Interesting and unexpected facts can emerge from daily news stories and the Magazine picks out such snippets for its weekly feature, 10 things we didn't know last week. Here's an almanac of the best of 2013.
1. It would have taken 2.5 million seagulls to lift James's giant peach into the air, not the 501 that Roald Dahl suggested.
2. Hot drinks taste different according to the cup colour.
3. It's easier to pick wet things up with wrinkled fingers - suggesting an evolutionary reason for getting "prune fingers" in the bath.
4. There are two firms in the world cloning polo ponies.
5. Two per cent of Europeans lack the genes for smelly armpits
6. Horse-eating is called Hippophagy.
7. "Russian flu" got its name because of the Cold War rather than because it originated in Russia.
8. Women look their oldest every Wednesday at 3.30pm.
9. Prince Charles did not use the London Underground between 1986 and 2013.
10. The House of Lords has a rifle range.
11. Wines with animals on the label are known as "critter wines" in the US.
12. Female hawksbill turtles can store sperm for 75 days.
13. Fidgeting is good for men's concentration but bad for women's.
14. Workers at Amazon's warehouse in Rugeley walk past a life-sized cardboard image of a blonde woman who says: "This is the best job I have ever had!"
15. William is the surname that has decreased the most since 1901.
16. 1980s pop star Glenn Medeiros is the vice principal of a high school in Hawaii.
17. Haribos are so-named because of founder Hans Riegel and his hometown Bonn.
18. Drone operators experience post-traumatic stress at the same rate as combat pilots.
19. Nigel Farage writes a column for Total Sea Fishing magazine.
20. Monkeys avoid selfish people.
21. "Aunt" is the most popular pornographic search term in Syria.
22. Plants lace their nectar with caffeine to keep pollinators loyal.
23. South Korean media often refer to national politicians using only their initials.
24. Sarah Greene used to bite Peter Duncan's ankles to distract him during Blue Peter cookery demos.
25. South Africa was included in the BRICS as it made for a better acronym than Nigeria.
26. There are more deer in the UK now than at any time since the last Ice Age.Continued
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