#today i learnt
Boris Johnson is the first British Prime Minister in history who will not be moving into 10 Downing Street with their spouse. Although Johnson is technically still married, he has been separated from his wife (his second) for more than a year and is expected to have his girlfriend of 18-months move in with him.
Caroline Herschel, the sister of astronomer William Herschel who discovered Uranus, was the first woman in England’s history employed by the government. In 1787, King George III offered her a salary to continue her work in astronomy, making her both the first female government employee and the first paid for their work in astronomy.
The French military is putting together a team of sci-fi writers to imagine potential future threats to the country. The group will reportedly act as a “red team” commonly used by military strategists to test their defence capabilities. Using the sci-fi writers, French military planners expect to find more creative threats than those conceived by conventional military strategists to better prepare the country against attacks in a rapidly changing world.
The Greek electoral system is uniquely based on “reinforced proportional representation” whereby the party which gains the most votes in an election is granted an additional 50 seats in parliament. The provision is meant to ensure that the largest party can secure a majority in parliament, theoretically leading to a more stable government. Although the provision for additional seats was abolished in 2016, it will be used for the last time in 2019.
In January 2019, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuels. The Irish government sold €68m worth of stock in 38 companies involved in oil, gas and other fossil fuels following a July 2018 law passed by the Irish parliament that forced the country’s €8 billon national investment fund to divest from fossil fuels as part of the country’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.
South Korea became the first East Asian country to legalise medical marijuana on 25 November 2018. It’s the second Asian country after Sri Lanka to legalise the medical use of marijuana.
From 1 March 2020, all public transport including trains, trams and buses will be free in Luxembourg. Because the country is so small, much of its workforce lives outside of the country in Germany, France or Belgium, meaning that around 45% of workers cross the border every day (compared to the European average of 0.9%). This has made traffic a major problem in the small wealthy country. Beyond reducing congestion, the law is aimed at helping low-income workers who spend large parts of their salary on travel.
Following the Brexit referendum, British nationals applying for and receiving EU citizenship significantly increased. Among the most popular countries were Belgium (987%), France (374%), Germany (1,161%), Ireland (879%), Luxembourg (394%) and Sweden (165%). Portugal saw the highest increase with 1,236% more British nationals becoming Portuguese citizens in 2017 than before the referendum in 2015.
The first British astronaut to go space was a woman, Helen Sharman, who went as part of a joint UK-Soviet mission aboard a Soviet rocket in 1991. It took until 2015 for an astronaut representing the UK to go to space again.
Calvin Coolidge is the only president in US history who was sworn into office by someone other than a judge. As the constitution does not stipulate who should administer the oath of office, Coolidge was instead sworn in by his father at the home in Vermont following the death of President Harding.
Until 2016, you had to be over the age of 20 to vote in Japan. In June 2016, the voting age was changed to 18 – the first such change since 1945 when the voting age was changed from 25 to 20. Although 18 year olds can now vote, they cannot run for office and you must be at least 25 to run in Lower House elections and at least 30 to run for Upper House seats.
The British Parliament’s rejection of Theresa May’s Brexit Deal is the first time the British Parliament has voted against a proposed treaty since 1864 when they rejected an extradition treaty with Prussia.
The Principality of Sealand is a micronation off the east coast of England claiming to be an independent country. Found on a World War II sea fort, Sealand was ruled by its founder until his death in 2012 and even experienced an attempted coup in 1978. After a business proposition went sour with a German businessman who had invested in Sealand and acted as its Prime Minister, the German businessman attempted to stage a coup with a band of hired mercenaries seizing the founder’s son hostage on the sea platform. In retaliation, the founder launched a counterattack, freeing his son and taking the German businessman’s lawyer hostage. After an intervention by the British and German governments, the dispute was resolved with the German businessman forming a “rebel government” in exile which still exists.
On the 18th of November 2018, Latvia celebrated 100 years of independence since the declaration of Latvian statehood in the aftermath of World War I. Similarly, in 2018, the Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania celebrated 100 years since the declaration of their republics. Although the Baltic states were later forcibly incorporated in the Soviet Union, they maintain a long history of striving for independence. Famously, in 1989, approximately 2 million people formed a human chain spanning around 675 km (419 miles) to connect the capitals of the three Baltic states to protest Soviet rule and show their desire for independence.
The flags of most Arab countries share a similar design and similar colours based on the flag of Arab Revolt used during the Arab Uprising against the Ottoman Empire during World War One. Ironically, the design of the flag’s colours which represents Arab nationalism is credited to the British diplomat Sir Mark Sykes - infamous for the Sykes-Picot Agreement which carved up spheres of influence for the great powers in the Middle East.
According to the latest research by conservationists, 70% of the world’s remaining untouched wilderness can be found in just five countries, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia and the United States of America.
German is recognised as an official language in six countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland and is recognised as an official language at the provincial level in the northern Italian province of South Tyrol where more than 60% of the population speak German. Until 1990, German was also an official language in Namibia.
There’s an entire town for sale in New Zealand. Due to the large number of people moving to the major cities in the country, many small towns have found their populations shrinking with the town in question abandoned for almost thirty years. For US$2.8m, prospective buyers can acquire the entire town of Lake Waitaki including eight three-bedroom houses, a restaurant, a lodge, water rights, nine garages and 14 hectares of land.
During World War One, the United Kingdom passed a law which made “killing, wounding or molesting homing pigeons” illegal and offenders could face up to 6 months in jail for the offence.
