsible for squatting flies, bugs and other crawling “beasties” and not leave the chore solely to the woman!).

In the UK. a pregnant women can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, although some places are best avoided. ( On the isle of a supermarket unless you have bladder weakness like the woman from Little Britain or in a friend’s house who has invited you to see her new sofa, or a night at the cinema or in a Taxi on a long journey or on a Parents / Pupils school evening when the janitor has locked all the toilets)

In 2008, the world’s first canine theatre production took place at an arts festival in Glasgow. The show was called “Who Stole my Sausage”? Featuring sights, sounds and smells designed to capture the attention of the four-legged audience. ( After the performance the cleaners were put on twelve -hour-shifts in order to clean up the excessive amounts of canine drool but a good night was had by one and all. They all received a complementary sausage but missed the part when the culprit revealed himself. The dogs all found the sausage and smells much more important!)

The great news is that Daisy is now a mum and gave birth to a calf she calls Angus that also loves the Heavy Metal music. Buses full of Scouts and Beaver groups would often attend the farm to see how everything worked, an educational trip you might say. Sometimes there would be high jinks on the bus and some of their caps got tossed out the bus window. With the children getting a tour of the farm it seemed a good time for Daisy and Angus to nip up the road for some serious Heavy Metal music.

In finding the Kids hats along the road Daisy placed one on her head as did Angus. The farmhand at the nearby farm was playing his stereo full up with the best of Heavy Metal music filling the air. Daisy decided to start her dance with her front hoofs clearing the ground and her hoofs making a clack/clomping sound when it hit the ground and her head kept on nodding up and down. Angus soon caught on and did the same, just behind Daisy. They continued up the road with this dance until they came to a stop and turned back as if they were on the edge of a stage. Back and fore they went as happy as a sandboys.

Meanwhile across the road lived an old-retired farmer called Alec A’haf who was living alone and had sadly of late been drinking heavily. He sat on his wooden porch swigging from his bottle when he witnessed the weirdest “hallucination”. He saw two crazy cows dancing up the road wearing schoolboy caps. Alec decided if he kept drinking he was on the “Highway to Hell” He poured out the contents of his bottle into the grass and slung the empty bottle into the wheelie bin. He decided to make a cup of tea and fingered through the TV guide top find a programme to take his mind of this dreadful apparition .

The first programme3 that caught his eye was the film “Whisky Galore” in the circumstances he felt it best to give it a miss. The next programme was “Star Trek”. Alec pondered this, as far as he knew there were no Weirdo Cows in outer space! However he opted for the movie “The Full Monty” he thought it was a war movie about Montgomerie’s advance thru North Africa. Alec switched on the TV just as the film was starting but, the days events had caught up with him and he fell asleep

. When Alec woke up there were men dressed in bright colourful thongs with sparklie bits. To the best of Alec’s knowledge the British 8^th Army wore Standard Issue Khaki underwear so where did these sparklie thongs come from? If they get sand on the inside of that string they’ll’’ have more to worry about than Rommel. Alec was expecting to hear some wartime tunes like Lili of Marlane, however the only song he heard was “You can leave your hat on” Alec felt that this “War Movie” was a bit weird so he decided to have an early night. It had been a long, strange day!

Well, as it happens, the kids got their hats back and the cows have all their fresh straw bedding in place for night-time. One cow remarked to another, “Why has Daisy and Angus not got any straw bedding in place”? The 2^nd cow replied “that’s because they prefer to sleep on a big bundle of old Kerrang Magazines”!

In was now getting late and the farmer went to check once more on his cows. What he saw put him in a panic, Daisy was om her side but her back leg was trembling and bent in whilst her front leg was straight out and almost ridged. He feared she had taken a stroke. He shouted for his wife Jean to come over quickly and have a look. We might need to call a vet! Jean went into the byre and checked on Daisy and came out quickly. Husband! you’re a damn fool! Its just Daisy practicing her “Air Guitar”. Oh well, it had been a long hard day and tomorrow would be little different so they headed inside for a bite of supper and then an early night.

