Happiness peaks at the age of 74. Teenagers rank their contentment at 5.5 on a scale of one to seven. Levels then decline, dropping to 5 at age 40, but rise after to hit 5.9 at 74. Social Indicators Research, 11th February 2010

Kandahar airport in Afghanistan is the second busiest in the world, after Heathrow. Financial Times, 13th February 2010

In the last three Olympic Games, an average of 50 per cent of British medal winners were educated at public school. Daily Telegraph, 2nd February 2010

India has 300 prisoners awaiting execution, almost all by hanging—and no hangmen. Open magazine, 13th February 2010

Only 202 of the 500 biggest companies in America in 1980 still existed 20 years later. The Economist, 17th December 2009

Of British women aged 35 and over, 28 per cent say they “never” have sex, with the figure being highest in Scotland (38 per cent). The Independent, 16th February 2010

The earthquake in Chile on 27th February probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day by 1.26 millionths of a second. Business Week, 1st March 2010

A study of 515 married people with cancer or multiple sclerosis found that, if their marriage failed, the patient was six times more likely to be a woman than a man. Cancer, Volume 115 Issue 22

The New South China Mall is the largest in the world at 659,612 sq metres. It has been 99 per cent vacant since its opening in 2005. Metro, 29th October 2009

Economist Paul Krugman’s cats are called Albert Einstein and Doris Lessing. New Yorker, 1st March 2010