28th February: Shrove Tuesday

It's Shrove Tuesday, aka Pancake Day. Here are a few things you might not know about Shrove Tuesday:

1. "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive, meaning "absolve" by way of Confession and doing penance. The expression “Short shrift” meaning a quick confession made by a criminal before execution comes from the same root.
2. Other names for this day in the liturgical calendar include pancake day (because of the tradition of eating pancakes) Mardi Gras (fat Tuesday). In Germany it is known as Fastnachtsdienstag or Veilchendienstag (violet Tuesday). In Iceland it is called Sprengidagur (Bursting Day) and in Estonia it is called Vastlapäev.
3. The pancake eating tradition comes from the need to use up all the things in the larder that it was forbidden to eat during Lent, which begins the following day, Ash Wednesday, ie dairy products, meat and Eggs.
4. It doesn't mean pancakes for everyone. On the Portuguese island of Madeira they eat malasadas, a kind of doughnut, and in Iceland it's salted meat and Peas. In Estonia they eat pea soup, whipped-cream and jam filled sweet-buns.
5. Pancake races are a feature of the day. This tradition is said to have begun in 1445 when a housewife from Olney, Buckinghamshire, was so busy making pancakes she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for the service. To get to church on time she had to dash out of the house with her frying pan and run to church, tossing the pancake as she went. Olney is one of the many places to keep this tradition. Contestants, traditionally women wearing aprons and scarves, race over a 415-yard course to the finishing line. They must toss their pancake at both the start and the finish. Men can join in as long as they dress up as housewives.
6. Sledding, skipping and Football matches involving the entire populations of villages also take place in some parts of the world, not to mention carnivals.
7. Like many Christian festivals, Shrove Tuesday could have had pagan origins. Slavic people in ancient times celebrated the start of spring by helping the gods of spring and fertility defeat the gods of darkness. Part of this process involved the making of pancakes, which are round and therefore represented the sun. People believed they would receive the power of the sun by eating them, and at the end of the week, they would burn some as a sacrifice to the pagan gods.
8. Shakespeare mentions Shrove Tuesday in All’s Well That Ends Well: “as fit as a pancake for Shrove Tuesday”.
9. In France, people make a wish before flipping their pancakes, while holding a coin in their other hand.
10. I'll end with some pancake records. The largest pancake ever made measured 15 metres and weighed three tonnes. The most flips anyone has ever done with a pancake is 349 flips in two minutes. The highest pancake toss reached 329cm high. The most pancakes served in eight hours is 34,818. Finally, Andrei Smirnov from Russia ate 73 pancakes in an hour.

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27th February: The Old Bailey

London's famous court, Old Bailey opened on this date in 1907. Here are ten things you might not know about the Old Bailey.