The oldest Golf Course in the World is the Old Links Golf Course in Musselburgh, Scotland which date back to the 16^th Century. In 1829 the greenkeeper at Musselburgh Golf Club is said to have used a 4 ¼ inch wide piece of drainage pipe to cut a hole in the green. That measurement was later adopted by the games governing body, and today golf holes all over the world measure the exact same diameter.

Strawberry Field in Liverpool was once an opulent mansion built for a wealthy shipping mogul. It was sold to the Salvation Army around 1936 and converted into an orphanage for girls. As a child, John Lennon found an escape from the hardships of life wandering around Strawberry Field with his beloved Aunt Mimi and friends. This brought about the birth of the song “ Strawberry Fields For Ever”.

In 1824 The Royal National Lifeboat Institution or R.N.L.I. was founded in Britain. In 1899 a merchant ship ran aground off the English coast. They would send the very first radio distress call and in 1906 S.O.S. (Save our souls) was established as the International Distress Call. It replaced the call sign CDQ which was sometimes interpreted as “Come Damn Quick”

Towering over a canal in Falkirk, Scotland are two glowing Horses Heads! They are called the Kelpies, named after Horse-Like mythical creatures from Scottish & Irish Legends. The steel sculpture is the work of Scottish Artist Andy Scott. He made it due to the big role that horses had played in the area’s history. Each head weighs around 330 Tons and stands nearly 100ft tall, as high as a 10-storey building!

Dennis Bergkamp was a Dutch International Footballer. He was born in Amsterdam and was the last child of Wim & Tonnie Bergkamp’s four sons, His father was an electrician and amateur footballer. Dennis’s first name was given in honour of the Manchester United & Scotland Striker Denis Law. To apply with Dutch customs an extra “n” was inserted into his first name to satisfy the Dutch register.

Bergkamp was brought up through the re-nouned Ajax Youth System joining the club at age 11. In coming seasons he would establish himself in the full Ajax team and later he signed for Arsenal from 1995 – 2006 and is now taking up coaching positions back in the Netherlands.

The Woman’s Institute was formed in Britain in 1915 with the first meeting taking place on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales. The institute was originally brought about to revitalise rural communities and encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War.. Since then the organisation’s aims have broadened and the W.I. is now the largest voluntary women’s organisation in the UK.

During WWII the organisation came into its own by providing much needed services with little fuss and got busy with the jobs in hand. Their vans alongside others would be on site to help all those who had been “bombed out” with tea food and blankets. They would also provide portable kiosks to supply out-of-hours trains with Food, Tea and Cigarettes etc.

In more recent times the W.I. voted for more information available to the public about HIV and Aids at their General Meeting in 1986. W.I. campaigned to raise awareness on the immunodeficiency virus. In 2007 the new membership magazine W.I. LIFE was launched while in 2012 the first WI inside a woman’s prison is formed hoping to improve their mental health.

The Scottish town of Cumbernauld has a history that stretches back at least to the Roman Times when Cumbernauld was a Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall, the northern limit of the Roman Empire. Cumbernauld’s name comes from the Gaelic, meaning the “meeting of the streams” between the River Clyde and the Firth of Forth.

Cumbernauld was designated a new town in 1955 to cope with the housing crisis in Glasgow after WW11. It became in 1981 the location for the Bill Forsyth Movie, Gregory’s Girl. Cumbernauld is located in North Lanarkshire.

Opening to the public on 10^th January 1863, The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world. By 1884 a “Round London” Ring Line The Circle had been completed.

Polish Doctor Eugen Lazowski faked a Typhus epidemic to protect an entire village from Nazi raids. His actions saved thousands from deportation.

Whistling in the street for a taxi was banned in London during WW1 in -case the sound was mistaken for an air raid warning. Buying of rounds of drinks was also banned as it encouraged late night drinking which effected work performance and the War effort.

Operation Mincemeat; was a British deception operation in WW11 using a corpse with fake documents to mislead the Germans about the Allied invasion of Italy.

