Eleventy More U.K. Trivia (and a little bit about Water)
Land & People
- The highest temperature ever recorded in England was 38.5°C in Brogdale, Kent, on 10 August 2003. Really, really. According to the London Weather Centre this summer’s record heat was only a paltry 37.4°C recorded at Heathrow around 1.30pm. – The demand for AquAid water coolers certainly attests to this!
- Among the three ghosts said to haunt Athelhampton House (pictured middle), Dorchester, one of them is an ape.
- English people consume more tea per capita than anybody else in the world (2.5 times more than the Japanese and 22 times more than the Americans or the French). – remember, AquAid also offer a range of in-cup drinks, including tea. Of course!
Culture & Language
- One of England’s quaintest traditional events is the cheese rolling competition in Brockworth, Gloucestershire. Every year in May, people chase Double Gloucester cheese down the steep Cooper’s Hill. The tradition is said to have originated with fertility rites in Roman times. Other cheese rolling events exist in England, for example at the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire.
- Oxford University once had rules that specifically forbade students from bringing bows and arrows to class. – I’m pleased to say that you’ll find it unlikely that AquAid’s delivery teams pitch up with anything other than our clean, fresh drinking water.
History & Monuments
- The Foss Dyke, connecting the River Trent at Torksey to Lincoln, is the oldest canal in Britain. It was built by the Romans around 120 CE and is still navigable today. – A note – we at AquAid don’t get our water from the River Trent.
- Yorkwas the first English city to become settled permanently by the Danish Vikings (in 867) and the last to remain under Viking rule (until 954). It served as capital of the Danelaw under the name of Jorvik.
- The mathematician Thomas Harriot (1560–1621) invented the symbols for “is less than” [<] and “is greater than” [>].
Economy
- Britain has the highest per capita consumption of cider, as well as the largest cider-producing companies in the world. Over half of England’s cider is produced in Herefordshire. The world’s largest producer of cider is H. P. Bulmer, based in Hereford. Cider making was introduced by Viscount Scudamore in 1639, who brought the recipe from France. In 1674 he built the county’s largest house with cider money at Holme Lacy, near Hereford.
- Harry Ramsden’s holds the Guinness World Record for the largest fish and chip shop in the world, seating 250 people, serving nearly a million customers a year. It is Britain’s longest established restaurant chain. Its first shop opened 1928 at Guiseley, West Yorkshire.
- England boasts the company that is the third largest employer on Earth. The National Health Service is preceded only by China’s Red Army and India’s main railway.
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