if it’s news to me, it must be news to you!
Blistering barnacles: The remain faction has recruited Tintin to their cause by using an illustration from The Crab with the Golden Claws to illustrate the self-destructive nature of Brexit and it now hangs on the wall of the EU negotiating team.
And speaking of Brexit, Alistair Campbell has returned to journalism as editor-at-large for the New European, the newspaper for the 48%.
I know my place: Tatler has produced a list of 28 words that they claim only posh people use, although I have been known to use one or two when I was much younger, namely bins (for spectacles), yonks, jersey and bugger.
Wheel of Misfortune: A contestant on an American tv game show needed only to guess one letter to complete the title on the right and naturally came up with… K.
King of the Nopars: A Hyundai Coupe abandoned in a Birmingham car park has accumulated parking fines of £2,600, seventeen times what the car is actually worth.
The joy of parenthood: A new research study by the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, has shown that being a parent can increase your longevity by up to two years.
Make Mother’s Day: I’ve written before about strangely flavoured nail polish but this one that tastes of prosecco has been specially designed for Mother’s Day this weekend.
In case of emergency: If you have an iPhone and are tempted by the instruction to say to Siri ‘108’ don’t do it. That is the emergency services number in India and will put you through to 999.
Cloud atlas: One of my favourite factlets is that the word sky is derived from the Norse for cloud which tells you much about the weather in the fjords and the UK for that matter. But they only had the one word when there are all sorts of different cloud formations and now there eleven more recognised by the World Meteorological Organization. Which is wonderful news for the enthusiasts in the Cloud Appreciation Society.
Beastly to the beast: With Disney releasing their latest take on Beauty and the Beast, it’s timely to return to Low Budget Beasts which celebrates the less than convincing costumes like the one on the right.
No small beer: A Greenwich brewer has produced the first beer based on someone’s DNA based on that person’s taste preferences.
Hot stuff: If you’re going out today be sure to wear a high factor sunblock – the BBC is predicting temperatures of 88°C!
Loaded dice: Can you spot the die with seven spots? A puzzle created by an online betting company, but if you want to know the answer click here.
Hi stranger: This stop-motion video by Los Angeles-based animator Kirsten Lepore has been taking the interweb by storm. Described as ‘weirdly intimate’ it is unsettling but you can’t stop watching.
Brief lives: The incomparable Chuck Berry; IRA hard man turned politician and statesman Martin McGuinness; Inspector Morse author Colin Dexter; former Liverpool captain and coach Ronnie Moran; Sam Leach who promoted the Beatles before they were famous (he died in December but I missed it); Muddy Waters’ harmonica player James Cotton; forensic scientist Margaret Pereira ; comic book artist Bernie Wrightson (hat-tip Roger) and; especially Pc Keith Palmer and all other victims of mindless hatred.