During the Nanking Massacre, German Businessman John Rabe saved thousands of Chinese citizens by creating a safety zone. He had influence due to his Nazi Party connections and managed to negotiate with Japanese Forces.

In 2022 a military surgeon Andrii Verba miraculously removed a live, unexploded grenade from the chest of a Ukrainian soldier, without setting it off. Due to the risk of explosion, two military engineers were at hand throughout and managed to dispose of the grenade after it was removed.

Nutella the chocolate spread was invented during WW11 when an Italian Pastry Maker mixed Hazelnuts into his chocolate to extend his chocolate ration.

Desmond Doss a medic in WW11 refused to carry a weapon yet saved the life of 75 wounded soldiers on Okinawa’s battlefield. His acts of bravery earned him the Medal of Honor.

Louis Zamperini survived 47 days on a raft in the Pacific Ocean during WW11, he then endured two years in Japanese P.O.W. Camps.

Adolf Hitler’s mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor. (There’s a lot to be said for a second opinion)

During WW11 a US Naval Destroyer won a battle with a Japanese Submarine by throwing potatoes at them. The Japanese thought they were grenades. (Praise the lord and pass the Golden Wonders!)

When Germany invaded Denmark in 1940 during WW11, eminent scientists, Max Von Lave and James Franck stopped the Nazis from seizing their Nobel Prizes by having the 23-karat gold medals dissolved in acid by a chemist. After the War in 1950 the chemistry was reversed and the precipitated gold was reset inro medals. They were re-presented to the scientists two years later.

In Ypres, Belgium, The Kattenstoet Festival celebrates cats with Parades, Costumes, and an Entire Day dedicated to Feline Fun. Its pure cat chaos like something straight out of a cartoon!

Gracie the Border Collie is employed by Montana’s Glacier National Park as a “Bark Ranger” – a dog that helps to herd goats, deer, sheep and other wildlife away from areas where there are a lot of human visitors.

For 20 years, a cat named Stubbs served as the mayor of the small town of Talkeetna, Alaska. So popular was Stubbs that residents kept Re-Electing the cat in successive “elections”. While Stubbs didn’t pass any laws, he brought in tourists from all over the world eager to meet the feline leader.

Alex a Husky Dog was rescued from underneath the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay Provence, Turkey. This was 23 days after the 2023 Earthquake. He survived for over 3 weeks without Food, Water or Sunlight. He was found when a rescue worker heard faint cries coming from beneath a pile of fallen concrete.

Greenland Sharks live for at least 270 years – maybe even as long as 500 years. They do not reproduce until they are 150 years old. They also grow extremely slowly, at a rate of around 0.4 inches a year.

Snakes can help predict Earthquakes, they can sense a coming earthquake from 120km away, up to 5 days before it happens.

When New York’s Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883 many people believed it would collapse. To prove its safety circus owner P.T. Barnum led 21 elephants across the bridge on May 17^th 1884.

Bailey was an adopted Husky mix dog who went missing from her new home, showed up two days later after walking 10miles 16km to her former shelter in El Paso, Texas simply ringing the door-bell in the middle of the night.

(Who on earth can that be at this time of night! It must be important then bell keeps ringing. I’ll let you go down-stairs, I can’t find my slippers!)

Studies have shown that cows listening to classical music produce more milk. Beethoven and Mozart are their favourites. While many animals are curious about louder sounds, cows are not fans of rock or Heavy Metal with the exception of the odd cow. (Daisy the cow could hear the music she liked coming from the Farm workers stereo on the other farm. She slipped out the field and started dancing up the road, she found a young school-boys cap and managed to place it on her head, her head was moving up and down and left and right. One of the cows asked where Daisy was going? Another cow answered, she’s on the Highway to Hell!)

The farmer had recently bought an AI Artificial Robotic Cattleman known as Micky. Metal Micky had also gone missing that day. Apparently he also loved Heavy Metal music and was “head-banging”his way up the road. Sadly he shook his head too much and it fell off ! It rolled along the road and eventually fell in a pot-hole. Back at the farmers field all you could hear was a faint “Does not Compute!!............Does Not Compute!!)

