101 facts about Great Britain
1 Oliver Cromwell’s brother-in-law, Dr John Wilkins, drew up the first serious plans to put Man on the Moon. The clergyman and scientist wrote a detailed description of a spaceship using wings, springs and gunpowder in 1640.
2 Britain’s smallest house, inhabited until May 1900, is situated in a terrace in Conwy. The tiny residence is 72in wide by 122in high.
3 In the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, Ceredigion, is a stone dedicated to the left leg of Henry Hughes Cooper, which was interred on June 18, 1756. The rest of him is assumed to be buried in the US, where he later emigrated.
4 As a wedding gift, Queen Victoria received a giant wheel of Cheddar cheese. It stood 9ft high and weighed more than 1,000lb.
5 On August 27, 1896, the British Empire fought in what is thought to be the shortest war in history. The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted only 45 minutes.
6 In 1944, a flock of starlings perched on the hands of the Great Clock on Westminster’s Elizabeth Tower. The birds were heavy enough to alter the time.
7 Teapot Island in Maidstone, Kent, boasts the biggest collection of teapots in England. There are currently some 7,600 teapots there and the collection continues to grow.
8 From the 1200s to 1835, the Tower of London was home to lions, a polar bear, an African elephant, tigers, eagles, leopards, pumas and a jackal. When the Royal Menagerie moved to Regent’s Park, it became the basis for London Zoo (‘Fantastic beasts and where to find them’, October 10, 2018).
9 Sheffield F. C., inaugurated on October 24, 1857, holds the distinguished position of being Britain’s oldest football club. Its original headquarters were a greenhouse on East Bank Road and the next-door field was its first playing ground.
10 Known as the National Book Town of Wales, Hay-on-Wye is thought to
