Vaguely Interesting Snippets | 2 May – 8 May 2012 

  • James ‘Jim’ Callaghan is the only person to have served in all four of the Great Offices of State – Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary. Yes, Prime Minister – don’t give me any First Lord of the Treasury nonsense – the  Ministers of the Crown Act 1937 gives unequivocal legal recognition to the position of Prime Minister – I don’t care what it says on the front of Number 10 Downing Street!
  • The UK’s first ‘public park’ was the Derby Arboretum, opening in 1840.
  • The Queen has never visited Greece since acceding to the throne, despite being married to Prince Philip of Greece. In addition, Her Majesty has also avoided Israel, Egypt and has missed most of South America (with the exception of Brazil and Chile).
  • The Scream recently sold at auction for $120 million. Or, to be more accurate, one version of the Scream was sold. There are actually four versions of Edvard Munch’s iconic pastel drawing (it is not an oil painting). The version sold at auction was the only one of the four to be privately owned.