Police Officers in Chongqing, China have trained six Squirrels to sniff out drugs. With their keen sense of smell, Squirrels are not only skilled detectors but being smaller and faster, they can reach high and awkward spots that are inaccessible to sniffer dogs.

In the American State of Kansas it is illegal to push ducks over waterfalls! The term Anatidaephobia is the fear that somewhere somehow a duck is watching you. (What did you do with my uncle Donald? You pushed him over a waterfall didn’t you! You never had the decency to offer him a barrel!)

Table knives that had rounded tips originated in 17^th Century France. Cardinal Richelieu ordered that all knives be dulled/rounded to prevent fights during meals – a practical solution to a violent problem. ( I wonder how many people would still be around today if we all took Cardinal Richelieu’s advice!)

People who donate blood in Sweden are sent a Text Message each time their blood saves a life. (A very good idea)

Certain Brands of Bottled Water sell for hundreds or even thousands of Dollars . They claim the water comes from remote mountains or is “infused” with Moon Energy. ( My preference would be Del & Rodney’s Peckham Spring water, its “infused” with Chlorine!)

Fire Whirls : Also known as Fire Tornadoes occur when intense heat and turbulent winds combine during wildfires.

Mangroves : These coastal Trees can survive in salt water and protect shorelines from erosion and storm surges.

(Something for those amongst you who’s preference in movies is of the Whack kind)

For those that remember there being an airport heist in “Goodfellas” well it actually took place. Lufthansa (1978) thieves stole around $5 Million in cash $875,000 in Jewellery from JFK Airport, as depicted in the movie.

Germany’s Cologne Cathedral took 632 years to build. Construction began in 1248 but it was not finished until 1880. It was the World’s tallest building for 4 years. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

Swedish company Mo’cycle created AIRBAG JEANS for motorcyclists. Airbags that are built into the pants inflate and offer IMPACT PROTECTION to the rider’s lower body during an accident.

Oak Island Money Pit : This is a site on Oak Island, Nova Scotia where treasure hunters have been searching for buried treasure since the 18^th Century.

In Italy, a war broke out between Modena and Bologna because residents of Modena stole a bucket from a public well in Bologna. Although it was meant as a prank, Bologna took it as an act of war. It would lead to a battle that claimed hundreds of lives. The bucket is still displayed in a museum in Modena in what was known as The (1325) War Of The Bucket.

The term forty-niners was the name given to the great influx of miners into California in 1849 at the early period of the Gold-Rush. Suppling trousers to the men was a clothing firm called Levi Strauss. Although the jeans were hard wearing they were vulnerable in certain parts and ripping under the tough gold mining conditions. Levi Strauss saw that it was the same areas of cloth that was affected’ so he strengthened these areas using copper rivets, and the rest is history.

The Gold-Rush in the Klondike in Northern Canada began in 1896 with the majority of gold mined by 1900 however commercial digging continued until 1966.

There is an Insurance Policy issued against Alien Abduction (best to read the small print, you may be covered against Alien Abduction but what about Alien Probing!)

There is a Japanese village called Nagoro which has 35 inhabitants but over 350 scarecrows. (There must be some doubt that they are all scarecrows some may be Zombies. The first test is to listen carefully, in the distance of you can hear high pitched Sci Fi music followed by Brains! Brains! Or are you hearing the singing of “If I only had a brain”. If the later is true take yourself off to the hard-wear store for wood and nails and barricade yourselves in!)

Lightning kills more people in Florida than in any other U.S. State. It claims about 10 lives a year, about 10% of the national total. Some open spaces in Florida have had warning devices installed, so that when lightning is detected within a 5mile (8km) radius an alarm sounds. This allows people to get undercover.

