5 things we learned this week

1 King Charles has a very set morning routine. He wakes before 7am and reads a selection of newspapers with a cup of tea while listening to Radio 4’s Today programme. Often, while wearing boxer shorts, the 74-year-old does a headstand to help his spine. Then, according to Times writer Hilary Rose, he gets dressed. After a splash of aftershave (Dior’s Eau Sauvage) and breakfast (seasonal fruits and yogurt), he starts on his paperwork at 8am.

2 Action heroes tend to have names beginning with the letter J. Of 790 Hollywood movies over the past six decades that have a ‘male everyman-type hero’, 33 per cent of protagonists had a ‘J’ name: the most popular being John, with 74 movies, followed by James (50) and Jack (37). The second-most common letter, M, reported the online magazine Slate, features just seven per cent of the time.

3 Never have nightmares that a crazed fellow passenger might open the plane door during a flight. It is impossible because a human isn’t strong enough to overcome the ‘tremendous pressure holding the door in place’. The Washington Post says that at a typical cruising altitude of 35,000ft, the pressure is more than 1,100lb against each square foot.

4 Flamingos form social cliques based on their personalities. Bird experts at Exeter University studied 147 Caribbean flamingos, and 115 of the Chilean species. They found that the bolder birds tended to hang out with their bolder peers, and submissive birds stuck with fellow submissives. In the Caribbean flock, birds displaying higher aggression banded together and not only started more fights, but were also more willing to provide back-up when their mates did.

5 Oscar statuettes are 13½ inches tall and weigh 8½ lb. But there has been an exception. At the 1939 Academy Awards, Walt Disney received an honorary gong for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. It consisted of one normal-sized Oscar, and seven miniature ones.