Bathtub day Celebrates the initial British appearance in 1828 of the bathtub as a part of our everyday life. 10 facts about baths.
- The oldest bathtub ever found is in the Queen's bathroom in the palace of Knossos on Crete. It dates from 1500BC and was made from fired clay.
- The historic culture best known for its baths was ancient Rome. In the fifth century AD, Rome had around 900 public baths. At first, the Romans built the public baths for the poor people, since the rich people could afford to have bathrooms in their houses. However, taking a bath in a public bathhouse became such a social occasion that the rich people started using them as well. People would go to the baths as often as six times a day to meet their friends, have a drink and even eat meals in the bath. Shops and Libraries even opened in some bath house complexes.
- Turkish baths became popular across Europe, including in Britain, when soldiers brought the idea back from the Crusades. By the early 1300s, London had 18 bathhouses or "stews"; Paris had 26. There was no segregation – men and women bathed together. Singing, drinking and dancing also took place.
- Even in the 14th century, there were health scaremongers - medical scholars at the University of Paris in this case. They put paid to public bath houses by voicing their opinion that the Black Death was caused by noxious air entering the body through the nose and mouth or the pores of the skin. So bathing with other people would probably kill you. For the next 300 years, hardly anyone bathed or even washed.
- The attitude towards bathing changed again in the 19th century, when cleanliness became linked to health and wellbeing. The advice now was that bathing was a cure for gout and all skin diseases, and even diabetes. In 1847, public baths were opened in Goulston Square, Whitechapel.
- Why does your skin wrinkle when you have a bath? The outermost layer of skin, the stratum corneum, (literally "horned layer") contains dead keratin cells which absorb water. That layer swells, but the lower layers don't, causing the outer layer to pucker.
- Why does Water go down the plughole in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere? While it's been said it's to do with something called the Coriolis effect or to the rotation of the Earth, these things actually have very little effect unless the water is very, very still and the Earth is rotating faster then the water. The truth is, there isn't actually any consistent difference in rotation direction between toilet drainage in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. It's a myth, albeit an enduring one.
- Does a bath use more water than a shower? That depends on how powerful your shower is and how long you spend in it. An average bath uses 80 litres of water; an eight-minute power shower 136 litres.
- According to John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary of 1808, there's a word for the shock of entering a cold bath: curglaff.
- Even without the Black Death, baths can be deadly. One in 17 fatal drownings in the UK in 2005 took place in the bath. That was four times more than garden ponds and 12 times more than swimming pools. However, the most dangerous place to take a bath is Japan. In 2004, 3,429 Japanese people drowned in their baths. When you adjust for population size, that's 68 times higher than the UK.
See also
Quotes about Bathtubs
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