Vaguely Interesting Snippets | 14 April – 20 April 2012 

• John Adams, the second President of the United States, had a dog called Satan.
• Luxury clothing retailer Aquascutum has just gone into administration. Its name is a portmanteau of the Latin words ‘aqua’ and ‘scutum’ and translates as ‘water shield’, and was adopted after its founder discovered a process for waterproofing wool.
• The Eiffel Tower was planned as a temporary addition to the Paris skyline, and was due to be demolished in 1909. It was saved not only because of its popularity but also its usefulness  – a telegraph antenna mounted at the top was useful for the army.
• Dark humour from Steve Bell in the Guardian’s ‘If …’ cartoon, but gets across the startling fact that more Falkland War veterans have committed suicide than were actually killed in the conflict.