After his boat sank , a Brazilian fisherman survived for 11 days at sea in shark infested waters by floating inside a freezer. Unable to swim, as the boat started to capsize and the contents scattered, he climbed into a large freezer. The freezer was floating on the surface of the water so he jumped inside it until another boat picked him up off the coast of Suriname. (Now if I put myself in this situation I will explain why I no longer buy Lottery tickets. I find myself floating aimlessly in a large chest freezer however fortunately no sharks have attempted a “nibble” and I haven’t drowned in the sea. I notice in the distance a ship sailing nearer then a freak wave hits the chest freezer and slams the lid shut! I am now stuck inside the Chest Freezer with no way out ( these things were not designed to be opened from the inside.) I have avoided the sharks and drowning in the South Atlantic Ocean only to suffocate at sea in a chest freezer.!)

A very wise Angolan Proverb states : The one who throws a stone forgets, he who is hit remembers forever.

English Nurse Edith Cavell was tried and convicted of being a spy during WW1. As she was led to her execution she requested the Hymn “Abide by me” her last words were ( Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.)

Elvis Presley had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis has the middle name Aron. Elvis Presley’s Birthplace and Museum opened in 1992 in Tupelo, Mississippi. Elvis, on his father’s side was a direct relation of Andrew Presley from Aberdeenshire who left Scotland around the time of the Jacobite uprising and settled in North Carolina for a time.

Cruise Ships are legally required to carry Body Bags and maintain a Morgue. (It’s true what they say, See Naples and Die)

The Woodstock Rock Festival : “The Woodstock Nation” came together in a time that was marked by Race Riots, Political Assassinations and the continual grind of the Vietnam War. Despite being ankle deep in mud, with 17 miles of bumper - bumper traffic, shortages of water and sanitation it became a defining moment in Rock history. There were 31 performers who were paid anywhere from $18,000 – $2,500. (Jimi Hendrix) was paid $18,000 with the (Grateful Dead) being paid $2,500. At the 1969 festival 3 people was born and 3 died and yet they still brought about a festival of love and peace.

Some African languages such as Xhosa and Zulu use click sounds as consonants. (These click sounds should not be confused with the BBC program Click or the “clicks” (boyfriends) of Daphne Broon. Has anyone noticed that Daphne’s “clicks” are getting a bit long in the tooth. Well I suppose none of us are getting any younger!)

The Microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a Radar Tube and a chocolate bar melted in his back pocket.( I wonder if this researcher was the late/ great Scots comic Chic Murray.)

Every year 6,000 people in the UK get hurt putting their trousers on. ( this is a problem for the more mature in years. Getting the first trouser leg “in” is usually no problem however in attempting the other leg your foot gets stuck half-way. You then start to hop across the bedroom floor until you collide with the metal radiator. At this point you squeal like a little piggy whilst turning the “air blue” this I thes original definition of the term (Cross-Dresser.)

When Jesus was speaking to his disciples on some occasions his disciples remarked on the strength and size of stone of the Jewish Temple. Jesus told them in Matthew 24 : Verses 1 & 2 : “Jesus was leaving the temple when his disciples came and pointed to the building . Yes look at it all. I tell you this : not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” This prophesy of Jesus was repeated in Mark Chapter 13: verse 2 and Luke Chapter 21 Verse 6.

The former Jewish Kingdom of Judea had been under Roman rule since 4 B.C however a Jewish revolt had broken out in AD66.The Roman Emperor Vespasian sent his son Titus to suppress the revolt. The Grand Temple was marked down for destruction because the Romans believed it would house many Jewish Zealots which could continue a Guerilla war against the Roman Occupiers.

The Temple itself was the treasury of the Jewish Nation. Large parts of the Holy Temple both inside and outside were covered in sheets of gold. When the Temple was put on fire, large amounts of gold melted and poured into the stones surrounding area. The Gold melted and descended into the cracks and crevices of the stonework. In order to recover the melted gold, the 10^th Roman Legion had their Jewish captives uproot every stone of the temple. The Jewish captives were given long metal rods to prod and prise the stones loose, this included the foundation stones.

