Palace coups The people of Ukraine enjoyed a peek inside President Yanukovych’s palace, complete with petting zoo and collection of motorcycles. Who has the biggest and best presidential palace? — Italy’s president Giorgio Napolitano can claim the biggest: the Quirinal Palace in Rome, at 1.19m sq ft. It is not much fun, though, being full
A kamikaze pilot at 80 The Japanese city of Minami-Kyushu was attacked for wanting to add the letters of 1,036 kamikaze pilots who died on suicide missions in the second world war to a UN archive. Not all kamikaze pilots died, and a few are still alive. — Shigeyoshi Hamazono, who is now in his
Our first winter Hopes will not be high for a big haul of British medals in Sochi, but we have not always been Cinderellas at winter sports. In the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924 Britain sent 44 competitors, more than any other country, and ended up sixth in the medals, above the host
The political life of Walter Mitty Nigel Farage attacked the ‘Walter Mittys’ in his own party. A few of the many uses of James Thurber’s daydreaming character in politics: — In 2003 Tony Blair’s official spokesman Tom Kelly described the late government weapons scientist Dr David Kelly as a Walter Mitty. He was later forced
One for the road Road safety campaigners were angered by the opening of the first pub at a motorway service station, on the M40 in Buckinghamshire. — Drink-driving campaigns pre-date the motor-car: it was in 1872 that the first law was enacted that made it an offence to drive carriages, horses, cattle and steam engines
Fat chances The National Obesity Forum said that Britain is reaching a ‘doomsday scenario’ where half the population is obese. What happened to previous government campaigns to tackle obesity? — Between 1997 and 2008 the percentage of men getting the government’s recommended level of physical exercise grew from 32 per cent to 39 per cent,
The test of a wave Waves measuring 27ft from peak to trough were seen off Land’s End as the stormy weather continued. How do these compare with the highest waves ever measured? — Waves of 67ft were measured by a buoy off the coast of Donegal in December 2011, the highest found around the British
Centuries of conflict 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the war which was supposed to end all wars. Has the toll of war since 1918 been lesser or greater than in the century before 1914? 1815-1914 saw the tail end of the Napoleonic Wars (5m deaths), the Zulu Wars (2m) and the US Civil War
Whose year is it anyway? Some things which 2014 has been declared to be the year of: — Year of the Horse (China) — International Year of Family Farming (World Rural Forum) — Year of the Brain (European Brain Council) — Year of the Salamander (Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation) — Year of Crystallography
The darkest day Several people were injured on ‘Black Friday’, a day of retail discounting imported from the US, where the fourth Thursday of November is the Thanksgiving holiday and many shops hold one-day sales the following day. There are at least 23 historic events named ‘Black Friday’, from the imprisonment of seven bishops by
Third-class thinking A report by the Institute of Economic Affairs recommended standing-room-only third-class carriages as an alternative to longer trains and platforms. What was third-class rail travel originally like? — Until the 1844 Railway Act third-class travel generally meant an open carriage with holes drilled in the floor to let the rainwater out. The Act
Brave new words ‘Selfie’ was declared to be Oxford Dictionaries’ ‘word of the year’. It hasn’t, however, yet been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. These are some of the words which have been added over the past year (and which have been around a surprisingly long time): Bag woman, n; Campsite, n; Grey zone, n;
Whose tattoos? David Dimbleby, 75, has had a scorpion tattooed on his right shoulder. Some more tattoo-wearers who perhaps ought to know better: — Lady Steel, 71, wife of former liberal leader David Steel (pink jaguar on left shoulder). — Vanessa Feltz, 51 (photographed with Bob Marley on left arm, although it’s not known to
Dog’s dinner A Canadian hiker rescued in Quebec was reported to have killed and eaten his German shepherd dog in spite of it having saved him from a bear. Who else, outside Southeast Asia, has survived on dog? — Ernest Shackleton and his party in the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-17 were forced to eat
What can they do? Saudi women took to the wheel in defiance of laws preventing them from driving. Some recent freedoms Saudi women have gained: — From this year they have been allowed to ride bicycles, although only around parks and recreation facilities and when accompanied by their official male guardian. — From this year
National statistics Some lesser-known facts about the National Theatre: — 26 per cent of its income comes from box office sales on the South Bank, 33 per cent from commercial productions elsewhere and 20 per cent from government grants. — Attendances at the main Olivier Theatre have fallen year on year since 2008/09, from 402,000
Union dispute Pedants suffered a blow as the chief vexillologist of the Flag Institute declared that the Union Jack and Union Flag are interchangeable terms, the latter being just as correct on land as it is at sea. Here are both sides of the argument: evidence for ‘union jack’ being correct only at sea —
Lost property The second-to-last surviving resident of St Kilda — a small archipelago 40 miles off the Outer Hebrides which was abandoned in 1930 — has died. There are more than 4,000 abandoned settlements in Britain: Althorp Medieval village on the Althorp estate, Northamptonshire, removed by the Catesby family in the early 16th century to
Does workfare work? George Osborne announced a ‘work for benefits’ scheme. ‘Workfare’ schemes have been attacked by the left. Do they work? Wisconsin Works The introduction of the scheme, which obliges benefits claimants to accept community work placements, was followed by an 80 per cent reduction in welfare caseloads between 1990 and 2000. Washington state’s
Vitamins and the veil A judge at Blackfriars Crown Court allowed a niqab-wearing defendant to identify herself only to a policewoman, and a Birmingham college reversed a ban on students wearing veils on the campus. While the debate rages, the Jordanian Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics has identified a hazard associated with the garments: