The Kimbanguist Church was founded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire) in 1959 by a Baptist student, Simon Kimbangui. By 1996 the Church, which is a member of the World Council of Churches, had over 6.5 million members.

The concept of tablets ­ portable, lightweight and thinner than conventional laptop computers ­ has existed for decades. The arrival of Apple¹s iPad, however ­ with its characteristic multi-touch screen ­ proved a landmark release. Following its launch in April 2010, three million units were sold in the first 80 days, and thanks to the release of the iPad 2 on 25 March 2011, 4.69 million units were sold in the second quarter of the year ­ or 311,666 per day.

A volcanic eruption under Vatnajokul glacier (Europe’s largest), Iceland, in October 1996 topped Lake Grimsvotn with meltwater.  The meltwater flowed from the lake at an estimated 45,000m3/sec (1.6 million ft3/sec), making it the greatest melting of a glacier in recorded history. Glaciers are large moving masses if ice formed in (usually mountainous) regions where the rate of snowfall is greater than the rate of snow melting. The snow piles up, is compressed into ice by the weight of more snow above it, and begins to Continue reading →

Take That´s (UK) album Progress, which featured re-united ex-member Robbie Williams, sold a record 79,807 digital copies on its first day of release (15 November 2010). In total, the album´s first week sales were 518,601 – more than any other album this century.

The all-female Japanese theatre company Takarazuka Revue has so far produced two musical comedies based on Capcom’s Ace Attorney series. Their second show, Gyakuten Saiban 2, ran for 26 nights between 20 August and 15 September 2009 in Tokyo, Japan, and sold out all 7,000 seats in under 4 hours. Featured in Guinness World Records Gamer”s Edition 2010

The two-toed syndrome exhibited by some members of the Wadomo tribe of the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe and, the Kalanga tribe of the eastern Kalahari Desert, Botswana, is hereditary via a single mutated gene. The tribe members are often referred to as the Ostrich-footed people.

Sante Bonaldo’s production Nozze Vagabonde (Italy 1936), starring Leda Gloria and Ermes Zacconi (both Italy) was too far in advance of its time as Hollywood only took to 3-D in 1953.

James “Jem” White founded the advertising agency ‘R. F. White & Son’ in Warwick Square, London, UK in 1800. His first client was his old school, Christ’s Hospital, which Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Lamb attended. The agency, with a staff of around four including an office boy, also handled the advertising for the War Office, customs, crown agents for the colonies and Royal Engineers. White first came into contact with the newspaper and advertising world, centred around the taverns and coffee-houses along Fleet Street, Continue reading →

US inventor Willis Haviland Carrier designed and built the first air conditioning system in 1902. It was devised for a printer in New York, USA, who had found that temperature fluctuations were causing his paper to warp, resulting in the misalignment of the coloured inks. Carrier’s patent was granted in 1906.

The squad selected for the match by Arsenal (UK) against Crystal Palace (UK) on 14 February 2005, was the first all-foreign line-up to play in an English Premier League match. The squad consisted of Jens Lehmann (Germany), Lauren (Cameroon), Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast), Pascal Cygan (France), Gael Clichy (France), Robert Pires (France), Patrick Vieira (France), Edu (Brazil), Jose-Antonio Reyes (Spain), Dennis Bergkamp (Netherlands), Thierry Henry (France). Subs: Manuel Almunia (Spain), Philippe Senderos (Switzerland), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Mathieu Flamini (France), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands). The Gunners Continue reading →