DIDYOU KNOW?

You can measure distance in smoots. One smoot is 5ft 7in (or 1.7m) – the height of one Oliver R. Smoot in 1958 when he lay down repeatedly across the Harvard Bridge so his fraternity brothers could calculate its length. Other unusual units include the beard-second (how much a beard grows in one second, about 5 nanometres); the double-decker bus

(favoured by British newspapers, 27.6ft/8.4m); and the sheppey (the closest distance at which sheep remain picturesque, defined as about 7/8 of a mile in The Meaning of Liff).