10 things we didn't know this time last week

10 THINGS 10 stoppers, by Pinuccia Ricci Your chance to be creative. See 10 things? Send us a picture

It's easy to lose track of the news. So at the end of the week, it's good to keep an eye on some of those things which shouldn't go unnoticed.

If you spot something you think should be included next week, send it to us using the form at the bottom of the page.

 

1. Servings of McDonald's french fries have ballooned in the past 40 years, up from 200 calories in the 1960s to a whopping 610 in 2002, according to author Greg Critser's book Fat Land.

2. Lu Yu Nan, one of the Chinese students who grilled Tony Blair in Beijing last week, was asked on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House what she made of the British PM. "Before the day, I saw him on the TV - he was not so handsome. But that night as I looked into his blue eyes, I think he's quite handsome," she said. But she also described Mr Blair as cunning - "we asked him many questions - sharp but polite questions, and he answered us in his own special way I think, quite like a disguise."

3. A play claimed to be the first scripted entirely from assorted lines from Shakespeare is to have its world premiere in Edinburgh. The writers/compilers of Bill Shakespeare's Italian Job used software to piece together lines from the Bard's 38 plays to retell the 1969 Michael Caine heist movie. Its tagline? "Thou art only supposed to blow the bloody doors off."

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4. The shortest TV ad ever to be broadcast in the UK was just two seconds long - it was for Wired's UK edition (which was similarly short-lived). The advert had half a second's silence at the beginning, half-a-second's silence at the end, and in the middle were the simple words "Get Wired".

5. Ladybirds are promiscuous, and particularly prone to catching STDs (especially those in London. Dr Greg Hurst of University College London said: "By the end of May, 80-95% of adult ladybirds will have acquired a sexually transmitted infection."

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6. Beethoven's Fifth has been played 128 times at the Proms, which are only in their 109th season. Go Lud!

BBC Proms site

7. Nessie doesn't exist.

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Stop, Bernie

8. What's an ecdysiast? It's a stripper. And the oldest male stripper in the world, as certified this week by Guinness World Records, is Bernie Barker. He was 63 this week.

9. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader and winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, owns an air rifle. "I feed birds, peaceful birds. I'm non-violent, but if a hawk comes when I'm feeding birds I lose my temper and get my air rifle," he has reportedly said. "Only to scare the hawks."

10. Troubled entertainer Michael Barrymore - who has invited journalists into his home as part of an attempted rehabilitation - has two dogs called JD and Sprite, named after his favourite alcoholic drink.

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If you see something you think should be included next week, let us know using the form below.