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Royal Shakespeare Company reveals its high-tech tips: carrots, cereal and tea bags –
The Royal Shakespeare Company is to open up its archives for the first time, sharing the behind-the-scenes secrets that have made their most accomplished productions. Anyone hoping to hear the highest-tech tricks of the trade, however, may be in for a surprise, as they disclose techniques even a schoolboy could master. The RSC’s first permanent exhibition of its own archives will show visitors how the company uses carrot sticks, rice crispies, and glue to pull off specific special effects. It will also how it uses tea bags and water to age the look of ordinary paper to make it appear Elizabethan: a trick used by schools up and down the land. The visitor attraction, called The Play’s The Thing, will open in June 2016, making it the RSC’s first exhibition devoted to the making of Shakespeare plays. It will be part of the restoration of the Swan Wing, built in 1879 and the oldest part of the Stratford-Upon-Avon theatre. [Daily Telegraph]
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Leftfield “Head and Shoulders” from Ewan Jones Morris on Vimeo.

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100 Things we didn’t know last year – by the BBC (34-66)

34. Chewing something can partially excise earworms – songs that stick in the mind.

Find out more (the Times)

35. Former UK Liberal Democrat party leader Lord Ashdown told his successor that he used to eat hedgehogs.

Find out more (Evening Standard)

36. In north-eastern England, Conservative candidates used to wear red, Liberals blue and Labour green rosettes until the 1970s.

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37. Larry King tweets by calling a dedicated voicemail, which is listened to by an assistant who then transcribes his thought to Twitter.

Find out more (Vox)

38. Mali has two tax rates – 3% and 30% – and you might be asked which you’d rather pay.

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39. The world’s favourite colour is blue.

Find out more (YouGov)

40. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke appears on the front of an Iranian self-help book about marital and sex problems.

Find out more (Daily Mirror)

41. Tom Cruise advised Nasa on how to design their website.

Find out more (Daily Telegraph)

42. Drug dealers in Marseille offer loyalty cards.

Find out more (The Local)

43. The worst times to drink coffee are between 08:00-09:00, 12:00-13:00 and 17:30-18:30. The best is about an hour after waking up, regardless of the time.

Find out more (AsapSCIENCE)

44. The chances of a successful bank robbery are higher in the morning – but it’s also among the least lucrative crimes.

Find out more

45. Iceland has the world’s happiest gay men.

Find out more (Planet Romeo)

46. Chinese authorities consider the phrase “your mum” too coarse for the internet.

Find out more (Bloomberg)

47. There are only three non-gentrifying neighbourhoods in New York City.

Find out more (Gawker)

48. Reddit has a very detailed 9,000-word guide to the dos and don’ts of giving away Game of Thrones spoilers.

Find out more (Reddit)

49. Oliver Cromwell supposedly called the Magna Carta the “Magna Farta” – he didn’t like it.

Find out more (New Yorker)

50. Most kangaroos are left-handed.

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51. Marvel Comics stipulates that Peter Parker must be white and straight but Spiderman can be of any ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Find out more (Washington Post)

52. The word “twerk” dates back to 1820.

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53. Heaven exists but hell does not, according to the theology of Sepp Blatter.

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54. UK officials discussed plans to relocate the entire 5.5 million population of Hong Kong to Northern Ireland in 1983.

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55. Three-times F1 world champion Niki Lauda swapped his trophies for unlimited free car washes.

Find out more (Reuters)

56. Playing Tetris for 12 minutes the day after a traumatic event can reduce flashbacks.

Find out more (Smithsonian magazine)

57. There are four main personality types into which people can be categorised when drunk: “Mary Poppins”, “Hemingway”, “Nutty Professor” and “Mr Hyde”.

Find out more (the Drinks Business)

58. Minions are all male because their creator believed they were too stupid to be female.

Find out more (The Wrap)

59. Nando’s is one of the biggest buyers of contemporary South African art.

Find out more (FT)

60. In Ohio, it’s illegal to disrobe in front of a man’s portrait.

Find out more (Slate)

61. A UK court can determine how short your shorts should be.

Find out more (Caerphilly, Ystrad Mynach and Bargoed Campaign)

62. Butt-dials aren’t considered private conversations in the US.

Find out more (Slate)

63. A baby is born on its predicted due date just 4% of the time.

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64. For three months, Leicestershire police didn’t investigate attempted burglaries if they occurred at odd-numbered properties.

Find out more (The Times)

65. Reindeer migration is a major live television event in Norway.

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66. Real Paleolithic people, contrary to some of the followers of the fashionable modern diet named after them, appear to have eaten plenty of carbohydrates.

Find out more (Quartz)

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Terrorism in India
  • 2016 Pathankot attack
    • Heavily armed terrorists, reportedly members of Jaish-e-Mohammed, attack an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab; three security force personnel and four of the terrorists are reported to have been killed. (DNA)
• Mexican Drug War, List of politicians killed in the Mexican Drug War
  • Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco in Mexico‘s Morelos state is assassinated by gunmen at her home, less than a day after taking office. Morelos Governor, Graco Ramírez, attributed Mota’s killing to organized crime, without citing a particular drug cartel or gang. (AP via Daily Mail)
• Militia occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
  • Armed militiamen, including members of the Bundy family of Nevada, take over and occupy the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon following a peaceful rally in support of Dwight and Steve Hammond, who were convicted of arson in 2012 for setting fires on public land adjacent to their property. (Oregon Live)

Law and crime

• Sheikh Nimr, 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests
  • The Saudi Arabian government executes Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia Muslim cleric and leader of the anti-government Shia opposition group. The execution faced worldwide reactions by politicians, Muslim religious figures, and Shia people.(BBC) (The Nation) (Indian Express) (Reuters)
  • Iranian protesters ransack and set fire to the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran, in response to the Saudi execution of Nimr al-Nimr. (The New York Times)

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