Ape escapes A gorilla got out of its enclosure at London Zoo and entered a keepers’ area, prompting an evacuation of visitors. Other gorillas who tried to emulate King Kong: — Casey, a 400 lb male, scaled a 15-foot wall and a four-foot fence at Como Zoo in Minnesota in 1994 and spent an hour
Fears of a clown Professional clowns complained that the current craze for scaring people by dressing in clown outfits was damaging their trade. But why do some people find clowns frightening? — The effect was analysed in 1970 by Japanese professor Masahiro Mori as he researched robot faces. He found that the more lifelike faces
Tenement Scots John Cleese referred to the editor of this magazine as a ‘tenement Scot’. Do more Scots live in tenements? — The term tenement became associated in Scotland with 14-storey blocks built in Edinburgh in the 18th and 19th centuries. One collapsed in 1861, killing 35 residents and leading to an Improvement Act which
Lynch lore John McDonnell refused to apologise for a 2014 interview in which he called for former employment minister Esther McVey to be ‘lynched’. — Several Lynches have been credited for giving the term to the language. One was Charles Lynch (1736-96), a farmer, community leader and, remarkably, a Quaker from Lynchburg, Virginia (a town
Underbooked David Cameron is said to be struggling to get a good price for his memoirs, with talk of a £5 million advance shrinking to just £1.5 million. How does that compare with the advances for previous political memoirs? Greenland’s former prime minister said he had no regrets about the country’s vote to leave the
French intelligence Some interesting facts about the French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, for the benefit of shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry. Ayrault was elected mayor of Saint-Herblain, a suburb of Nantes, in 1977 aged just 27. He went on to become mayor of the entire city. In 2012 he was appointed prime minister by incoming president
In it together Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley were elected co-leaders of the Green party. Has a political party had co-leaders before? — The Green party of Aotearoa, New Zealand, founded in 1990 from an earlier Values Party, has been co-led since 1995, when Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald were elected. The party, which gained
Behind the cover-up Some facts about Burkinis: — The Burkini was invented by Ahedi Zanetti, a Lebanese-born Australian businesswoman, in 2004 after watching her niece trying to play netball in a hijab. — Muslim lifeguards started wearing them on Sydney beaches in 2007. — According to Zanetti, 40% of her customers are non-Muslim. — Two
Golden years How many Olympic events would Team GB have to win before we could earn back the gold reserves sold by Gordon Brown? — Olympic gold medals are in fact gold-plated silver and contain only 6g of gold. Between 1999 and 2002 Gordon Brown sold off 395 tons of gold — enough to mint
Four-letter surveys A judge at Chelmsford Crown Court who was sworn at by a man she was sentencing to jail swore back at him from the bench. How common is swearing? — A study in 1980 by Timothy Jay of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts analysed 11,609 words of everyday conversation and found 70
The end of an emperor — 82-year-old Emperor Akihito of Japan has announced that he wants to abdicate, partly, he said, because he doesn’t want Japan to come to a standstill in the event of him falling ill, as with previous emperors. — When Emperor Hirohito was diagnosed with duodenal cancer in 1987, the news
Knight falls There were calls for Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood. Who is stripped of such an honour? Some past cases: ROGER CASEMENT, diplomat. Lost knighthood shortly before being executed for treason in 1916, having attempted to negotiate a supply of weapons from the Germans for the Easter Rising JOSEPH KAGAN,
Capitalist faces A report by the Business and Pensions select committees described Philip Green as the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’. That was a description first coined by Edward Heath as Prime Minister in 1973 and applied to Tiny Rowland. — Rowland at the time was engaged in a boardroom battle with fellow directors of Lonrho,
How Britannia got her trident Parliament voted to renew Trident as Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. But what about Britannia and her trident? — Unnoticed by some, our coinage was unilaterally disarmed in 2008 when a new 50p was issued, with a crest, not Britannia. — But then Britannia didn’t always bear a trident. When she
Nuggets on May Some trivia about Theresa May — At 59, she is the oldest new prime minister since Jim Callaghan, 64, in 1976. — She has the shortest surname of any prime minister since Andrew Bonar Law, who held the post for 211 days in 1923. — She is the first childless PM since
Repeat until fade More than three million voters disappointed by the result of the EU referendum have signed a petition demanding a re-run. — They may have in mind the Danish referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, rejected by 50.7% of voters. A year later, after exemptions were offered to Denmark, the country voted
Big game hunt Wales beat Russia 3–0 to finish above England in their group at the European Football Championships. Which is bigger in Wales, football or rugby? — The Football Association of Wales was founded in 1876, five years earlier than the Welsh Rugby Union. However, rugby then took off rapidly in south Wales while
Houses of ill repute The Austrian interior minister has suggested that his government will demolish the house where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889. Some other properties which have succumbed to the architectural equivalent of the death penalty: — 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, home of Fred West, was demolished in 1996 and turned into a
Boxing brains Muhammad Ali died aged 74, after more than 30 years with Parkinson’s Disease. How many boxers suffer brain damage? — A 1969 study by A.H. Roberts examined 250 retired boxers and found 17% had lesions of the nervous system. Many had started out in the 1930s, when a professional boxing career could involve
Gorilla warfare Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla, was shot at Cincinnati Zoo after he started dragging away a boy aged four who had fallen into his enclosure. What are world’s biggest threat to gorillas? — There are approximately 100,000 left in the wild, most of them western lowland gorillas who live in the Congo. — Two