Another factor was all that all the stones including the foundation stones for important buildings contained Gold or Silver, this was due to many buildings being close to the main earthquake fault-line that runs from the Red Sea up to Turkey. From this main fault-line the area of Judea etc is “criss-crossed” with faults and tremors. Silver and/or Gold connections were used as they would not break therefore giving the structure greater “give” and stability.

So much Gold was discovered in this way that the price of the metal in the Roman Empire went down to half its pre-war value. After the uprising was defeated many Jewish prisoners were shipped to Rome to labour on the building of the Colosseum.

In an attempt to combat vandalism, the council of Klaipeda, Lithuania, announced that all public toilets in the town would automatically lock-in customers if they took longer than five minutes inside. (Coach tours for the Elderly) announced it was returning to Britain with half the male passengers missing!)

A 330lb, 150kg, 7ft bull shark suddenly jumped into a familys small boat as they were fishing on a river in Queensland , Australia. At the time the family were concentrating on keeping a safe distance from a large crocodile on the riverbank. (I think your gonna need a bigger brain!)

A man from, Lancashire, England, rode a regular sit-on lawnmower the entire length of Britain from John O’ Groats, Caithness to Lands End, Cornwall. He covered the 874 miles (1,398km) in 5 days 8 hours and 36 minutes, reaching a top speed of almost 10mph (16 kmph). ( It was believed his time would have been much faster if he didn’t need to keep emptying the recovery bucket at various points along the way!)

An 81-year- old man from Angol, Chile woke up to find himself lying in a coffin at his own wake. Once he had been helped out of the coffin he asked for a glass of water. (If I woke up in my coffin during my own funeral I think I would need something stronger than a glass of water!)

Beagle Dogs, Candie and Chipper, part of the U.S. Customs and Borders “ Beagle Brigade”, sniffed out two giant African slugs in a passenger’s luggage in Atlanta, Georgia! (Ah! what clever little Beagles! Maybe they can give advice on keeping Gracie’s Hosta plants slug free for next year!)

During the Middle Ages in Europe executioners would sell the human fat from the corpses as a health remedy for many ailments including toothache, arthritis etc which would be available at 17^th century pharmacies. (Call me Mister Picky but I think I’ll stick to Paracetomol)

Two workers at a federal building in Washington DC suffered cuts after a plumbing malfunction caused two toilets to explode sending tiny shards of porcelain flying through the air. The 2,500 employees in the building were warned not to use the bathrooms until the problem was fixed. (Easier said than done), This story reminds me of a town that were making renovations to the local graveyard. Flyers were sent out to the effect that people should not die until the renovations were complete. I’m sure many would have loved to comply but once again, easier said than done!

Whiskers a young cat from Somerset, England got her name from the large whiskers that she has. (The cat was very proud of his whiskers and rubbed them constantly against the furniture, however his owner started watching a TV programme called( Escape to the Chateau). Whiskers flew into a jealous rage when he saw a man with bigger whiskers than him. His owner seeing that the cat was agitated decided to change the TV channel. Unfortunately they were now watching Blackadder Goes Forth and there was a very senior officer with whiskers so long, at bedtime he had to put them in a hairnet. Whiskers took a tantrum and disappeared through the cat-flap and never returned until suppertime. Whiskers was a more- humble cat on his return and had learned a valuable lesson, Whisker envy is a terrible thing!

A blind English boy has learned to “see” the world around him for the first time by using echolocation – the technique used by bats and dolphins. By clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, the boy can discover where and how big objects are depending on the echoes that bounce back. He uses this method to play basketball, determining which direction the hoop is in and how far away it is before making his shot.

A man from New South Wales, Australia, has donated his rare type of blood 1,000 times. It contains an antibody that has saved over two million Australian babies from Rhesus disease, a serious form of anaemia.

Doctors at McGill University , Montreal, Canada, treat patients with a lazy eye by getting them to play the video game TETRIS because it trains both eyes to work together.

Microscopic nanobees, made from perfluocarbon – a material used in artificial blood – has been used by scientists at a university in St Louis, Missouri, to kill cancer tumours by stinging them. The nanobees, measuring just 3 millionths of an inch across, are armed with melittin, a toxin found in bee venom, which destroys cancerous cells by drilling holes through them.

