Snow

The average snowflake has a top speed of 1.7 metres per second.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest snowflake on record measured 38cm wide and 20cm thick. It was observed in Montana, USA in 1887 and described by witnesses as "larger than a milk pan".

Hadleigh Castle

Hadleigh Castle is in the English county of Essex and overlooks the Thames estuary from a ridge to the south of the town of Hadleigh. The castle was built around 1215 during the reign of Henry III by Hubert de Burgh, and was surrounded by parkland it had both an important economic, as well as defensive role. Hadleigh Castle was expanded by Edward III, to defend against potential French attack as well as provide the king with a convenient private residence close to London. The ground on which the castle is built is an unstable hill of London clay, the castle has often been subject to subsidence; this, combined with the sale of its stonework in the 16th century has led to it now being ruined.

I say potato You say potato

2008: The Year of the Potato
In 2008 the United Nations declared it the International Year of the Potato. The main aim of the year was to note "that the potato is a staple food in the diet of the world's population" and "revive public awareness of the relationship that exists between poverty, food security, malnutrition and the potential contribution of the potato to defeating hunger"

• In 2007 China was the worlds top potato producer, supplying the world with over 72 million tonnes of potatoes
• Per person, Europeans ate 87.8kg of potatoes in 2005
• The top potato consumers in Europe were the Russians eating over 18 million tonnes, not even closely followed by the Ukrainians and the United Kingdom, each consuming a mere 6 million tonnes.

You Spin Me Right Round

There were many before and many after but Emile Berliner, born in 1851 in Hannover, invented the gramophone and the records that were played on it.

In 1877 Thomas Edison invented a tin-foil phonograph. The phonograph played sounds that were recorded onto cylinders. The quality was bad and the cylinders only lasted one play.

Crumpets and Curd

Crumpet

A crumpet is a thick, flat, savory cake with a soft, porous texture, made from a yeast mixture cooked on a griddle and eaten toasted and buttered. Crumpets are generally circular, roughly 7 cm in diameter and roughly 2 cm thick. Their shape comes from being restrained in the pan/griddle by a shallow ring. 

Typically served with tea, a traditional crumpet is served warm with some butter or jam. The small holes found on the top of the crumpet fill up with the jam and give a little pocket of flavour.

Crumpeting
A British public school tradition generally practised by the upper classes, in which a crumpet is super-heated, covered in butter, and thrust between the buttocks of a chosen schoolboy. Often used as an initiation ritual. The crumpetee is expected to clench the hot crumpet between their buttocks as the butter runs down their backside, burning them. Should they allow the crumpet to fall, a greater punishment is often chosen. Source: Urban Dictionary

"Ah, true, true. When I was at school, education could go hang as long as a boy could hit a six, sing the school song very loud, and take a hot crumpet from behind without blubbing." Blackadder Goes Fourth, Episode One, Captain Cook

Do you know there's a piano on my foot?

Most pianos have 88 keys and between 216 and 250 strings

As Time Goes By
On December 14th, on the 70th anniversary of the premiere of Casablanca, the piano played by Dooley Wilson went under the hammer at Sotheby's in New York. The 58-key piano was used to perform the classic "As Time Goes By", which is a shade of yellow and green, had a pre-sale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2m. In the end it sold for $602,500 to an unnamed buyer.

Down by the Water

Blue is scattered more than other colours because it travels as shorter, smaller waves.
This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.

As the Sun sets, its light is passing through more of the atmosphere. Even more of the
blue light is scattered, allowing the reds and yellows to pass straight through to your eyes.