Interesting Facts – Page 3 – Amazing Facts, Random Facts and Funny Facts

Who are the oldest men in Great Britain?

As of June 2019, there are currently two men who hold the title of the British supercentenarian.

They are Mr Alfred Smith from St Madoes in Perthshire, and Mr Bob Weighton from Alton in Hampshire.

They were both born on 29 March 1908. However it is not known which one of them was born first.

They gained this title after the previous oldest living man John Mansfield passed away on 27 November 2016, he was aged 108 years and 349 days.

Mr Robert Grant Pitts “Bob” Weighton was born in Kingston-upon-Hull in Yorkshire and he was one of seven children. His father scraped together to pay an extra £3 a term to enable him to stay on at school until he was 16 years old which meant he could take up a marine engineering apprenticeship.

Once he’d qualified, Mr Weighton moved to Taiwan and took a post to teach at a missionary school, although he first spent two years in Japan learning the language.

In 1937, Bob married Agnes, who was also a teacher, they’d known each other since studying together in England. They were married in Hong Kong and afterwards they returned to Taiwan.

Their first child, David was born and soon after they decided to return to Great Britain in 1939. However, they were diverted to Toronto in Canada as the Second World War broke out. When they lived in Canada, Bob and Agnes had two more children, and named them Peter and Dorothy.

Bob Weighton moved to Connecticut in the United States and worked in a factory that made aeroplanes for Britain in their fight to win the war.

He also worked closely with the American Secret Service and later moved to Washington, before returning to England after the war was won. He then took a teaching position at City University in London.

The couple finally moved to Alton in 1973 were Agnes sadly passed away in 1995. Bob’s son, Peter, also passed away in 2014.

It is noted that in 2016, Weighton has 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren and his other son David and daughter Dorothy.

Mr Weighton is celebrating his birthday by officially launching a book of poems he’s written which will raise funds for the elderly people in Alton.

Mr Weighton said the most common question he’s asked is about the secret of his longevity. He jokingly replies simply “to avoid dying”.

The UK’s other oldest man is Mr Alfred Smith, better known as Alf, he was born in Invergowrie, in Perth and Kinross. He was the fifth of six sons born to John and Jessie Smith. He attended Invergowrie Primary School and Harris Academy and left at the age of 14 years old.

He emigrated to Canada with his eldest brother in 1927, but returned to Scotland to help run the family farm in Kinfauns after the death of his father.

Whilst he was farming he married Isobel Harper in 1937 and they went on to have two children, named Irene and Allan. Mr Smith also served with the Home Guard during the Second World War.

Allan sadly passed away in 2016 and following the death of Isobel in 2003, aged 97 years old, Smith lived alone in his St Madoes home. However, he now lives with his daughter following a fall he sustained in 2016.

He has been asked what his secret for his longevity is and his reply is “Porridge is helpful and having a job you enjoy”.

Both Mr Alf Smith and Mr Bob Weighton spent part of their lives living in Canada.

These two men have never met but recently they have started to exchange birthday cards.

Sadly since this was written, Scotland’s oldest man, Alf Smith passed away in August 2019, aged 111.

FIFA Women’s World Cup Interesting Facts

The first Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Women’s World Cup occurred in November 1991, sixty-one years after the men’s first World Cup.

It was held in China with matches taking place in Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, and Zhongshan.

During the inaugural tournament there were only 12 teams involved – these were Nigeria, China PR, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Brazil, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the USA. The USA defeated Norway in the final match, with Sweden coming in third place.

FIFA WWC Winners 2015 USA — FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 Winner’s USA. Image: Getty

The following FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1995 was also held in China and involved the same 12 teams. However, the teams keep on expanding going from 16 teams in 1999 upto 24 teams in 2015 and 2019.

The 1999 and 2003 Women’s World Cups were both held in the United States. Although initially in 2003 China were to hold the event, the tournament had to be relocated to the USA due to an outbreak of SARS.

As compensation, FIFA awarded China its automatic qualification as they should have been the host nation, and they were also automatically chosen to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2007.

Germany hosted the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2011, followed by Canada in 2015.

The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is to take place in France.

The matches will be played over nine host cities across the country and these include Grenoble, Le Havre, Lyon, Montpelier, Nice, Paris, Reims, Rennes, Valenciennes.

The opening match of 2019 will take place on Friday 7 June at the Parc des Princes, Paris, while the honour of hosting the semi-finals and final will be played at the Stade de Lyon, Lyon.

During the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, two players made a record of appearing in six World Cups, something that has not been achieved by either female or male players.

One is a Brazilian footballer known as Formiga. She was born Miraildes Maciel Mota on 3 March 1978. She is a Brazilian midfielder and currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain. She holds many international records as a member of Brazil women’s national football team.

She is the only player who has been present in all Olympic Games Women’s Football tournaments since their first inclusion in the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Homare Sawa of Japan was born on 6th September 1978 in Fuchū, Tokyo and she is the other player who has played in all six World Cup tournaments. At the tender age of 15, Sawa made her Japanese international debut. She scored four goals during her first match against the Philippines on 6th December 1993.

