Marathon sprints
The Kenyan marathon runner Sabastian Sawe broke the world record by running the first official sub-two-hour marathon.
– The world’s first official sub-three-hour marathon was also run in London, at the 1908 Olympics at White City.
– The record could have gone to an Italian, Dorando Pietri, but he collapsed just short of the line and was helped over it, leading to his disqualification. The record went instead to Johnny Hayes, at a time of two hours 55 minutes and 18 seconds.
– The two and a half hour barrier was broken in 1925, in New York.
The price of energy
Is renewable energy really helping to keep down bills? The table shows domestic electricity price alongside the share of electricity made up of wind and solar.
South Korea 10.21p /kWh equiv. 5.7%
Canada 10.32p /kWh equiv. 8.9%
US 12.86p /kWh equiv. 17.2%
Japan 16.46p /kWh equiv. 10.6%
Sweden 17.10p /kWh equiv. 25.8%
Finland 19.39p /kWh equiv. 25.6%
Netherlands 21.82p /kWh equiv. 46.3%
Spain 22.54p /kWh equiv. 43.0%
France 23.73p /kWh equiv. 12.1%
Belgium 28.34p /kWh equiv. 29.8%
Italy 30.26p /kWh equiv. 21.8%
UK 30.45p /kWh equiv. 34.5%
Germany 33.36p /kWh equiv. 43.1%
DESNZ/Ourworldindata
Assassination attempts
Donald Trump survived another attempt on his life, this time at a White House dinner. Which world leaders survived the greatest number of assassination attempts?
Fidel Castro 600+
Adolf Hitler 42 claimed, but some were only foiled plots rather than active attempts
Charles de Gaulle 36 attempts often quoted
Yasser Arafat 13
Vladimir Putin 7
Keeping council
How many people will be seeing a substantial rise in council tax?
– 295 out of 384 local authorities increased their council tax by the maximum allowed without having to hold a referendum (in most cases 5% with an extra allowance for social care).
– A further 56 authorities raised it by close to the maximum allowed.
– Just 8 held their council tax level, or reduced it.
The average bill over the coming year will be £1,770.
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