In fact

Brucie & botany, 3G on Everest, and the world's worst football team
February 23, 2011

There is now 3G mobile phone reception at the summit of Mount Everest. Agence France-Presse, 28th October 2010

The average British man was a stone heavier in 2000 than he was in 1986. BBC News website, 27th December 2010

Before the 20th century, no one had lived through a doubling of the human population, but there are people alive today who have seen it triple. National Geographic, January 2011

Village football team Madron FC may be the worst in Britain, having conceded 227 goals in 11 straight games in Cornwall’s Mining League—and lost one match 55-0. Guardian, 29th November 2010

From 2005 to 2009, more than 100,000 doctoral degrees were awarded in the US —and just 16,000 professorships created. The Economist, 16th December 2010

One in three British women will not leave the house without make-up. Daily Mail, 13th January 2011

A 15-year-old Russian boy has a lower life expectancy than a 15 year old in Somalia. “Russia’s Peacetime Demographic Crisis” by Nicholas Eberstadt (AEI)

In most US cities in 2008, single, childless women aged between 22 and 30 were earning more than their male counterparts. Wall Street Journal, 1st September 2010

The plant Forsythia was named after botanist William Forsyth: Bruce Forsyth’s great-great-great-great grandfather. Daily Telegraph, 17th June 2010