A man in full
A relic said to contain a fragment of St Thomas à Becket’s elbow arrived from Hungary for a tour of London and Kent. Where to go to see some of his other bits:
— St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic church, Burgate Canterbury: fragments of vestment, bone and finger are in a glass case above the altar.
— Church of St Maria Maggiore, Rome: shirt and fragments of bone and brain.
— Most of him was interred in Canterbury cathedral until the shrine was destroyed by Henry VIII in the 1530s. Bones and a skull were discovered in Canterbury cathedral in 1888, but a later study concluded the skull was that of an older man.
— The Victoria & Albert Museum has a casket made in Limoges which was originally believed to contain some bits of St Thomas, but they are now missing.
Care worn
In a review of children in care, Lord Laming said too many were being sucked into the criminal justice system, including one boy who ate food from the fridge in his care home. How do the lives of children in care compare with other children’s?
Children in care | |
At expected level in English and maths aged 11 | 48% |
Five GSCEs at A*–C | 12% |
Suspended from school | 9.8% |
Expelled | 0.1% |
Subject to criminal conviction or final warning | 6.1% |
Source: Department for Education
Children not in care | |
At expected level in English and maths aged 11 | 79% |
Five GSCEs at A*–C | 52% |
Suspended from school | 1.9% |
Expelled | 0.06% |
Subject to criminal conviction or final warning | 1.2% |
Source: Department for Education
Tough at the top
Louis van Gaal was sacked as manager of Manchester United after two years in charge. How long do managers last?
Premiership | 1.8 years |
Championship | 0.9 years |
League One | 1.41 years |
League Two | 1.44 years |
Junior officer, Great War | 6 weeks |
FTSE100 chief executive | 5.3 years |
Diet data
A vegan climber died of altitude sickness while climbing Mount Everest in an attempt to prove vegans were not weak. How many vegans and vegetarians are there in Britain? Some estimates:
— ‘At least’ 542,000 are vegan (Vegan Society).
— Less than 1% of the population are vegan (600,000), but 2% are vegetarian (Department for Health, 2012).
— 12% of population are vegetarian, rising to 20% among 16-to-24-year-olds (Mintel, 2014).
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