5 things we learned this week

1 Many delightful winter words have fallen out of use. For example, ‘mufflements’ (Lancashire dialect for warm clothes), ‘meggle’ (a Scots word meaning ‘to trudge laboriously through mud or snow’) and ‘hap’ (an old Yorkshire word for heavy snowfall). 2 Chester is the prettiest city in the world, according to maths boffins who compared cities using Google Street View and ranked them based on the percentage of their buildings that adhere

to the so-called ‘golden ratio’ in architecture of

1:1.618. More than 80 per cent of buildings in Chester (birthplace of Bond star Daniel Craig) fit the bill, narrowly surpassing

Venice and London. 3 Wasabi, the spicy green paste used to dab on sushi, could improve your memory.

Japanese researchers found that people who took a small amount every day for three months showed significant boosts in shortterm memory and longlasting episodic memory. 4

Britain hasn’t had a bald Prime Minister since Winston Churchill resigned in 1955.

Meanwhile, the US has not voted in a bald President since Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.

5

It cost an estimated £13 million for Edinburgh Zoo to borrow two pandas, Tian Tian, pictured, and Yang Guang for 12 years. The pair were finally returned home to China last week.

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