Vaguely Interesting Snippets | 21 April – 27 April 2012  

  • According to the BBC’s QI, a swarm of gnats is called a “ghost”. In addition, the word ‘lemur’ means ‘ghost’. It was coined by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-78) from the Latin, Lemures: ‘the shades of the departed’.
  • The Perthshire village of Dull is attempting to forge civic links with the Oregan town of Boring.
  • The Ford factory complex at Dagenham covers 475 acres (about 260 full size football (soccer) pitches). Between 1933 and 2003 a Ford Ferry service brought workers over the Thames from South London.
  • Frog Island, Rainham, London was allegedly named after its use as a prisoner camp during the Napoleonic wars. It is not actually an island.