1. While the present Old Bailey building was opened in 1907 by Edward VII, there has been a courthouse and/or a prison on the site since at least 1585, when the court was first mentioned in records. The whole thing came about thanks to an endowment intended to improve Newgate Gaol and provide room for the sheriffs. The donor was none other than Richard Whittington, the Lord Mayor who inspired the Dick Whittington pantomime.
2. The building was designed by E. W. Mountford, and was built on the site of Newgate Gaol, which was demolished to make room for it.
3. The correct name for the building is actually the Central Criminal Court. Old Bailey is a nickname based on the name of the street it stands on. The name means "Old Wall". The name is due to the fact that the building stands on the site of the Roman wall which once surrounded London. Remnants of the wall form part of the foundations and one remnant has been preserved in the basement under the cells.
4. Also under the building, there is a river. The River Fleet, to be exact, flowing through a culvert. It can be accessed through a hatch in the floor of what used to be the coal room. It's said that prison reformer Elizabeth Fry once collected Water here for the inmates to drink.
5. Atop the Old Bailey is a dome, the inside of which is only ever seen by the Old Bailey's under-Sheriff and the building manager once a year. On top of the dome is the statue of Lady Justice. She is 3.5m tall and weighs 22 tons. She holds the sword of retribution in her right hand, and the scales of justice in her left. She was created by British sculptor F. W. Pomeroy, and is not, contrary to popular belief, blindfolded. She is an innocent maiden, which according to court literature, makes her impartial enough without needing to be blindfolded.
6. On the subject of literature, Charles Dickens was at one time a court reporter and reported on many cases here. It's likely many of his stories were inspired by these. The Old Bailey is mentioned by name in his book A Tale of Two Cities.
7. The words "Defend the Children of the Poor and Punish the Wrongdoer" are inscribed above the main entrance.
8. During hearings, the judge does not sit on the centre of the bench. This tradition arose because the Lord Mayor and aldermen of the City of London are entitled to sit in and observe hearings if they wish. Should the Lord Mayor decide to drop in he would sit in the middle. The original ceremonial gates are only used by the Lord Mayor and visiting royalty. Members of the public can visit during the week free of charge, but if you're planning to go, leave your phone at home. No phones are allowed inside and there is no place provided to leave them.
9. Originally, the Old Bailey was only for trials of criminals accused of crimes committed in the City and Middlesex. This changed in 1856, when William Palmer, a doctor accused of murder by poisoning, revolted the public so much that it was unlikely he'd get a fair trail at his local court in Staffordshire. The Central Criminal Court Act 1856 was passed to enable his trial to be held at the Old Bailey. Since then any number of notorious criminals have been tried there, including the Kray Twins, Dr Crippen, the Yorkshire Ripper, Ruth Ellis — the last woman to be executed in the UK, and Oscar Wilde.
10. Up until 1868, public hangings would take place outside. Thousands of people would show up to jeer and throw things at the condemned prisoner. In 1807, 28 people were crushed to death after a pie-seller's stall overturned. Poetic justice, perhaps. A secret tunnel was built from the Bailey to the church opposite, to allow the Chaplain access without having to fight his way through riotous crowds. Thousands of condemned prisoners have taken the "Dead Man's Walk" through Newgate Prison to a public square to be hanged. You may well ask, therefore, if the place is haunted. The official ghost story is that it is haunted by the ghost of the ‘Black Dog of Newgate’. He was a prisoner who was killed and eaten by his cell mates when they were starving, and appears in the form of a black dog. The pub across the street, the Viaduct Tavern, built on the site of another old prison, is said to be haunted too. Staff are nervous of going down to the cellar, which used to be prison cells, because of lights going off, doors locking themselves and strange noises.

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February 26th: Grand Canyon Day

It's Grand Canyon Day - the anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park which was established on this day in 1919.

1. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 kilometres) in length, 18 miles (29 kilometres) wide at its widest point and one mile deep - but it isn't the deepest or longest canyon in the world. That accolade goes to The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet which is 17,567 feet deep, more than 2 miles deeper than the Grand Canyon. It is also about 30 miles longer.
2. About 2,000 people call the Grand Canyon home all the year round. Many of these are Native Americans of the Havasupai Tribe who live in Supai Village at the bottom of the Canyon. This is the most remote community in the lower 48 states - so remote that they need a Mule to deliver their mail. Havasupai, roughly translates to the “People of the Blue-Green Waters.” There are also the people who maintain Phantom Ranch, the only place to stay at the bottom.
3. The first people to live in the Canyon were Native Americans from the Puebloan tribe, around around 1200 BCE. The Canyon was unknown to Europeans until 1540 when Spanish explorers and soldiers, travelling with Hopi guides, paid a visit. It was 1776 before any Europeans came back.
4. There is plenty of wildlife - 1,750 species of plant, 17 different fish species, 91 mammal species and 47 reptile species, including pink rattlesnakes and lizards which can shoot blood out of their eyes to scare predators away.
5. There are no bridges across the Canyon, so if you want to go from one side to the other it involves a 215 mile drive all the way around, which takes five hours, even though the North Rim and South Rim are only about 10 miles apart straight across. It's possible for extremely fit and experienced hikers to walk across but this isn't encouraged.
6. More than 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon every year. This makes it the second most visited national park in the USA. Only the Great Smoky Mountains get more visitors.
7. It pretty much has its own weather system with vast variations in temperature and rainfall. The Temperature at the bottom can be as much as thirty degrees hotter than at the top, which has caught out many an unwary hiker. The coldest, wettest weather station in the region is the Bright Angel Ranger Station on the North Rim, while the hottest and one of the driest is 8 miles away at Phantom Ranch.
8. It's very old. Older than people thought. The long accepted belief was that the Colorado River began carving the Grand Canyon about 6 million years ago. However, in 2012, scientists discovered that it may actually date back 70 million years, when it was probably a series of smaller canyons; and it is probably still growing. A lot of fossils have been found in the Canyon, but no Dinosaur bones, as although the rocks are plenty old enough, the dinosaurs were already extinct when the Canyon formed.
9. As of March 10, 2012, the Canyon officially eliminated the sale of water in disposable containers. This was because 20% of the rubbish there was plastic Water bottles. What people need to do now is bring a container and fill up at one of the many free water stations.
10. About 600 deaths have occurred in the Grand Canyon since the 1870s. 53 were falls; 65 deaths were attributable to environmental causes, such as heat stroke, cardiac arrest, dehydration, and hypothermia; 7 people were caught in flash floods; 79 drowned in the Colorado River; 242 perished in airplane and Helicopter crashes (128 of them in a 1956 disaster alone); 25 died in freak errors and accidents, such as Lightning strikes and rock falls; and 23 were murdered.

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25th February: Pierre Auguste Renoir

On this date in 1841, Pierre Auguste Renoir, the French impressionist artist, was born. Here are some facts about Renoir that you may not know.

1. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, but his family moved to Paris when he was about three.
2. Had his family been better off, he might have become a singer rather than an artist. As a boy, he was arguably better at singing than drawing and had lessons with Charles Gounod, who was the choir-master at the Church of St Roch. However, his family couldn't afford the Music lessons, so at thirteen, he had to discontinue them and go out to work as an apprentice at a porcelain factory.
3. He proved to be very good at painting designs on porcelain and he started taking art lessons - which also almost had to stop when the factory began using mechanical methods and Renoir was made redundant. After that, he supported himself by painting decorations on fans and wall hangings.
4. He used to sit and paint on the banks of the Seine, which led to the Communards thinking he was a spy. He might have ended up being thrown in the river but Raoul Rigault, one of the Commune's leaders, recognised him as someone who had done him a favour once and was able to assure the others he was an artist not a spy.
5. In 1874, Renoir displayed six paintings at the first Impressionist exhibition, along with Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, and several other artists. In general, the exhibition wasn't well received by the critics, but they liked Renoir's paintings.
6. Renoir was a friend of Claude Monet, and they shared digs for a while. They'd paint together, too, sometimes producing paintings that were virtually identical.
7. In 1890, he married Aline Victorine Charigot. His three sons all went into creative careers, too - Pierre Renoir Jr was an actor, Jean Renoir a filmmaker and Claude Renoir a ceramic artist. The filmmaker Claude Renoir was his grandson.
8. Renoir met the composer Richard Wagner at his home in Palermo, Sicily. Renoir painted Wagner's portrait - it took him thirty-five minutes.
9. Renoir broke his right arm after falling from a bike and for a time had to paint with his left.
10. In his later years he developed severe rheumatoid arthritis and could barely move, but he carried on painting. It's often said he had to use a brush strapped to his hands with bandages but this is a myth. He could still hold the brush but probably needed someone to pick it up and put it in his hand.

