5 things we learned this week

1 The Queen wishes she could have been an actress. That’s according to former French president Francois Hollande, who says that the Monarch told him as much during a state dinner in 2014. ‘Ah,’ Hollande replied, ‘but in a way you are one to some small degree, no?’ The Queen sighed. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But it’s always playing the same role.’

2 Lacy boxer shorts have become an unlikely menswear hit in Japan. Underwear company Wacoal says its sold-out pants, which cost £24, are designed to ‘comfortably wrap around the male part and glamorise it’.

3 Ukrainians have a new term inspired by French President Emmanuel Macron. According to Politico, Макронити, meaning ‘Macronite’, describes someone ‘who makes a big show of being very concerned about something but refuses to do anything tangible to help’.

4 Being Anna Wintour’s personal hairdresser is tough work. Every weekday, says The New York Times, Andreas Anastasis visits the home of the Vogue editor, right, for routine bob maintenance – ‘cutting, colouring, spraying, blow-drying or styling’. He even went during Covid, dressed in a full hazmat suit.

5 The metaverse is still a long way off becoming the new workplace. In a recent trial, 18 university staff in Germany spent an entire working week in the virtual reality world, says Insider. ‘Two of them had to drop out due to nausea,’ and the rest said it left them frustrated, anxious, and with sore eyes.

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