??? MI5, Pandas, and a Girl Called Maria

SINCE 2014 ?

2 million ?- ?Number of live land mines inside Korea's Demilitarised Zone - the land separating North and South Korea.?

￡12 million ?- ?Estimated auction sale price of a rare 1957 Jaguar XKSS that goes under the hammer in London at the start of November. The most expensive car ever sold was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe - it sold for ￡114 million in 2022.?

60 ?- ?Number of pandas currently leased by China to zoos around the world. Each zoo pays $1 million a year for the right to borrow one.?

100,800 ?- ?Number of heartbeats in a day for an average person. That's 36.8 million a year, and 2.85 billion in a lifetime.?

13%? - ?Percentage of those investigated by MI5 for terrorism involvement that are under 18.?

$1 billion ?- ?Cost of the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt that opened this week. It's the largest museum devoted to a single civilisation, covers 5 million square feet, and houses treasures such as Tutankhamun's gold mask?and an 83-tonne statues of Ramses the Great. ?

10,200 ?- ?World record for the number of books toppled domino fashion. It was achieved with copies of the Guinness World Records books.

1 ?- ?Maximum number of watches that a beach volleyball player must wear - according to official rules.

1:119 ?- ?Ratio on Earth of people called Maria to people not called Maria. It's the most common name on the planet.?

2 hours 23 minutes ?- ?Length of productive time in an 8 hour working day, according to a UK study. Get back to work!

Something extra . .? Business Book of the Year 2024 Winners? ?

This Week in History . .

1793 - Marie Antoinette executed. She was initially buried in an unmarked grave when she was killed aged 37. Her body was later placed in a tomb with her husband's. Another fun fact; when she was young she met Mozart who came round and played for her family.??

1854 - Oscar Wilde was born. It's not commonly known that he only published one novel throughout his life: The Picture of Dorian Grey.?

1923 - The Walt Disney Co. founded. Walt Disney won 22 Oscars and was nominated 59 times between 1932 and 1969.

1931 - Thomas Edison died. Despite being a celebrated genius, he didn't learn to speak until he was four years old.

1947 - Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. He repeated the feat in 1997 aged 89 to mark the 65th anniversary of his record.

1979 - Mother Teresa wins the the Nobel Peace Prize. She refused to attend a banquet in her honour and instead asked for the cost (￡150,000) to be given to help the poor of India.

Have a great weekend.

Charlie