Researchers at Nottingham Trent University, UK have developed a car seat that detects when drivers are falling asleep at the wheel. An electrocardiogram sensor system embedded into the fabric of the seat interprets heart signals, which indicate when a driver is becoming less alert. The system then issues a warning, and if that is ignored, active cruise technology is deployed to slow the vehicle down.

To highlight the poor condition of roads in Panama City, local TV News Show Telemetro Pepirta installed motion -sensitive devices in the pot-holes across the city that sent a complaint tweet directly to the Twitter account of the Department of Public Works every time they were run-over by a vehicle.

A girl with cerebral palsy who can write only by touching a keyboard with her lips has been offered a contract to have her first novel published. The girl from Wang Qianjin, China is virtually paralyzed and has never had a day’s schooling in her life. However she taught herself Chinese by watching captioned TV dramas and memorising the pronunciation and structure of the different characters.

Hollywood heartthrob Hedy Lamarr pioneered transmitting radio signals via changing frequencies to ensure American radio-guided weapons remained undetected during WWII. Hedy Lamarr was born in Austria on 9^th NOV 1914 and became a famous Hollywood actress of the 1940’s. She is best known for her role as Delilah in the Hollywood blockbuster Samson & Delilah in1949.

At the beginning of WWII, along with George Antheil they co-invented a Radio Guidance Technology to defeat the threat of radio jamming of Allied torpedoes by the Axis powers. This technology is still in use today as a component part of Satellite and Cellular phone security / protection. In 1960 Hedy Lamarr was given a “star” on Hollywood Boulevard.

Paralysed in an accident , Jasper the dachshund lost the use of his hind legs until scientists at Cambridge University, UK, intervened. The scientists injected cells from the dog’s nose into the injured part of his spine resulting in the dog being able to walk again.

Scientists at the University of St Andrews in Scotland taught a grey seal named Zola to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and the theme to Star Wars!

Ventura County Fire Department in California hired hundreds of hungry goats in 2019 to eat the dried brush that presented a fire hazard.

A blind couple from Stoke-on-Trent, England, fell in love and got engaged after their seeing-eye dogs Venice and Rodd hit it off during training classes.

On Middle Island off the coast of Victoria, Australia, Maremma sheepdogs protect a colony of the world’s smallest penguins from predators. Penguins are born with a gland above their eyes that filters out salt from their blood.

Crunchie, a male strawberry roan Welsh mountain pony, had to sleep on a bed of shredded waste-paper at his stable in Cheshire, UK. This was because the pony suffered from hay fever. He was diagnosed as being allergic to the dust in traditional straw beds after suffering a near-fatal asthma attack in 2009.

After finding a barely breathing newborn calf in a snowbank on his farm near Culter, Indiana, US, he saved the animals life by jumping fully clothed into a hot tub with the shivering animal to heat the calf up. He then dried the calf thoroughly, took it indoors and wrapped it in electric blankets. The calf named Leroy, made a full recovery.

National elections in the U.S.A. always take place on a Tuesday owing to a law dating back to 1845. This gave people time to reach a voting station when traveling by horse. Tuesday was chosen because it did not clash with Sunday worship or market day, which was held on a Wednesday in many towns.

One in 5 Canadians are related to someone who emigrated to the country through Pier 21 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, which could be considered the “Ellis Island” of Canada.

Dutch wheelchair tennis player Esther Vergeer did not lose a single match between 2003 and her retirement in 2013. She ended her career with an unbroken winning streak of 470 matches!

Elvis Presley (USA, 1935-77) established the concept for stadium concerts with a 5-date tour of the Pacific Northwest in August and September 1957. The first of these shows is regarded as Rock’s first real stadium concert.

In Mongolia, Tibet, and many other provinces of China, tea was compressed into blocks and given as wages.

