5 things we learned this week

1 The expression ‘parting shot’ comes from the Parthians, who ruled Persia for around 500 years until 224AD. Whereas their long-term enemies the Romans liked to fight faceto-face, says The Times, the Parthians used horse-archers to ‘dart about, delivering a fatal shot while galloping away’. This was known as the Parthian shot, which, over time, became the ‘parting shot’.

2 The UK economy is, unsurprisingly, hugely reliant on London. Removing the capital’s output would shave 14 per cent off the country’s GDP, according to the FT’s John Burn-Murdoch, who says that would be ‘precisely enough’ to put our GDP-per-capita below that of every American state. Removing Amsterdam would mean the Netherlands’ GDP would fall only five per cent and Germany’s GDP would only be cut by one per cent if it lost Munich.

3 Epizoochory is the process by which seeds and fruits are dispersed in the fur of animals. This is through spines, hooks, claws, bristles, barbs, grapples and prickles.

4 According to Ordnance Survey data, 11,000 acres of land in Greater London is used for golf across 131 clubs. That’s more than double the size of the borough of Hackney. 5 The most popular wedding song is I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) by Whitney Houston (right), according to an analysis of 100,000 Spotify playlists. Second is Marry You by Bruno Mars, and, perhaps more surprisingly, Yeah! by the rapper Usher is third.

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