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24th February: St Matthias' Day

Today is the feast day of St Matthias. Here are some things you may not know about him:

1. St Matthias was the apostle who replaced Judas, according to the Acts of the Apostles.
2. Of all the apostles, Matthias is unique in that Jesus didn't personally appoint him - but was voted in by a meeting of disciples after Jesus had ascended into heaven. It was Peter who suggested that they nominate two possible replacements. The other nominee was Joseph called Barsabas (whose surname was Justus). After praying for God to show them which was the best candidate, the disciples voted, and Matthias won.
3. Although Jesus didn't appoint him, it does seem likely that Jesus knew him - according to Acts, he had been a follower of Jesus since his baptism, even though he isn't mentioned in any of the gospels.
4. St Matthias is the patron of alcoholics; carpenters; Gary, Indiana (where Michael Jackson came from); Great Falls-Billings, Montana; smallpox; tailors; hope and perseverance.
5. There are a few fragments of a lost gospel of Matthias. The fragments suggest Matthias wrote it but early Church Fathers attributed it to heretics in the 2nd century. There's not enough evidence either way since most of it is missing. In it, he promotes asceticism and fighting the urges of the flesh.
6. Whether he did any writing or not, he would certainly have done some preaching although different traditions have different ideas about where his mission field actually was. Cappadocia and on the coasts of the Caspian Sea, Colchis, now in modern-day Georgia, Ethiopia or Jerusalem have all been suggested.
7. There are varying accounts of how Matthias died as well. Most accounts say he was stoned to death, but Hippolytus of Rome claimed that he died of old age in Jerusalem.
8. His name even varies in different accounts. He has been referred to, or is thought to have been, Tolmai, Nathaniel, Zacchaeus or Barnabas.
9. People may not know where he died, but there are a couple of places which claim to be the site of his grave. The Abbey of St. Matthias, Trier, Germany, claims that Empress Helena of Constantinople, mother of Emperor Constantine I (the Great) had his body shipped there. Greek traditions say he is buried in the castle of Gonio-Apsaros, Georgia.
10. His feast day is February 24th (the 25th in leap years) in the Church of England, but other denominations celebrate it on May 14th or August 9th.

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23rd February: First Times Classifeds

On this date in 1886 the London Times published the world's first classified ad. Here are ten of my favourite howlers from the classifieds:

1. SM seeking an adventurous SF interested in underwater bondage, with or without scuba gear and albino livestock breeding. No weirdos, please.
2. For sale: TVs - perfect working order, as advertised on Crimewatch.
3. Christian male, 28, interests include church, sailing, socialising, music and quiet night sin seeks female 18-30 for friendship/romance
4. For sale: Electric carving knife, brand new £4. Other baby toys at various prices.
5. Lady, reasonable looks, medium build, 65, likes short walks, outings, the occasional drunk.
6. Walter, 56, slightly disabled, seeks sex with men of any age. Must be hairy around Walsall area.
7. Rolls Royce hearse for sale due to bereavement. Original body, excellent condition.
8. For sale: Six Million Dollar Man. £3.
9. Afghan hound for sale - what am I offered for this one year old dog? House trained, gentle, will eat anything and is especially fond of children.
10. Lost, brown and black dog, has piebald left eye and limps, half of right ear missing and no tail. Answers to the name of Lucky.

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22 February: National Margarita Day

It's National Margarita Day - here are some Margarita facts.

1. A margarita is a cocktail consisting of triple sec (most often Cointreau but it could also be Grand Marnier, Gran Gala, or blue curaçao), tequila and lime or lemon juice. The IBA (IBA Official list of Cocktails) standard is 7:4:3, ie, 50% Tequila, 29% Cointreau, 21% fresh Lime juice.
2. There are a whole raft of tales about the origin of the margarita. Basically, it could have been invented any time between 1936 and 1961, by Carlos "Danny" Herrera, Don Carlos Orozco, Francisco "Pancho" Morales, Margarita Sames, Jose Cuervo, Santos Cruz or Robert James "Rusty" Thomson.
3. Another explanation is that during prohibition people went to Mexico to get a drink and that a Margarita is a version of an American drink called the Daisy, made with tequila instead of brandy.
4. There are as many stories about how the drink got its name. Margarita Sames named it after herself, while the other possible inventors named it for Margarita Henkel, the daughter of the then German ambassador, Mexican showgirl Rita de la Rosa or Peggy Lee.
5. Margarita is thought by many to be a Spanish name, the Spanish for Margaret, but in fact, it's a German name, although it is the Spanish word for Daisy.
6. The first known publication of a margarita recipe was in the December 1953 issue of Esquire. This one called for an ounce of tequila, a dash of triple sec and the juice of half a lime or Lemon.
7. In the USA, bartenders usually use Persian limes for the lime juice component while in Mexico they use key limes.
8. The drink can be served with ice or without, and usually with Salt on the rim of the glass.
9. The traditional margarita glass is a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass or champagne coupe, but if you don't have any of those, it can be served in a variety of other glasses.
10. The drink comes in flavours other than straight lime - variations include mango, Peach, Strawberry, Banana, Melon, or raspberry. There is even a variation called the "Coronarita", in which a bottle of Corona is upturned to drain into a margarita.