In 2012, the town of Boring, Oregon, voted in favour of becoming a “sister community” or “twin town” to the Scottish village of Dull. Boring was named after William Boring, an early resident of the area, and Dull is thought to have taken its name from the Pictish word for field.

Banana ketchup is made from mashed banana, sugar, vinegar and spices and it is a popular Filipino condiment that is often coloured red to resemble tomato ketchup. It was first produced during WWII when there was a shortage of tomato ketchup but an abundance of bananas.

A woman named Manu gave birth on a train toilet in Rajasthan, India only to have her baby fall through the waste drainage system and end up on the tracks. Although Manu had lost consciousness, luckily a nearby railway guard heard the baby’s cries and alerted railway bosses who stopped the train and rescued the child.

The Beverly Clock, located at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand is a working mechanical clock that has not been wound since 1864. It is powered solely by changes in pressure and temperature.

Ruth Belville made a living selling the time to the people of London. Ruth inherited the business from her father, John who launched the service in 1836. Each morning he visited the Greenwich Observatory and set his watch before heading out by buggy to adjust the clocks of more than 200 clients. Upon his death in 1856 his widow Maria took up the business and Ruth continued from 1892 until the beginning of WWII when bombing was to make the streets too dangerous to travel along.

Louis William Wain 5^th August 1860 – 4^th July 1939 was an English artist best known for his drawings of “humanised” cats and kittens in both appearance and behaviour. He was born in Clerkenwell, London and sold his first drawing in 1881. In 1884 he married Emily Richardson, their happy marriage ended 2 years later when Emily died of breast cancer. During her illness a stray black and white kitten named Peter was a great comfort to Emily in her terminal illness. As Louis sat with his wife he began drawing Peter from every possible angle. That was the first time Louis showed any interest in cats.

Wain’s cats became more and more human as his career progressed. . He became a prolific illustrator, producing hundreds of designs a year for magazines, newspapers, children’s books and picture postcards.

Sadly, Wain suffered with mental health problems throughout his life which seemingly worsened after the death of his wife in 1887. It is thought he may have suffered from schizophrenia as well as anxiety and depression. He made errors of judgement when it came to business. This led to his descent into poverty, despite the continued popularity of his work.

With his mental health worsening his sisters eventually committed him to the pauper ward of London’s Springfield Mental Hospital in 1924. A campaign was started to raise funds for his care which was supported by writer H.G. Wells and Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin & Ramsay Macdonald among others. He was brought into Napsbury Hospital in St Albans. A better mental health facility that looked after convalescent soldiers from WW1. Wain’s final years were spent in better circumstances also the fund provided for his elderly sisters who were also living in poverty. The work of Louis Wain will be enjoyed by many for future years to come.

In the year 1914 medical history was made in a Brussels hospital when the first successful Blood Transfusion was performed.

The year was 1935 and disaster had already struck the hard-pressed folk of America in the shape of the Depression. Just as they were pinning their hopes on a brighter future with Presidents Roosevelt’s NEW DEAL programmes, dust storms threatened half the country. The worst hit areas were the so-called “Dust Bowl” states of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas & New Mexico.

In the 1920’s much of the vast prairie was planted with wheat which degraded the top-soil, leaving the land dusty and arid. These conditions were ideal for the turbulent prairie winds to whip up into a huge black destructive mass. This mass devastated homes and crops with the government urged to declare the affected area a disaster zone.

Hollywood Actress Sharon Stone, during auditions for the 1995 film The Quick and the Dead was greatly impressed with the talents of the young Leonardo Di Caprio and wanted him included in the cast. The studio said , “if you want him so much you can pay him out of your own salary” and, that’s what she did!

In life one good deed often follows another and Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet, the stars of the 1997 movie Titanic helped pay the nursing home fees of Millvina Dean . She was the last Titanic survivor. By paying for nursing home fees she did not have to sell any more mementos of the disaster to raise cash. She died in 2009 aged 97.

Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye terrier who became known in 19^th Century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner John Gray until he died himself on 14^th January 1872. A statue of Bobby sits at the corner of Candlemaker row and the George IV bridge. It is a category A listed building.