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St. George Unofficial Bank Holiday

Saturday, July 29, 2006

10 Things....

Snippets harvested from the week's news, chopped, sliced and diced for your weekend convenience by the BBCi.

1. It's illegal to fly a national flag without permission from a local council - unless it is flown from a vertical flagpole - meaning thousands of football fans were technically breaking the law during the World Cup by displaying the Cross of St George.

2. When filming summer scenes in winter, actors suck on ice cubes just before the camera rolls - it cools their mouths so their breath doesn't condense in the cold air.

3. 99 ice creams have been so-called since the 1930s, when they were more of an ice cream sandwich than a cone.

4. The Nazis went out of their way to condemn Superman, with Goebbels writing a polemic in April 1940 in Das Schwarze Korps, the SS newspaper.

5. Boutros Boutros Ghali's mobile phone ringtone is Oh My Darling and When the Saints (as listeners to Radio 4's Today programme unexpectedly heard on Wednesday morning).

6. Gordon Brown was presented with a Ferrari pedal car by the Italian finance minister, revealed the register of ministerial gifts. He paid £190 to keep it.

7. Once body temperature reaches 42C, it starts to cook. The heat causes the proteins in each cell to irreversibly change.

8. The average film running time is now two hours.

9. DR Congo boasts not only copper and gold and diamonds but also most of the world's deposits of a mineral called coltan, which is used in mobile phones.

10. Tokyo's subway has women-only carriages to protect female commuters from groping.

BBCi
Leave fur where it belongs