5 things we learned this week

1

The Duke of Windsor, who met Adolf Hitler on a highly controversial visit to Germany in 1937, gave plans of the layout of Buckingham Palace to the Nazis, according to Royal historian Alexander Larman. When the Palace was bombed in 1940, the family quarters were hit several times. ‘The Nazis knew what they were doing because they had inside information,’ Larman told the Oxford Literary Festival.

2

Being born in a wealthy neighbourhood adds 12 years to your life, on average.

New research has found that children in Hampstead, North London, can expect to live to 88, while those born in Glasgow will make it to about 76.

Some 15 of the top 20 constituencies with the highest life expectancies are in London and the South East, while 17 of the worst are in Scotland, with Glasgow’s seven seats filling the bottom spots.

3

Silicon Valley tycoons behind artificial intelligence (AI) fear that the technology could kill off the human race.

When The New Yorker asked Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, if he was scared about AI turning on humanity, he replied: ‘I try not to think about it too much. But I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defence Force and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.’

4

TV personality Anneka Rice, below, wants her ashes to be mixed with blue pigment and painted on to three canvases, one for each of her sons. The 64-year-old confided her bizarre wish to ‘grief podcaster’ Cariad Lloyd. 5

Money changes men and women in different ways.

A study of Swedish jackpot winners found that after a win, men are more likely to get married – and women are more likely to divorce.