10 things we didn't know before the 24th week of 2009

1. There are 2,500 year old bird nests still in continuous use
2. The Fred Perry sportswear logo was almost a pipe - Perry was a keen smoker - but his business partner thought this would put off women customers
3. As a cold-blooded insect, flies are slower in the early morning and evening when the air is cooler, and speed up in the heat of the day
4. C, the single-letter codename for the head of MI6, dates from when the first boss, Captain Sir Mansfield Cumming, signed himself "C" for Cummin
5. Streetlights cause problems for bats
6. The pilot and co-pilot on a passenger plane are not allowed to have the same meal in case they both get food poisoning
7. The Queen has an allotment
8. Scotland has the lowest age for criminal responsibility in Europe
9. Hitachi makes trains
10. Pak Do-ik, the North Korean footballer, is still known as "the dentist" among Italian football fans for causing them pain by scoring the goal that saw them beaten 1-0 in the 1966 World Cup

(Borrowed from the BBC)