10 THINGS !

10 things we didn't know this time last week

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

1. There is a real place called Hicksville.
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2. Britain once sent an envoy with a quadruple-barrelled name to Moscow - Admiral Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurley Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax.
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3. Sikhs do not have to wear motorcycle crash helmets.
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4. Napoleon wrote chick-lit.
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5. John Prescott's toilet seat broke twice.
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6. Tom Hanks watches Loose Women.
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7. Youth hostelling was invented in Germany in 1912.
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8. The use of the word "rat" as an insult in English goes back at least until the 16th Century.
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9. Two main muscles are used for smiling - the zygomatic muscle turns the corner of the lips up and the orbicularis oculi crinkles the corners of the eyes.
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10. Birds are actually really rather clever.
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BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.