21st February: Boadicea

In 1988 The grave of Boadicea, the warrior queen who fought the Romans in Britain nearly 2,000 years ago, was located by archaeologists under Platform 8 at King’s Cross railway station, London.

1. Who was she? Boadicea was queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
2. The spelling of her name varies. She has been known as Voadicia, Bunduca, Boudica, Boudiga and Bodicca. Tacitus, the main source of contemporary information about her, spelled it Boudicca; the most common spelling in the 19th century was Boadicea. Her name probably derives from the Celtic word for Victory. After centuries of obscurity in which she wasn't mentioned in histories of Britain at all, she was re-discovered in the 19th century and became a popular figure. Possibly the fact that the nearest modern equivalent of her name (in meaning anyway) is "Victoria".
3. Boadicea was married to Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, based in Norfolk, who was actually allied with Rome and allowed to rule his kingdom independently.
4. So why the rebellion? Prasutagus left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman emperor in his will, probably to protect their interests and also those of his queen. However, when Prasutagus died, the Romans disregarded his wishes entirely. They seized the kingdom, had Boadicea flogged and raped her daughters (presumably when they tried to resist the invaders).
5. Queen Boadicea was justifiably furious about all this. In AD 60 or 61, when the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was away fighting Druids on the island of Anglesey, the Iceni and their neighbours, the Trinovantes, decided to revolt. They chose Boadicea as their leader and marched on the Roman city of Camulodunum (now Colchester) and destroyed it. Word reached Suetonius that the rebels had set their sights on Londinium (now London) next, and so he left the Druids alone and returned home. He soon worked out that the rebel army was so big that the Romans had no chance of winning, so the city was evacuated. The rebels arrived, burned the city down and slaughtered anyone who hadn't fled. The rebels went on to destroy Verulamium (now St Albans). An estimated 70,000–80,000 lives were lost in the conflict.
6. Boadicea was looking unstoppable, but she was defeated in the Battle of Watling Street. Nobody knows exactly where this was, but some likely locations have been put forward - High Cross in Leicestershire, on the junction of Watling Street and the Fosse Way, Manduessedum (Mancetter), near Atherstone in Warwickshire, "The Rampart" near Messing in Essex, Kings Norton close to Metchley Camp, the Cuttle Mill area of Paulerspury in Northamptonshire, Arbury Bank, Hertfordshire and Church Stowe, Northamptonshire.
7. Boadicea's ultimate fate is also unknown. Some accounts claim she committed suicide, others tell a less dramatic story that she got sick and died. Everything we know about Boadicea comes from accounts written by Romans, as there was no native British literature or written history from the time.
8. What was she like? Contemporary writings by Tacitus and Dio suggest she was of royal descent in her own right, and was "possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women." She was described as an imposing figure - tall, with long "tawny" (light brown with a reddish tinge) hair reaching below her waist. She had a harsh voice and a piercing glare. She wore colourful clothes and a large necklace or torc around her neck, with a thick cloak fastened by a brooch.
9. According to Tacitus, she would exhort her troops from her chariot, her daughters beside her. She presented herself not as an aristocrat angry at losing her wealth, but as an ordinary woman whose motivation was revenge at losing her freedom, and the mistreatment of herself and her daughters. She was resolved to win or die.
10. Boadicea was largely forgotten during the middle ages, but the imagination of the Victorians was captured by her. Victoria's Poet Laureate, Alfred Lord Tennyson, wrote a poem, "Boadicea", and several ships were named after her. A statue of Boudica with her daughters in her war chariot by Thomas Thornycroft was erected on a plinth on the Victoria Embankment next to Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. Even now, she is remembered - in 2002 she was number 35 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

