Category: Pause for Thought

Written By John Bradley 8: The number of Grey Cups won by the Calgary Stampeders since the team’s inception in 1945. 18: The number of Grey Cups won by the…

Written By John Bradley It began with the psaltery, a wooden instrument with strings stretched across its length. However, musicians could only pluck one string at a time to produce…

Written By John Bradley Originally, ‘toilet’ means – “act of washing, dressing, and preparing oneself”. This is derived from French. Arthur Giblin is believed to have invented the first flushable…

Written By John Bradley Canada Geese may be seemingly everywhere now, but in the early 1900s, their numbers had been decimated due to habitat loss and hunting. Today there are…

Written By John Bradley Cricket began as a children’s game in England in the 16th century. Children in the Weald, a small area in the southeast of England, began playing…

Written By John Bradley Istanbul is the only city in the world that straddles two continents: Asia and Europe. Istanbul, which used to be known as Constantinople thanks to the…

Written By John Bradley And the award for oldest nation-state in Europe goes to… Portugal. In 1139, Portugal appointed King Afonso Henriques as its king. Lisbon is said to be…

Written By John Bradley The Yellow River got its name because of the ochre-yellow colour of the muddy water in the lower reaches of the river. Each year, the river…

Written By John Bradley The James Webb Space Telescope is actually lighter than its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope. This one is a real shocker to most people. Under most…