In fact

In the US, thefts of dogs are up 50 per cent this year and have more than trebled since the start of the recession. American Kennel Club

One in five British graduates (1.34m) are earning less than the median wage for someone educated to A-level standard. Office for National Statistics

In the 11 Olympic running events contested by both sexes since the 1980s, the men’s world records are an average of seven years old, the women’s an average of 20 years old. Slate, 25th August 2011

Britain has 800 self-storage facilities, the same as the rest of Europe put together. BBC News website, 1st September 2011

No US troops were killed in Iraq in August—the first month this has happened since the war began in 2003. August was also the worst month for US casualties in Afghanistan since the invasion; 66 US troops died (30 in one helicopter crash). CNN website, 1st September 2011

Boxer George Foreman has five sons, all named George, and two of his daughters are called Freeda George and Georgetta. Daily Mail, 7th August 2011

If a strict one-child limit were in force for the rest of this century, China’s population would shrink to less than 145m by 2100. The Economist online, 2nd August 2011

As chancellor, Gordon Brown sold 395 tonnes of gold between 1999 and 2002, raising $3.5bn. The price then rallied and that gold would be worth $23.1bn today. Reuters, 2nd September 2011

The Germans have a word for “weight gained from emotional overeating”: Kummerspeck (literally, “grief bacon”). Mental Floss blog, 22nd July 2011