She captained the national team of Japan that won gold during the 2011 World Cup and led them to a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2012, Homare was named 2011 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year.

Christie Rampone, was born 24th June 1975 and is an American defender who at the age 40 years old became the oldest player in Women’s World Cup history back in the 2015 tournament. She’s the former captain of the United States women’s national football team.

Rampone is a 3-time Olympic gold medallist, and also a 2-time FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion. She has played in five FIFA Women’s World Cup finals and four Olympics women’s football tournaments.

The United States is the only country to win the competition three times in 1991, 1999, 2015. In 2011, Japan was the first Asian team to win a FIFA World Cup.

In 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup was played on artificial turf for the first time and also featured the youngest coach in World Cup history. Her name was Vanessa Arauz, from Ecuador, and she was only 26 years old. She is still the current head coach for Ecuador’s women’s national football team.

Michelle Akers of the USA became the player who scored the most goals during one game. She scored 5 goals in a game between the USA and Taiwan in 1991.

In 2015, Carli Lloyd from the USA national team was the first woman to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

The fastest goal in Women’s World Cup history took place during a match between Sweden and Japan in 1991. Lena Videkull, from Sweden, opened the scoring with a goal just 30 seconds into the game.

Taiwan, Thailand and Equatorial Guinea are three countries that have qualified to play in the FIFA women’s World Cup, which is something the men’s teams have never done.

In 1999 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the FIFA Women’s World Cup final had the most spectators in attendance, there were 90,185 fans at the match between the USA and China. China lost 5-4 on penalties to the USA.

During the 2015 Women’s World Cup tournament in Canada there were 764 million viewers. The USA stated that there were 23 million viewers watching the final between the United States and Japan in the final, which is the most-watched football match in USA’s history.

The Official Women’s World Cup trophy includes a plate at the base bearing the engraved year and name of each FIFA Women’s World Cup champion.

Hand-crafted by Milanese specialists Sawaya & Moroni, designed by William Sawaya for the 1999 tournament.

The trophy features a spiral band, which has a football enclosed at the top. The trophy symbolises the athleticism, dynamism and elegance of women’s international football.

The Official Trophy is about 18 inches tall and made of sterling silver clad in 23-karat yellow and white gold. In 2015, it was estimated to be worth approximately $30,000.

This is in stark contrast to the men’s World Cup trophy which is fabricated in 18-karat gold and has an estimated value of $150,000.

However, every winner of the Women’s Champions, has a new trophy constructed for them to take home, while there is only one original men’s trophy.

The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup was won by reigning champions the United States, whom beat the Netherlands 2-0 at Lyon in the Final.

The USA team coach, Jill Ellis, became the first manager to win two Women’s World Cup titles, after guiding the side to victory in 2015 and 2019.

The Grand National Facts

The first ever Grand National was held at Aintree Race Course in Liverpool, England in 1839. The Aintree Racecourse’s name derives from an ancient Viking settlement, where all the trees but one fell down.

The first Grand National in 1839 also saw the slowest time for a horse to win the race. The aptly named Lottery, ridden by Jem Mason, who was 5-1 favourite, completed the race in 14m 53s.

In 1883, just 10 racers faced the starter, making it the smallest field to partake in a Grand National race. However 66 horses lined up in 1929, which is the most the Grand National has seen.

The smallest number of horses to finish the Grand National was in 1928 when the 100-1 outsider, Tipperary Tim, was the first of two horses left in the race to pass the post.

In 1984, the greatest number of horses finished the race. There were 23 horses that completed the race and the winner was “Hallo Dandy” who was ridden by the Welsh jockey Neal Doughty.

The horse named Mr Frisk, was the fastest ever time to win the Grand National, in just 8 minutes 47.8 seconds in 1990.

It is said to be one of the most challenging steeplechase races with 16 tough fences to jump. Some of the early races included a stone wall jump, which has since been replaced with the water jump.

Another jump, the Becher’s Brook was named after a top jockey, Captain Martin Becher, after he fell from his horse and took shelter in the brook from the other riders and horses as they passed.

The jump known as The Chair is the broadest and the tallest fence and stands at 5ft 2ins. This fence was named as in the early days of the Grand National, the jump was situated alongside the seat used by the distance judge.

All the fences are made up from spruce coming from the Lake District. The building work costs are high, reaching tens of thousands of pounds and will normally take about 4 weeks to complete.

The most successful and well known horse to win the Grand National was Red Rum. He won it three times in 1973, 1974 and 1977. When Red Rum died on 18th October 1995, his remains were buried at the winning post at the Aintree Racecourse.

The oldest winning horse was Peter Simple in 1853 and he was aged 15. There were also quite a few young horses all aged 5 and these were Alcibiade in 1865, Regal in 1876, Austerlitz in 1877, Empress in 1880, and Lutteur III in 1909.

Golden Miller was the only horse to complete both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in 1934.

In one of the strangest Grand National wins, Moiffa won it in 1904. It was odd because in 1903 during a trip to Liverpool from New Zealand, the horses ship was wrecked and Moiffa was presumed lost at sea. Shortly after the wreck, Moiffa turned up on some outcrop in the south of Ireland and went on to win the Grand National the following year.

