Barometer

Our first winter Hopes will not be high for a big haul of British medals in Sochi, but we have not always been Cinderellas at winter sports. In the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924 Britain sent 44 competitors, more than any other country, and ended up sixth in the medals, above the host nation, France. — There were bronze medals for the men’s ice hockey team and the less-than-elegantly named Ethel Muckelt. The men’s four/five-man bobsleigh won a silver. The men’s curling team won gold — although the medals were not presented until 2006 after a campaign by Scottish newspapers. — One of the curling team, Major D.G. Astley, achieved a unique honour.

One for the road Road safety campaigners were angered by the opening of the first pub at a motorway service station, on the M40 in Buckinghamshire. — Drink-driving campaigns pre-date the motor-car: it was in 1872 that the first law was enacted that made it an offence to drive carriages, horses, cattle and steam engines under the influence of alcohol. — The law didn’t catch up with motor cars until 1925, when a more general law made it an offence to drive any vehicle while drunk. — The first drink-driving advert on TV appeared in 1964, warning drivers that after eight whiskies they were 25 times as likely to have an accident. A blood alcohol limit did not arrive until two years later.

Fat chances The National Obesity Forum said that Britain is reaching a ‘doomsday scenario’ where half the population is obese. What happened to previous government campaigns to tackle obesity? — Between 1997 and 2008 the percentage of men getting the government’s recommended level of physical exercise grew from 32 per cent to 39 per cent, and women from 21 per cent to 29 per cent. And yet over the same period the proportion of men who are overweight or obese grew from 62.2 per cent to 65.9 per cent and women from 52.5 per cent to 56.9 per cent. — In 2006 28 per cent of men and 32 per cent of women were eating the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

Centuries of conflict 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the war which was supposed to end all wars. Has the toll of war since 1918 been lesser or greater than in the century before 1914? 1815-1914 saw the tail end of the Napoleonic Wars (5m deaths), the Zulu Wars (2m) and the US Civil War (750,000). In China, the Taiping Revolution of the 1860s cost an estimated 60m lives and the Dungan Revolution of the 1860s and 1870s 10m. These, along with the Mexican Revolution (1m) and the Paraguayan War (1m) total about 80m. 1918–2013 Mid-estimate for second world war death toll: 55m. A further 7m died in the Russian Revolution. After that the deadliest was the relatively little-known Congo War between 1998 and 2003 which cost 3.5m lives.

Whose year is it anyway?

The darkest day Several people were injured on ‘Black Friday’, a day of retail discounting imported from the US, where the fourth Thursday of November is the Thanksgiving holiday and many shops hold one-day sales the following day. There are at least 23 historic events named ‘Black Friday’, from the imprisonment of seven bishops by James II on 8 June 1688 to the hanging of four anarchists in Chicago on 11 November 1887 and the seizure of online poker sites by US authorities on 15 April 2011. What is the blackest day of the week, according to entries on Wikipedia?

Third-class thinking A report by the Institute of Economic Affairs recommended standing-room-only third-class carriages as an alternative to longer trains and platforms. What was third-class rail travel originally like? — Until the 1844 Railway Act third-class travel generally meant an open carriage with holes drilled in the floor to let the rainwater out. The Act demanded that all carriages conveying humans be covered. Seats were usually provided. — In 1872 the Midland Railway became to first company to abolish second class, by removing leather seat backs from second-class carriages and adding leather upholstery to the seats of third-class carriages. Of human bondage Three women were found apparently living in slavery in south London.

Brave new words ‘Selfie’ was declared to be Oxford Dictionaries’ ‘word of the year’. It hasn’t, however, yet been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. These are some of the words which have been added over the past year (and which have been around a surprisingly long time): Bag woman, n; Campsite, n; Grey zone, n; Handover, n; Hand-wash, v; Headbang, v; Knobhead, n; Low-lifer, n; Smackhead, n Funny old games The Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar retired aged 40 after playing 200 test matches. What sport should you choose if you want a long career?

