January 17th- Tiny frogs

The smallest known vertebrate is a frog. It is native to Papa New Guinea and is called paedphryne amauensis and ranges from 7mm to 8mm. They average 7.7mm. That is one tiny frog!

January 15th- Call me king Zog

Zog I was the last King of Albania. His surname was Zogolli and he holds the world record for the most cigarrettes consumed in a day, 255!

January 14th- Don't be so...

Facetious! Which, amusingly has all the vowels in alphabetical order... that is all.

January 13th- 1984 by Blair?

George Orwell is a pen name, the famous author was actually called Eric Arthur Blair and he was born in India. I realise that this is probably common knowledge and I am being a bit slow, but I genuinely didn't know!

January 12th- The colour of space

Scientists have discovered that the Milky Way is actually milky. In a revolutionary experiment they have concluded that the galaxy is actually white in colour. According to Professor Newman, "The best description I can give would be that if you looked at new spring snow, which has a fine grain size, about an hour after dawn or an hour before sunset, you'd see the same spectrum of light that an alien astronomer in another galaxy would see looking at the Milky Way."


Again the full story is on BBC news here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16523528

January 11th- Predictions

In 1900 an American civil engineer named John Elfreth Watkins made a number of predictions about how life would be lived in the year 2000. He correctly predicted the rise of digital photography, mobile phones, TV, tanks, ready meals and a 2 inch rise in average height. Although he got a few things wrong, like the removal of C X and Q from the English alphabet, I thought it was cool nonetheless. 

The full story is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16444966 

January 10th- Sacre Bleu!

The phrase sacre bleu probably came from a late middle age Marian oath referring to the colour blue. Effectively meaning "sacred blue" it most likely refers to the fact that the virgin Mary is often depicted in blue clothing (blue was a very expensive dye.) It may also be a corruption of the verbs sacrer, meaning to crown, anoint or champion and Dieu, meaning God. Either way, I was wondering why it was sacre bleu and not sacre vert or sacre jaune...

January 9th- THE BIRDS!!!

So, the QI elves have told me that the word Turdarium means a place whee thrushes were kept. Thrushes were so numerous that their dung was used as manure, not unlike bat or seabird guano in some parts of the world. Turdarium, where the... birds are!

January 8th- A cold blooded mascot

So, I learnt today that twenty-six U.S. states have an official state reptile. Oklahoma was the first to name an official reptile, the collared lizard, in 1969, and nominations have gathered pace since the 1980s. As Lizards are primarily hot climate animals, 19 of these 26 states are southern states. I want a West Midlands county reptile, how could would that be!

January 7th- Should I send this recorded delivery?

In 1913 the US postal service introduced parcel post. There are two recorded incidents of children, with stamps affixed to their clothing, being sent in the mail as a parcel. These children rode in mail vans and on railways to their intended destination. The practice was quickly banned by the postmaster general, on the grounds that it was not cost effective as the children had to be fed on long distance routes!

Mail order toddler anyone...?

January 6th- 6, 7, 8

I was practising for a numerical reasoning test with Sarah today and I discovered that 6x, 7x and 8x tables are the most often forgotten. Learning by rote, whilst largely useless in some academic disciplines, seems to work when it comes to multiplication tables. So there you go. Recite away!

January 5th- Keep Calm...

So, I suspect everyone has seen the plethora of 'keep calm and carry on' related merchandise on sale in a variety of guises, from mugs to motivational books. The origins are interesting. 'Keep Calm and Carry On' was the third of three posters issued by the Ministry of Information in 1939, to motivate people and keep civilian morale high. It was, originally, the smallest print run and the least well known of the three slogans used. Only two original copies are known to exist outside of Government Archives. It was re discovered in 2000, when it was first put to commercial use.

Bit of a slow day today, this was literally the best I could do...

January 4th- A forest of Beech Trees?

So, this one is a bit late, sorry! I came home yesterday to no electricity, which makes blogging tricky!

Anyhoo, a bit of word history for you today.  The word bookmark comes from two roots. Book from the old German word buch, meaning beech tree and Mark from an old english word,  mearc, meaning boundary. Mearc comes from a norse word, mork, meaning forest. So Bookmark comes from collection of words meaning a forest of beech trees!

This one is courtesy of Mark Forsyth and his fab new book "The Etymologicon." Check out his blog at blog.inkyfool.com or he is @inkyfool on twitter. His book is really good, and i think that some other bits may make their way into my blog too!

January 3rd- Bobs your Uncle

The phrase "Bob's your Uncle" came into being in the 1890s. A politician named Arthur Balfour was chosen as Secretary of State for Ireland. Although he was qualified to undertake this post, his selection was a surprise. It became known that Arthur was the nephew of the Prime Minister, Robert Gascoyne- Cecil (Lord Salisbury.) and people began to say, with a wink, with Robert as your uncle anything is possible! And so it proved for Albert Balfour, who later became Prime Minister himself.

This one comes courtesy of Albert Jack's rather fun book "Red Herrings and White Elephants."

January 2nd- The end of a bitter struggle

I am returning to my historical roots today. in 1492, on 2nd January the emirate of Granada surrendered to Spanish forces. This marked the end of the Reconquista. Begun almost 800 years earlier, the Reconquista was a campaign to retake the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. The final defeat of Moorish forces was a major factor in the growth of Spain as a major European power in the 1500s & 1600s. It must have been quite a party...

January 1st- Of Mice and Nothing Else?

I learnt today that 90% of GCSE students study Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck, an American from California, wrote this Novella in 1937 and based it partly on his own experiences. It is a short (6 chapter) story. Perhaps therefore it is a testament to his writing skill that it is so widely studied, or maybe it is merely that it is short and a "classic" (and therefore easy to teach in a limited time. )  On a side note however, I do remember looking enviously at other people's copies whilst hefting Lord of the Flies to English class...

A challenge and a beginning.

How often do we hear the phrase "you learn something new every day?" I hear it all the time and began to wonder: Can I learn one new thing every day for a year? So, a challenge then: to learn and record here one new fact (to me!) every day in 2012. Here goes!