Interesting Fact - Eastenders

There have been 92 deaths in Eastenders since it began in 1985.

(This doesn't seem too farfetched, but 22.8% of the deaths were murder, a rate far above Britain's real figure of 0.032 per cent, and there is going to be yet another one soon.

There is even a death map on the BBC:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/games/death_map/

Cheerful stuff.

)

Interesting Animal - Spiders

One million spiders were used to create a golden spider silk cape that will be on show at London's V&A.

(The designers, Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley, used Madagascar Golden Orb spiders to create the work of art. It takes the silk from 23,000 spiders to weave 25 grammes of silk, and there are 1.5kg of silk in the cape. All in all, it took eight years to complete it. The spiders were "borrowed" from the forest, and returned there after a day. I wonder if they have a union?)

Interesting Place - London

London has its own leaning tower, the clock tower that contains Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster.

(Seemingly, the 96-metre tall clock tower, which houses the bell originally nicknamed Big Ben, leans about 46 cm to the left of its peak. A construction expert said there was nothing to worry about, and it would take 10,000 years to reach an angle of concern. Well at least it's leaning to the left, and not to the right.)

Interesting Fact - Transport

According to official data, China granted 22.69 million driving licenses in 2011.

(China is the world's largest car market, and now everyone wants a driving licence. Of course when you look at some of the other posts here on China's roads, you have to wonder if they ever get anywhere.)

Interesting Fact - Health

According to research from the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health in France and University College London, the brain begins to lose sharpness of memory and powers of reasoning and understanding from as early as 45.

(Previously it was thought that this began around the age of 60, but the researchers found that the brains of even the youngest were already in decline. There was a 3.6% decline in the mental reasoning of men and of women aged 45 to 49 and the process appeared to have sped up in the older age groups. Men aged 65 to 70 had a decline of 9.6% while women fared a little better, at 7.4%. The good news is that there are things that can be done about it. Looking after the heart has been shown to help the head, studies show that people with high blood pressure, obesity and high cholesterol who are at high risk of heart problems, are also at higher risk of dementia. Or maybe as we get older, we simply forget to exercise and eat properly.)