20th February: Handcuff Day

Today is Handcuff Day. How much do you know about handcuffs?

1. Why is it handcuff day on 20th February? Because it was on this date in 1912 that the common swing bow ratchet handcuff was patented by George A. Carney. These were lighter and easier to carry around than the bulky models available before.
2. Handcuffs are made from various metals, including carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminium, or from synthetic polymers.
3. Disposable plastic cuffs which resemble cable ties can be carried in large quantities and are used by soldiers and police in riot situations. Airlines have them, too, to restrain passengers who get out of hand. They have their drawbacks, however. Cuffs like this can't be loosened and the only way to remove them is to cut them off. Hence if someone is kept in custody for a while, they might go through several of them as they need to be removed for fingerprinting or if the person needs to use the bathroom.
4. Most handcuffs in the UK, USA and Canada can be opened with a universal key. Maximum security handcuffs require special keys, however, so even if you could get hold of a key it's not guaranteed you could bust your friend out with it!
5. This is one of the reasons escapologists often use handcuffs in their acts, because one way of escaping is to have a key hidden somewhere on their person. Because they are temporary restraints, handcuff locks aren't all that complicated, so they can be picked relatively easily using a lockpick (the practice of many police forces of handcuffing people with their hands behind their backs, palms facing out and the keyhole on top is to stop people from doing this).
6. In the US, there are models of handcuff key that fit behind a police officer's badge. These are sometimes called "the New York tuning fork".
7. Handcuffing people doesn't come without risks. People use their hands to break falls, so being handcuffed increases the risk of injury from a fall, for which the police officer would be liable - so they have to be ready to catch a handcuffed prisoner if they stumble.
8. If handcuffs are too tight and/or left on too long there is a risk the prisoner will get handcuff neuropathy. Handcuff neuropathy is a colloquial name for Cheiralgia paraesthetica, or Wartenberg's syndrome, a condition caused by compression or trauma to the superficial branch of the radial nerve, usually due to constriction of the wrist. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, burning or pain. A person can also get it from wearing a tight wristwatch or bracelet.
9. In some parts of the world, such as Japan, France and Hong Kong, it is illegal to photograph suspects being carted away in handcuffs for use on TV or in the papers. This is because being cuffed implies guilt and could prejudice the trial. A Japanese man called Kazuyoshi Miura argued this in court, and was successful. So in Japan, handcuffed hands are pixelated. In France, the pictures cannot be used at all, and in Hong Kong the suspect is given the option of wearing a black cloth bag over their head.
10. Of course, we have to mention the kinky stuff. If using handcuffs for bondage, police handcuffs aren't suitable because they are potentially unsafe, particularly because of handcuff neuropathy (see above). So there are special handcuffs for this purpose, similar to the ones used for restraining psychiatric patients, which have soft restraints.

19th February: Nicolaus Copernicus

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus.

1. Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in the city of Toruń, part of Prussia in the Kingdom of Poland. He came from a family of merchants - his father (also called Nicolaus) was a merchant and his mother (Barbara) was the daughter of a merchant.
2. The family name is thought to have come from the Silesian village where his ancestors lived. The name of the village could have derived from the Copper mining industry in the area, or from the herb dill, the word for which is "koperek" or "kopernik" in Polish.
3. Copernicus was very highly educated. His father died when he was 11 and so most of his education was organised by his mother's brother, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, a bishop, who wanted his nephew to work for him. Copernicus studied at at least three different universities, majoring in three different subjects - maths, astronomy and science at the University of Kraków, Canon law in Bolognia and medicine at Padua. However, there is no evidence that he was actually awarded a degree by any of those universities.
4. Not having a degree was no bar to him working in all those fields. He's known as an astronomer, and he worked for his uncle, the bishop, as both his secretary and later his doctor.
5. He also wrote essays about economics and stabilising the value of currency and these were consulted by the leaders of both Prussia and Poland.
6. Copernicus's theory didn't strictly speaking say that the Earth revolves around the Sun, but rather that the planet revolves around a centre close to it.
7. He wasn't the first to come up with the idea that the Earth wasn't the centre of the universe. Previous astronomers ideas were rejected by the church. Nicolaus model of the universe was eventually accepted because his was more detailed and accurate. He had a surprisingly good relationship with the church, although his theories did have their share of severe critics.
8. He finished writing De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, the book in which he argued in favour of the heliocentric model, in 1532, but didn't publish it until eleven years later because he was afraid his new and complicated theory would be scorned. While it was true the book sold less than 400 copies when it first came out, as a lot of people thought it was mathematical fiction. Some people liked it, though and in time it became the book that sparked a scientific revolution.
9. Sadly, Copernicus didn't live to see that. The book was published shortly before he died and according to legend, he was handed the first printed copy on his deathbed, looked at it, and died peacefully knowing that his life's work was done. So he didn't live to see it struggle to sell, either.
10. Copernicus has an element and an Asteroid named after him. The element is Copernicium (Cn) with atomic number 112, and the asteroid is (1322) Coppernicus, discovered on 15 June 1934 by the German astronomer Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth in Heidelberg. And yes, the spelling is correct - it's the one preferred by Copernicus's biographer Leopold Prowe.

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18th February: World Pangolin Day

The third Saturday in February is World Pangolin Day. Here are ten things you might not know about pangolins.

1. Pangolins are mammals of the order Pholidota. They are unique among mammals in that they are covered with keratin scales (that's the same stuff our fingernails are made from). The scales are very sharp - when threatened the pangolin rolls into a ball which deters most predators. The scales comprise about 20% of their total body weight.
2. They can also emit a foul smelling substance from glands around their anus, rather like a skunk.
3. The name "pangolin" comes from the Malay word "pengguling", meaning "something that rolls up". As for a collective noun, many sources said there wasn't one, as they are solitary creatures which only get together to mate. Yet I found a couple of other sources which suggested the word for a group of pangolins was a predicament, sliding scale or prang.
4. There are eight species of pangolin alive on the planet today, although some are endangered. Four species live in Africa and four in Asia. Some species live in burrows, others in hollow trees. Their claws are said to be strong enough to dig through concrete.
5. They were once thought to be related to other anteaters, armadillos and Sloths, but more recently it has been concluded that they are more closely related to hyenas, Bears and Wolves.
6. An alternative name for these creatures is the scaly anteater. They do, in fact, eat ants, or Termites. They can be fussy eaters and only eat one species of insect, even when several are available. They have no teeth. They catch their prey with long tongues covered in saliva. Inevitably, they ingest small stones as well, but these help grind up the ants in their stomachs. They also have keratinous spines inside their stomachs to help this process. A Pangolin may eat 70 million ants a year. Pangolins can voluntarily constrict their ears and nostrils to keep insects out while they are feeding.
7. A pangolin’s tongue can be longer than its body. Large pangolins can extend their tongues as much as 40 centimetres (16 in).
8. The largest pangolin ever recorded weighed in at 33 kilograms (72.6 pounds).
9. Humans are the biggest danger to a pangolin. Humans aren't flummoxed, as a lion would be, by a rolled up pangolin. They simply put on protective gloves and scoop them up. They are hunted for their meat and also the scales, which many people mistakenly believe have medicinal properties.
10. In 2012 Sir David Attenborough chose the Sunda pangolin, a species distributed throughout South East Asia, as one of his ten favourite species he would save from extinction.

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