- Viewing figures for Blue Peter are down to about 100,000—from a high of about 8m at the programme's peak. (The Independent, 15th January 2009)
- More than 4.5m people in England are on the waiting list for council housing. Although there are 4m council and housing association homes, only about 170,000 become vacant every year. (The Times, 30th January 2009)
- For the 2006 elections, the US defence department set up an internet-based voting system costing more than $830,000 to allow overseas military and expatriates to vote. Sixty-three people used it. (International Herald Tribune, 13th June 2007)
- Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother died on the same day, 14th February 1884. (History Channel website, www.history.com)
- Accommodation is the common word that British people find the most difficult to spell, when measured by queries to the internet search engine Ask.com. (Daily Telegraph, 12th February 2009)
- In eastern Europe and central Asia, women account for more than 60 per cent of convictions for human trafficking (many of them are former victims). (UN Office on Drugs and Crime)
- Belgium covers roughly the same land area as the world's golf courses. (Sporting life column, Prospect, March)
- At Cambridge University, students reading history of art have the highest annual average parental income—£118,000. Students reading education had the lowest, £46,500, followed by those reading computer science (£50,900). (Varsity, 23rd January 2009)
- In the US, a record one in nine homes are vacant—over 14m in total. (USA Today, 12th February 2009)
- There are more US pilots in training to fly unmanned drones by remote control than there are to sit in cockpits as aviators.? [Wired for War, PW Singer (Penguin)]
- The number of British students at British universities fell in 2008, but there was a 6 per cent rise in students from other EU countries and a 4 per cent rise in those from non-EU countries.? (BBC News website, 29th January 2009)
- The brain is about 70 per cent fat. (Discover magazine, January 2009)
Found a fascinating fact? Send it to fact@prospect-magazine.co.uk and if we publish it you'll win a copy of "In Fact" (Preface), Prospect's compilation of our favourite facts