Whose tattoos? David Dimbleby, 75, has had a scorpion tattooed on his right shoulder. Some more tattoo-wearers who perhaps ought to know better: —  Lady Steel, 71, wife of former liberal leader David Steel (pink jaguar on left shoulder). — Vanessa Feltz, 51 (photographed with Bob Marley on left arm, although it’s not known to be permanent). — Vladimir Franz, 54, composer and university professor who came fifth in this year’s Czech presidential elections (entire face covered with swirling motifs). — John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania (town’s postcode on his left forearm; dates of five murders in the town on his right). — 21% of US adults, according to a Harris poll last year.

What can they do? Saudi women took to the wheel in defiance of laws preventing them from driving. Some recent freedoms Saudi women have gained: — From this year they have been allowed to ride bicycles, although only around parks and recreation facilities and when accompanied by their official male guardian. — From this year sports have been introduced to girls’ schools for the first time. — From 2015 they will be allowed to vote (and stand as candidates) in municipal elections for the first time. — Laws requiring women to ask their male guardian for permission to marry, get a job, open a bank account or have surgery were officially abolished in 2008, although tradition still demands that they do.

National statistics Some lesser-known facts about the National Theatre: — 26 per cent of its income comes from box office sales on the South Bank, 33 per cent from commercial productions elsewhere and 20 per cent from government grants. — Attendances at the main Olivier Theatre have fallen year on year since 2008/09, from 402,000 to 342,000. — Overall attendances including touring productions rose from 817,000 to 1.48 million. — While Prince Charles likened the building, by Denys Lasdun, to a nuclear power station, Sir John Betjeman, not generally a fan of modern architecture, said he ‘gasped with delight’ when he first saw it. — Like Tesco, the National Theatre has a problem with waste food, disposing of 39,960kg of it during the past year.

Union dispute Pedants suffered a blow as the chief vexillologist of the Flag Institute declared that the Union Jack and Union Flag are interchangeable terms, the latter being just as correct on land as it is at sea. Here are both sides of the argument: evidence for ‘union jack’ being correct only at sea — A ‘jack’ is an old term for the bow flag of a vessel, and was in use before the Union Jack came into being. — A proclamation by King Charles I in 1634 referred only to the ‘Union Flag’. — The royal proclamation on 1801 which added the cross of St Patrick also used only the term ‘Union Flag’.

Does workfare work? George Osborne announced a ‘work for benefits’ scheme. ‘Workfare’ schemes have been attacked by the left. Do they work? Wisconsin Works The introduction of the scheme, which obliges benefits claimants to accept community work placements, was followed by an 80 per cent reduction in welfare caseloads between 1990 and 2000. Washington state’s WorkFirst programme, which obliged claimants to accept unpaid work placements, increased employment among participants by 13%. A similar scheme which offered paid work increased employment by 33%. Ontario Works 56% of participants leaving the scheme found employment, two-thirds of them earning above the threshold which defines the ‘working poor’.

Trust us The National Trust opened the Big Brother House at Elstree Studios at the weekend. Some other less grand National Trust properties: — 575 Wandsworth Road, Lambeth. 19th-century terraced house that was home to Kenyan-born civil servant Khadambi Asalache who, to keep out the damp, decorated the walls with elaborate panels made from pine salvaged from skips. — Birmingham Back-to-Backs. A 19th-century courtyard of artisans’ dwellings which survived slum-clearance. — Mr Straw’s House. 1920s semi in Worksop kept just as the day it was built. — 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool. 1950s council house that was the childhood home of Paul McCartney. Trust me George Osborne said he had been vindicated on the economy.

One-legged wonder The Paralympic Games began in 1960 and can trace its origins to the 1948 International Wheelchair Games, held for ex-servicemen at Stoke Mandeville hospital in 1948. Before that, however, a disabled German-American gymnast, George Eyser, put in a remarkable performance at  the 1904 Olympic Games in St Louis. — Eyser, who emigrated to the US aged 14 in 1884, had lost his left leg when run over by a train in his childhood, and competed with a wooden leg. — Having put in a mediocre performance in the opening events, he won six medals in a single day, with gold on the parallel bars, the long-horse vault and a long-since discontinued event, the 25ft rope-climb.