The most successful jockey in the Grand National’s history is George Stevens who won the race five times. They were on Freetrader in 1856, Emblem in 1863, Emblematic in 1864 and The Colonel in 1869 and 1870.

In 1938, the youngest jockey to win the Grand National was 17 year old Bruce Hobbs, who rode Battleship to victory. Battleship is currently the only horse to have won both the Grand National and the American Grand National.

Whereas, the late Dick Saunders is the oldest winner, at 48 years old, to win the Grand National and he partnered Grittar to triumph in 1982.

Peter Scudamore officially competed in 12 Grand National without winning. He technically lined up for thirteen Grand Nationals, but the race in 1993 was void.

The reason the Grand National was cancelled in 1993 was because 30 of the 39 riders hadn’t realised a false start had been called. They continued to complete both laps of the hard 30 obstacle course before they knew what had happened, and so it was declared to be a void race.

Richard Johnson has now beaten that record, this year The Grand National 2019, will be the champion jockey’s 21st attempt at the Grand National without a win.

The first female jockey to participate in the Grand National was Charlotte Brew in 1977, partnering her horse Barony Fort. She almost finished the race, but she fell at the fourth-to-last fence making it impossible complete the race.

This female participation however, paved the way for female jockeys to continue to compete in the Grand National and the first woman to complete the Grand National was Geraldine Rees in 1982. She finished in 8th place on her horse named Cheers.

In 2012 Katie Walsh achieved the best placing by a woman to date, with a 3rd place position on Seabass.

Rosemary Henderson finished fifth when aged 51 on her own 100/1 shot Fiddlers Pike in 1994. She subsequently wrote a book, ‘Road To The National’, about her exploits.

The 2019 Grand National steeplechase race will take part of 6th April, the field will hold a maximum of 40 Grand National runners, with 4 reserves.

The meaning behind the gifts in the carol “The 12 Days of Christmas”

The carol was first published in England in 1780 without any music, chant or rhyme and it is thought to have originated in France.

The reasoning behind this carol is thought to be viewed by Christians as the period between Christmas Day and the time it took for the three magi, or wise men, to travel to Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus Christ, known as the Epiphany.

The word epiphany is from the Greek word meaning “revelation”.

For example, the churches here celebrate Christmas on 25th December and the Epiphany on 6th January, and the period in between as the 12 days and nights of Christmas.

It is thought the meaning behind the gifts in this carol were there to help young Christians learn about their faith.

As the song goes, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…”. The meaning of this is that, “true love” would represent God and the “me” would be the Christian person receiving the gifts.

If you break the carol down line by line, the hidden meanings become clear as you’ll see below:-

The “partridge in a pear tree” was to symbolise Jesus Christ who died on a tree, and this was a gift from God.
The “two turtle doves” were the Old and New Testaments from the Bible.
The “three French hens” were faith, hope and love – the three gifts of the Spirit.
The “four calling birds” were the four Gospels, whom were Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The “five golden rings” were in respect to the first five books of the Bible also called the “Books of Moses” and also known as Torah or Law, which describe man’s fall into sin.
The “six geese a-laying” represented the six days of creation.
The “seven swans a swimming” were referring to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The “eight maids a milking” were the eight beatitudes, which were the blessings listed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
The “nine ladies dancing” were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The “ten lords a-leaping” referred to the Ten Commandments.
The “eleven pipers piping” were the eleven faithful disciples and finally
The “twelve drummers drumming” were the twelve points of the Apostles’ Creed. The word ‘creed’ derives from the Latin word credo, which means ‘I believe and trust’.

So next time you sing “The 12 Days Of Christmas” you will understand the meaning behind such a well known Christmas carol.

Who was Rosalind Franklin?

We’ve all heard of DNA haven’t we, well this lady, Rosalind Franklin, was the first lady to start the research into it.

Rosalind Franklin was born in 1920 in London, and although her father disapproved of her going to university, she went to Cambridge and earned a PhD in physical chemistry.

The big unanswered question of that era was “What is the shape of DNA?”.

Even though scientists knew that DNA formed the building blocks of the body they had no idea what it looked like and so started Rosalind Franklin’s research in King’s College.

She spent many hours using an X-ray on delicate fibres of DNA, capturing a famous photo proving DNA is a double helix.

It is now understood that two other scientists named James Watson and Francis Crick were also trying to fathom out what DNA was made up of and they secretly looked at Rosalind Franklin’s research without her knowledge or permission.

They later published their findings along with Rosalind’s work and but crucially did not credit her.

After that incident Rosalind left King’s College and went to work at a top research lab, where she moved on to research the tobacco mosaic and polio viruses.

She also research the use of charcoal to be used in gas masks during WWII.

She died very young at the age of 37 years old from cancer in 1958.

Watson and Crick won a Nobel Prize four years later for their research and work into DNA, but it came to light that they had used some of Rosalind Franklin’s data and she is now known as one of the pioneer’s into the research of the “shape of DNA”.

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