Does an English train seat fit the bottom of a horse?

"For all their sophistication, Roman roads are responsible for the narrowness of our train seats today. The first Victorian trains were built to the same wist as horse-drawn wagons; they, in turn, were designed to fit the ruts left in the roads by Roman chariots. The standard British railway gauge - 4 feet 8.5 inches - mirrors the specification for a Roman war chariot: that width, the Romans thought, accommodated a large horse's bottom, while also allowing for a little wriggle room on either side. As our own bottoms have grown bigger, those seats have grown more uncomfortable".

How England Made the English by Harry Mount
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2013

Why do English drive on the left?

"Of the five most popular Google questions about the English , 'Why do the English drive on the left?' is number one. [...] The most popular reason is that, in the Middle Ages, you drove on the left to keep your right arm free to wield your sword or lance at approaching traffic. In 1300, Pope Bonifacio VIII formalized the practice by telling all this pilgrims to stick to the left. While we clung on to the habit, as did most of our colonies, the French moved to the right after the Revolution. The left side of the road had previously been hogged by the aristocracy, forcing the peasantry to the right - a habit formalised after the Revolution".

How England Made the English by Harry Mount
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2013

The One-Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared

What would you do if you were 100 years old?

a) Steal a bag full of cash from a stranger;
b) Freeze to death a drug dealer; 
c) Run away from the police across the country on an old Mercedez Benz;

...z). Omitted for the ones of you who actually want to read the book.

Would you do the same and jump out a window, leaving your whole life behind you?

The One-Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2012

English Weather

"James Bond and Charles II were right - England is too warm to stay indoors, too cold to sit around and do nothing once you get outdoors.

Walking has always been our thing - from the Canterbury Tales, through to the Jarrow March and the charity walks of recent years; and walking in all weathers, too, because we know the weather's not going to be that bad.

Because the English weather is so temperate, and the landscape so accommodating, there's no need for walking clothes, luminous body socks or special shoes; except perhaps for the all-purpose wellie - a boot that strikes Americans as being tremendously odd. Why would you need wellies in town, where there is no mud, they ask; and surely you need something more professional for vigorous country hiking?".

How England Made the English by Harry Mount
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2013

How many friends do you have?

"The average village size in 1086 was around 150 inhabitants. 
According to the Oxford evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar, 150 is also the maximum amount of friends you can conceivably juggle, because the number has been hard-wired into the human mind over the millennia.

Dunbar's two criteria for his broad definition of friendship are: you must be willing to lend one of these friends £5, and you must contact them at least once a year. 

With more than 150 inhabitants, communities - or group of friends - grow too large and fall apart. At 150 or below, everyone knows everyone else and is prepared, in theory, to fight for them".


How England made the English by Harry Mount
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2013

The Lego Story: that's how it all started

After 1929, Europe suffered a drop in demand of agricultural products, caused by the crisis in the USA. There were regions in Europe whose main activity was based on agriculture, like Jutland, where the founder of LEGO, from now day to another, found himself without a job. In order to be able to still provide wealth for his family, he decided to change his activity, and in 1932, Ole Kirk Kristiansen founded a company to sell wood crafted toys, in Billund in the heart of Jutland.

Two years later, Ole Kirk, named the company, LEGO leg godt, which means "play well". He had no idea that in Latin its meaning was "put together, assemble".
It's only in 1949 that the company started the production of the plastic binding bricks LEGO is nowadays well known for all over the world.

LEGO by M. Lindholm and F. Stokholm
Publisher: EGEA, 2012